nazostro

Hello,

I tried searching throughout Google & this forum, but no luck! My apologies if this is a duplicate of someone else's thread.

Anyway, I am planning to order a 2015 Audi S5 (Progressive) with Manual Transmission....BUUUT I am wanting to know (From any first-hand experience) whether or not it's WORTH getting the Sport Diff. with Manual Transmission!?!?!?!?!?

Thanks for your help!!

superswiss

The short answer is yes. This is probably the best video that explains all aspects of the sport diff, not just that it helps rotate that car around a bend, but also that it acts as an inverted ESP, acting long before the traditional ESP detects instability.

nazostro

Hey Superswiss!

Thanks for the information!!!! Definitely helped me out!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

It doesn't seem much different than an open rear diff and a system that uses the service brake on either side to redirect torque as necessary. Wet clutches in the diff vs dry brakes on the outside. And brake pads are much less expensive to replace than wet clutches in a differential.

At any rate, it seems to be a handling improvement, if only to reduce understeer.

superswiss

The basic idea is the same, but the sport diff can actively overdrive one side of the diff by up to 10%. A brake based system can't do that. It can only subtract torque from one side and have the open diff redirect it to the other side. In fact the RS5 uses both systems. It uses the brakes to redirect torque on the front and rear axle and in addition it uses the sport diff to overdrive the outer rear wheel.

The following video illustrates the brake based torque vectoring system in the RS5 (second half of the video). You can optionally add the sport differential (standard in the US, but optional in other markets).

mikejaeggi

i have a 2015 manual with sport diff and it's awesome, I highly recommend it. even if you don't track it, you can tell the difference on the daily twists/turns

PhilNotHill

Have it on our manual S4. Would not be without it. Really.

smokeybreeze

Definitely get the Sport Rear Differential.

With appropriate use of the skinny pedal, you can get a (sufficiently high HP/TQ) Audi to oversteer on demand.

ayap

A few days ago, I was on my way to South Carolina.
The road was curving and I was going over 100 mph and just thought I'd
push the speed beyond 110 mph. To my surprise, my S5 rocketed to
122 MPH. At these high speeds the sports differential matters a lot.

drvai

The torque vectoring systems seems "inefficient" in terms of energy. In other words, braking a wheel while the car is delivering torque (energy) to the axle just to create a difference in how much traction is delivered to the pavement by each wheel. In a ESP system maybe makes more sense as it's not constantly in use... but as a regular thing?