RB

i was driving at about 100 mph in my 2000 1.8QMS along this dry pavemented road in good conditions. while at that speed i moved from the right lane to the left lane and back a couple of times, not abruptly. i then did it again a little more quickly and noticed that the car started to shake a little as, i presume, it tried to keep itself steady. i eased off the throttle and the car settled back in again.

what can i expect from quattro if at such speeds i encounter a rock in the middle of the road and suddenly swerve to avoid it? i.e. the swerve wouldn't be as gentle as the maneuvers above
but would probably be sudden. will either end of the car break loose? could the car possibly lose traction? i've never had awd before so i'd appreciate some input.

thanks.

Firebug

I've had FWD, and RWD cars and my A4 is my first AWD. And I have to say that my 99.5 1.8TQMS is extremly stable at high speeds both on dry pavement and in the rain. I have done 95-105 while weaving through traffic. You can feel the road. It's like the car is stuck to it, so any imperfections are magnified by the speed. Also, notice that I have the sports package with the SP8000 - which kick *** in the rain and on dry pavement ( On ice and snow however is another story ).

The A4 actually MUCH nicer than my Mustang was - which felt like I was on an air pocket wich made corning hat high speeds quite hard.

Dr. Irony

105 and weaving thru traffic? You are too cool!

DavidST

With all due respect, if you do not know the answer to this question:
One: you should not be driving that fast.
Two: Take a driving school
Three: AWD will not act any differently, it is all PHYSICS, if you swerve violently at this speed.
" a body in motion tends to stay in motion................."

Good luck

av

> what can i expect from quattro if at such speeds i encounter a
> rock in the middle of the road and suddenly swerve to avoid it?

You are toast, quattro or not. At high speeds, even simple lane changes needs to be done carefully, that is very smoothly, especially if the road is even moderately curving. Once in a while, I see speeding drivers change lanes abruptly and almost loose it.

I even know some people who like showing off their car's handling with a violent flick of the steering to change lanes. What they don't realize is that same maneuver is used to unleash the back end of a car and that the amount of lateral force goes up with the square of speed. So doing it "a little faster" may require a lot more from the car.

av

Tom

He probably learned from "the world's wildest police videos" :>

Mike D.

If you look at most car magazines, they include an emergancy lane change in the testing. From what I remember, most cars are fine in the 60mph range, any higher and you can forget about it. 100mph and a rock in your way? Your dead or seriously injured. As someone mentioned, it's all about physics and not the number of wheels you having moving the car. You should really consider a driving school if you didnt know the answer to that question.

Mike D.

ErikR

Take the quattro school and learn this safely. At higher speeds (>100 mph) the rear lift and consequent oversteer are magnified and can be quite abrupt. Quite frankly, while the A4sport is a superb street package, for speeds above 90 I much prefer stiffer springs and shocks (and 225/50 tires).

ErikR

That was a hoot watching him bolt from the cops all the while threatening dozens of people. What is so hard about physics? At 120 you are going to die, and take some folks with you.

I can almost understand roughing up the "suspect."