I never had the chance to drive an ADS car - dealer just didn't have one.

For the ADS option owners - where do you think a regularly suspended A4 falls within your selection choices - same question for stearing? How about the sport/S-line suspension?

I'm hoping on my S-Line, I'll be driving within the sportiest range. If not, I may regret not adding it.

 

I would NOT worry about the ADS -- just don't ever drive one equipped with it, for you will, then, most certainly "always" have that bit of doubt about your custom ordered car.

ADS is too expensive -- I have to assume it has lots of profit in it.

Yet, it is a marvelous bit of technology, one that I ordered sight unseen and unable to test -- and one that I now would not want to be without.

On the other hand, the sport suspension is also great, but ADS compliments it.

Seriously just don't drive one with it and you'll be fine. Then get it or the replacement that will come next time.

 

I drove an ADS equipped car at the A4 driving experience on a parking lot "autocross" type layout and on a small road coarse in the infield at texas motor speedway. Also drove one of the same cars around town here in Houston when they had the "launch event" one weekend at local dealers.

I then drove a standard suspension car and one with the sport package.

The ADS car even on comfort didn't seem to soak up the bumps as much as the standard suspension -- but did seem to be a bit flatter cornering. Thinking this is due to the use of sport springs with ADS (at least with the Euro-spec Driving experience cars they had). The ADS in "auto" wasn't quick enough to "take up the slack" for my preference, so I think I'd always be driving it in "dynamic" (is that right, I forget the terminology).

The sport suspension's pothole isolation was a bit "worse" than standard or ADS in comfort mode, but not at all bad in my opinion and the big improvement in handling was an easy trade-off. ADS, for the cost, just didn't seem like it was worth it to me -- I'd probably just leave it in one setting (although the system re-sets everytime you shut off the car I believe).

To each his own -- I absolutely see the advantage of ADS, but for ME -- even after driving cars equipped with it -- I do not pine for ADS. Not getting the sport pkg would have caused regrets...

 

There are several reviews of regular suspension ADS equipped cars and from my recollection the handling was not close to sport suspension level. Tires and other bits probably played a part in this but the handling g's were not anything close to the sport suspension with ADS. Automobile recently tested the S4 with ADS and 19" Dunlop Maxx GTs like I have on my S-line A4 and it pulled 0.98 on the skidpad. From my unsuccessful attempts to make my car break loose in a wet parking lot- I can vouch for this number. The ride can be unpleasant on bad roads in dynamic mode but auto and comfort settings easily bring it up to the desired comfort level. I heard that Audi is reducing the cost of the ADS on the S4 from 3950 to 2950 same as the A4 line. I would think that price must be pretty close the bone. ADS will probably go the way of the 3.2 engine if sales don't justify the production. I'm glad I purchased my A4 with ADS.

 

You won't be driving in the "sportiest range" available from Audi without Drive Select. See the graph below, which shows that ADS extends the performance characteristics beyond the limits of both the standard and sport suspensions alone:



Here is a graphic explaining how ADS affects the steering too:



Is it expensive? Yes. It is worth it? For me, yes.

Also, "Auto" mode is not to be confused with as an equivalent for either the standard or sport suspensions. It's kind of a "Medium" setting in the ADS selectable range, but adaptable and not really analogous to its static suspension counterparts. It's continuously adjusting depending on conditions. And "Auto" steering doesn't feel anything like standard (non-ADS, non variable rate) steering.

 

Just to be clear, there isn't such a thing as a 'regular suspension ADS equipped' car. ADS gets you the same suspension components as 'sports' package cars - that is lowered, uprated springs, uprated sway bars etc. The real thing that ADS buys you above and beyond (suspension wise) is the electronic damping control.

There is a noticeable difference between the comfort and dynamic setting in all three aspects of ADS (suspension, steering, throttle). Individual brings it all together so if you have a particular combo you like for everyday driving, you can set it that way.

For me it makes it several cars in one package. Comfy when I need it to be and sporty if I feel like it. ADS gets switched every time I'm in the car.

John.

 

Great post Ben - just what I was interested in. Where'd you get the graphs?

 

Thanks. I can't take credit though since I lifted them from one of gk1's posts in the archive. I think they originally were part of Audi marketing and technical materials on the B8 A4.

 

From JDpower.com:

Technology
The 2009 A4 features another new Audi innovation: Audi dynamic steering. The system employs a special superimposed gear system to alter overall steering ratio according to road speed and the driver-chosen Audi drive select setting. Audi dynamic steering boosts power assistance, and makes the steering ratio more direct at low speed, Audi says. At high speeds, the ratio is less direct and boost is decreased for better straight-line stability, the automaker adds.

Most variable-ratio/-boost steering systems stop there, but Audi takes the technology several steps further. Working with the ESP, the system receives real-time information about the vehicle’s attitude. If the vehicle begins to oversteer, such as in the case of an abrupt accident-avoidance maneuver, the steering performs slight corrective impulses—faster than an experienced rally driver could react—to help automatically bring the vehicle back under control. In an understeer situation, the system selects a more indirect steering ratio preventing the driver from turning the tires beyond their ability to grip the road. According to Audi, their dynamic steering represents leading-edge technology in this segment.

 

From Toronto star:

Audi designs true variable steering ratio What do Hula Hoops and muffin-tin liners have to do with the new Audi steering system?

Not much, except maybe they will help me explain how it works. It has long been the goal of suspension engineers to design a steering system with truly variable steering ratio and assist level. This is compounded by the fact that regulations in various countries will not allow a system without a direct mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the front wheels.

Audi is unveiling what it claims is the first automotive application of the so-called harmonic drive principle to a steering box. Okay, the first earthbound application; this type of steering was found in the lunar and Mars Rover vehicles. It utilizes a technology borrowed from machine tools and robots that's at least 70 years old.

The input shaft from the steering wheel has an elliptical lobe that fits inside a serrated cup that resembles a muffin-tin liner. The cup is made of a special metal that allows it to flex.

An electric motor rotates this ellipse relative to the steering column. As the wider axis of the ellipse shoves against the muffin-tin liner, the latter expands so that its teeth mesh into splines in an outer cup, which is attached to the output shaft of the steering box.

The trick is that there are 100 inner teeth, and 102 outer teeth, so the outer cup rotates rather like a Hula Hoop does as it spins around your body.

Depending on where the wide axis of the ellipse is, it creates a true variable ratio, changing by almost 100 per cent. The degree by which the ratio changes depends on the relative position of the elliptical actuator and the muffin-tin liner (you still with me?).

That in turn is governed by the electric motor that takes its signals from a computer that analyzes road speed, plus inputs from the steering wheel and the directional stability control system, or ESP (Electronic Stability Program), VW/Audi's preferred term.

This setup is so trick that it can even automatically back the steering off in the middle of a corner if, for example, the ESP determines that the car isn't tracking the way the driver intends. So it can save you from yourself without activating the impulse braking effect of the ESP.
Another application is when braking hard on what's known in the industry as a "split-mu" surface, i.e., the right wheels are on snow or ice, the left wheels on pavement.
Normally, a significant degree of steering input is demanded of the driver to keep the car on a straight trajectory. Not with this system: it does it all for you.
BMW has its Active Steering, which attempts to solve some of the same problems the Audi system does. But my initial impression is that it's nowhere near as transparent in operation as Audi's.
I recently drove a BMW X5 SUV with Active Steering, and it felt awful. Maybe it was the huge wheels and tires, creating their own momentum.
Whatever, the system just couldn't keep up. Trying the Audi system in something like a Q7 SUV would be necessary for a proper comparison.
But there is still elegance and transparency to Audi's system that the BMW cannot match.
I wonder how the engineer behind this system convinced his boss that steering by muffin-tin liner would be a good thing?
________________________________________
–Jim Kenzie
TORONTO STAR