Black-Wolf

I know they are up to like quattro iv now but want info as to the differences and years used. I know the early ones had locking diffs and the newer ones had torsen.. just looking for info. got a guy at work who insists his subaru awd is "far superior" to quattro. we are down to specs lol

- GT Style -

1st gen quat is best.

dwengi

In terms of pure traction potential the gen 1 with center and rear diffs locked is best. Useful for plowing through deep snow.

But in my opinion the torsen is a remarkable pure mechanical solution providing a good compromise between open and locked diff.

Kneale Brownson

About as much technical stuff on awd systems as a body can stomach is in the archives of the Audifans.com website's section called "Torsen": See Link.



Basically your argument is similar to debating politics or religion. But you could ask your colleague how many Subie systems from 1986-1995 (manual) and 1990-1994 (auto) are still running around and performing as designed.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/torsen/">http://www.audifans.com/pipermail/torsen/</a</li></ul>

itsav8

Kneale's rite its a pretty indepth conversation.
I remember when all this was being discussed back in the day on the audifans site. &amp; hole list had to be made for the discussion!
That thread was a nightmare, Scott Justuson, &amp; Phil Payne went toe to toe on that. As I recall Phil got so pissed he stopped posting to the list for a long time. You remember that Kneale?

I still look behind me when someone says "Torsen"...as I look behind &amp; duck.

But I all so like the locking diffs as all ready mentioned. My 87 5ksq felt more stable in the snow than my V8 "Torsen" did. Untill I bought dedicated snow tires for the V8 &amp; now it's "Torsen. Torsen, Torsen"
Thanx
Ron
90 80Q 20Vt AAN project
90 V8Q 3.6 not stock "Torsen"
93 V8Q 4.2 "The Green Monster" "Torsen"
&amp; a Porsche 944

boxerfan

Tor(que)Sen(sing) diffs have one inherrent weakness. If an axle fails then you have a zero-wheel drive. Is an extreme application like a rally car the first gen is probably best. For a daily driver the Torsen is an ingeneous device... again... as long as your CVs don't blow apart.

- GT Style -

reminding him when my '86 5ktqa blew 1, I just locked up &amp; drove home ; - )

audi-bahston

and the ABS systems too. I really would like to turn some of the newer dealership manuals into PDF's and post em but my computer sucks and I never find the time. It was really cool to see some of the Media they gave you at the Stealer when you bought one of these cars new like 15-20 years ago.

875kcstq

Without a doubt. I have seen later torsen equipped cars spinning their wheels on icy snow, where I just lock'em up and drove away..