rdking

Have an 03 allroad in atlas with a tip, premium, bose and cold and am at the 500 mile mark, no mods yet. My first impressions are that this is really a great car for what it is. I consider it to be a gentlemans sporting transport. It's not a sports car and not an suv... it drives like a pretty nice sports sedan but is not as agressive as say a bmw 540, although the numbers are pretty close (especially if chipped). I can take three big guys (4 people) and all their gear in TOTAL comfort mountainbiking, golfing, skiing, surfing, for the weekend and have a BLAST driving there. Not to mention taking the wife and baby and dog all his gear around. I came from a toyota 4-runner and miss the space a bit but the luxury and performance make up for it and I will get a space box soon. On to specifics:

Performance: Like I said a pretty nice sports sedan. Still, kind of sloppy with a healthy dose of body roll in the twisties and the lack of true sporting seats is a miss (although the seats are super comfortable). Brakes are a bit underwelming especially for a car this heavy. Rubber (have the Perrelli sp?) is just ok, no rain or snow yet so can't comment)I intend to get summer and winter tires when these wear out. 0 to 20 the tiptronic sucks... lots of lag. This is eliminated by using the tip mode. Around the city because most of the driving is 0 to 35mph the car "lurches" (in D or S mode) quite a bit when the lag catches up... quite annoying. You can avoid this by driving sensibly but who wants to drive sensibly! Interestingly sports mode is the worst for me. Once above 20 (and really from 60 to 110) this car shines! Spirited driving in the 35 to 50 mph range on mountain roads is a blast...(minus the body roll and the flopping about in the seats) if you have to really downshift and bleed off speed quickly and are going from 15 mph to 50 and back to 15 you will miss the manual transmission and wish you were driving a sedan! (it ain't my old 911, nor even my old golf in the twisties but then I did not buy it for that, On the freeway it wants for nothing. Weaving in and out of traffic and passing at freeway speeds is a blast. One trick for spirited driving is to knock it into tip mode and quickly downshift twice which produces a very controlled downshift at speed which i find usefull.

Appointements: except for the lack of sports seats the inside is of supurb quality and is flawless luxury! Much nicer cockpit than the bmw's I have driven.

Things I wish I had: parktronic (already needed this in a garrage), nav (already wanted this when going to a new restaurant), Warm weather package (not offered any more boo hoo). Tip on the wheel (why did they take this off?) I would skip the bose and put the 800 bucks into an after market system. leave the headunit and get a new amp and speakers. To do over again I would think again about the manual tranny!

Niggles: The dog crate does not fit in the back. The pockets in the back of the seat are mesh instead of solid. no pockets or sunglass holder in the roof or sun visors. no more warm weather package. no attachment for the tie down on the rearfacing baby seat. No shifting paddles on the wheel. No on off button on the seat warmers you have to scroll up and down. The CD player is not intuitive and difficult to load and unload.

Mileage: I get about 15 around town and 19 on the highway.

Cost: now that the 04s are here you can get an 03 for about 300 to 500 over invoice. Some might even do better. You can get a loaded lease for under 500 with 3K down.

What would make it perfect: 18" wheels, bigger brakes, less body roll, sports seats and the S6 engine. Range from 4.5 to 11 inches in height (ie more range) and a locking differential.... anyone from audi listening?

Cars I considered: VW tourag (sp?), bmw x5 4.4, volvo xc (not really close), bmw 540i, A6 4.2. all nice cars, all have pros and cons. For my active lifestyle I have no doubt that I made the right choice with the allroad!

itacud

I'm sure you know by now, there are a few tricks out there to help with body roll, and handling in general in the twisties.

The order in which I would make changes...

a) tire pressure - the stock settings don't work at all. Go up, especially in front.
b) tires - improvements here increase braking and cornering limits.
c) PSK swaybar - more than just preventing lean, it helps settle the rear end quickly during mid corner bumps. (The new H-sport bars may neutralize understeer even more?)
d) 402 mod - lowers and stiffens springs - with all the associated benefits <i>and</i> disadvantages. =)
e) 18" wheels, lower profile max performance tires.
f) Under research... increasing the shock damping. The car needs it - on road.

For brakes, I'd suggest changing to high temp fluid, and putting high friction pads on. I've had no issues with brakes (so far) with these simple changes - and the car has seen some track time, and plenty of windy mountain road.

You mentioned that the allroad wasn't quite up to your old Golf. Having recently gotten a GTI GLX, I can say that a properly "setup" allroad (stock wheels) can more or less hang with a stock GLX on my local twisty roads. Not bad.

By the way, I'm quite glad to hear you're using Tiptronic to help get the launches you want - w/o complaining that the computer isn't figuring it out for you. =)

rdking

Also which brake pads are you using?

allroad'Ed now

my allroad brakes are on a par with my 911.

But, did Audi change the front calipers for '03 like they did on the A6? On my '02, the brakes are phenomenal. Even my wife is impressed and that's saying something (from one who tracked a Porsche 944 Turbo).

For the handling, if you don't want to shell out for the new H-Sport sway bars, you might want to pick up a used PSK (sport suspension) rear sway bar from one of the many who are about to go to the H-Sport. Makes a significant difference.

402 mod- you don't even have to get our hands dirty to lower the car and get better handling. You just need an AW "friend" who has the VAGCOM software to assist you. Where are you? Maybe someone here will volunteer to assist.

Happy motoring

itacud

any where from 38 to 42 (cold) in front - depending on what ride quality or tire wear I want. 36-42 in back - depending on that weekend's experiment =).

This is, however, with 245/50/17 Pilot Sport A/Ss (which aren't as big as the size indicates). I'm not sure of what good numbers are with the OEM Pirelli's. Experimentation is the best way to figure it out. (Think high pressure in front, to keep the sidewalls from rolling over.)

markcincinnati

Question: What brand and part number high friction pads??? Thanks!

hemants

I'm sure you are referring to your dog because in fact the Allroad has slightly more overall volume:

Passenger/Cargo/Total volume

4 runner 87.1/44.6/131.7
Allroad 99.3/36.4/135.1

Good review. I have the same complaints about my A4 1.8Tip 0 to 20.

Troy H

Just what I was thinking. Also, with rear seats folded, 4Runner is 75 (IIRC) and allroad 73.2.

hemants

P.S. Nice garage, must be able to actually open doors without hitting walls!

Finman

of course so is the 12.2 cu-ft of passenger room...most notably evidenced in the rear seat...brutal in the previous generation 4-Runner.