I love quattro

[iamproph]

So my buddy and I (me in my B6 s4 and him in his Cayman S) went out tonight to grab some cigarettes, it was a little overcast when we went into the gas station but not even drizzling. In the 2 minutes we were inside it started to monsoon outside, people were filing in the door from pulling over because it was raining so hard. By the time we got to our cars we were soaked and the roads were flooded. Well we always kind of race back and I had a big ol grin on my face because I knew i was gonna win. Sure enough, I take off and in 10 seconds I cant even see him anymore, the roads are empty and I am shooting up 15 foot waves from my wheels on each side, I honestly was scared for a second before I realized I was losing no traction. By the time I got back to our parking lot I sat there for about 15 mins (it was only a 3 mile drive) before my buddy rolled up scared out of his mind, I guess he was swerving everywhere. This was in NC so be ready fellow quattro'ers for the rain on the east coast this week, it is pretty nasty and o so fun.

[Celtic]

Hehehe, I hear you loud and clear.

When I owned a Coupé Quattro ('85) I friend of mine drove a BMW 635 CSI (3.5 L 218 HP). One night we decided to go to a place which you could only reach by taking very tiny b-roads, the one-lane for both cars type, through the forest up the mountain. It was rainy that day and fall made sure that there were plenty of leafs on the road. So it was a slippery mess. Now we both knew the road very well and could drive it with our eyes closed. We took off and he tried to keep up in the CSI. The road had a lot of twisty turns, a lot of breaking, accelerating and so on. Long story short: He did not have a chance. I saw him gaining on some of the straights, but it was never enough to match the Quattro. "I have got all this power", he said (mind you, the CSI was a little bit of a beast in those days), "but I just could not keep up." My response: "Quattro".

Recently I gave a buddy at work a ride in my B6 S4. He was very interested in the car as he's something of a petrolhead himself. So we talked about the engine, obviously, and also the Quattro AWD. When we hit the road we got into a nasty thunder storm, Florida style, with roads being flooded and wipers on full-speed not keeping up with the downpour. As we approached a red light in a 55-mph zone, I asked him whether he wanted to see what Quattro is all about. It was his mistake to say "yes". Red light. We're waiting. "I'm excited" he said (). Green. I floor it, 1st gear close to redline, and then all the way until we hit 60 mph. I wasn't holding back but she stuck to the road as if it was bone dry. "So what do you think?" I asked him. He was stunned, really. "Oh and btw, the traction control did not even come on. Now, that's Quattro."


In Germany there's a saying that goes "Once in a Quattro, always in a Quattro." And for me, that's absolutely true. What I suck in driving skills the Quattro more than makes up for it.

I'm looking forward to reading some other Quattro stories here.

[iamproph]

Celtic you reminded me also of my drive a couple of months ago.

I had just picked up my car in Denver and had to drive it back to Ft. Bragg, so the first night i was heading through Kansas when the midwest was having all of those flooding issues. Well it was nice and cool out and I was hauling ass when I saw some lightning, so I flipped my satellite radio to the weather station and they were saying people on the I-70 to pull off and wait for the storm to end. Sure enough, I guess everyone was getting the message because I saw cars parting before me up ahead. Now anyone who has driven the 70 in Kansas knows it is LONG and BORING, and of course dumb ol me with my new S4 I picked up saw an opportunity to go fast and drive in the rain.

Sure enough, 5 mins later it was all out hell, my wipers were on full blast and I looked like an old man with my face smashed against the windshield trying to see out it, but since everyone was off the road I was pretty much good to go. Long story short, I was pushing up huge waves and traction control didnt even come on. About 15 mins later it let up and I stopped to get some food. An old man in a 7 series BMW came up to me asking if I had just come from the west, I said yes, he asked if I was going about 100 down the 70 during the flood storm, I said yes, at which point he shook my hand and said he wished he was young again. Man quattro is the shit.

[b spot]

For you guys that live places where it doesn't snow, you're missing out big time!

[nimski62]

For you guys that live places where it doesn't snow, you're missing out big time!

helllllllll yeaaahhhh i cant WAIT for winter!!!!... i did however get stuck last winter bc i was fckin around with my 19s on =(

[drewaudis4]

arg just moved to FL 3 months ago... no snow... maybe I will drive to Nebraska to.... visit my family...

[iamproph]

Im from Denver but im pissed I am stationed here in North Carolina for the winter, sall good next winter ill be home cruising those mountain curves

[Celtic]

Yeah I miss the snow. I really do. Driving in FL has got to be one of the most boring things you can do. At least there are a lot of morons on the roads, that keeps your heart rate up.

Anyways, in Germany it was a quite different story. Where I come from there's snow in the winter and there's a lot of woods and hills. Many of the small B-roads are a driver's dream. One Sunday morning I took the Coupé Quattro on the road. It had snowed that night and the roads had not been cleared. The Quattro had new snow tires on and I figured it would be a good time to see what this thing can really do. So I drove up a tiny road, so small that two cars coming from opposite directions can only get buy by putting the right wheels well off the pave into the dirt. It was a very steep incline - to give you an idea, a small 4-cyl car (which you don't have in the US) would only barely make it into 2nd - and there I was in the Quattro beginning to realize that it may not have been the smartest idea. As the snow became so deep that it went well over the front bumper I figured, if I stop now, I'll get stuck in the middle of the woods on an early Sunday morning with no one on the roads and I'd rather wait for the spring than to call for help!
However since the point of the exercise was to see what the Quattro was capable of, I decided that stopping was exactly what I was going to do. So I did. "If I get stuck now, I will never hear the end of it from my friends." I prayed "please don't let me down", put it in gear, took off and was on my way. I did not even have to engage the center or rear differential lock (yep, that was a real Quattro from the early days). It was amazing.

Snow? Bring it on! Nothing more fun than to blast past the poor 2WDs stuck on an incline.

[iamproph]

Haha priceless, after that storm that just happened from my post above, I just went out to my car to grab my case of water and saw some flashing lights. Well it ended up being a police car and ambulance, seems one of my buddies in his evo was weaving around the parking lot in the rain and a cobra decided to follow him around for fun, spun out and slammed into a tree, makes my day! I got some pictures as soon as I find my cord they will be up

[likewater]

It's funny. I was just commenting to my girlfriend that living in Southern Ca, I never (except for the occasional down pour we have every winter) get to experience what these cars are really made for.

[Stormin]

For you guys that live places where it doesn't snow, you're missing out big time!

It's said here liberally to the plethora of BMW/350Z/Mustang/Vette/Rice owners: "I'll race you up the pass in February. And just to give you a fighting change, I'll drive it in reverse."

[Quattro]

i love you too!!

[boravr6]

i love you too!!

classic! +1

[Quattro]

I just had to, but it was a good story...Quattro comes in handy soooo much...I just love it

[Glassnpowder98]

Story accompanied by pics... Well I was going snowboarding in West Virginia last winter and Navigation plus told me to take U.S. Rt. 19 which cut out about 20 miles by taking me up over a mountain. At least the broad told me that the road was not clearly marked. Anyways, on the way up it was all dirt/wet dirt switchbacks and the night before I left to come home we got about 4 inches of snow at the top of the mountain. All I have to say is, it was one of the most fun drives I've ever had... Too bad I won't be taking that pothole ridden route anymore with the new coilovers :-(

[Celtic]

It's said here liberally to the plethora of BMW/350Z/Mustang/Vette/Rice owners: "I'll race you up the pass in February. And just to give you a fighting change, I'll drive it in reverse."

ROTFL! May I borrow that line sometime?

[...]seems one of my buddies in his evo was weaving around the parking lot in the rain and a cobra decided to follow him around for fun, spun out and slammed into a tree, makes my day! I got some pictures as soon as I find my cord they will be up

Sure would like to see them.




To bump this thread, here's another little story about how helpful a Quattro can be sometimes.
Again, this was in the '85 Coupé Quattro - btw, WIKI says, that only 8000 were ever built and me stoopid SOB sold this thing ) - it was 3 am in the morning and some heavy snow fall going on. None of the roads were cleared so it was a fun drive. I accelerated quite hard and the Quattro simply gripped. A cop in his car freezing his ass off apparently decided that I was having a bit too much fun. He pulled me over. Cop said I was going too fast or something along those lines. I told him that I wasn't going over the speed limit, but he talked about "measured driving considering the road conditions" blah blah. So he walks around the car (probably to check if he could write me a ticket for something, tires, wheels or whatever) only to show up in front of me again saying "Oh, this is a Quattro"
"It sure is" I said.
He smiled: "Have a safe trip, Sir"

I doubt that he would have done something, even if it wasn't a Quattro, but his reaction was kinda funny.

[asurugger]

monsoon in NC

[iamproph]

monsoon in NC

Not technically, but almost! This whole week down here at Bragg the rain has just been coming nonstop. We were at the range standing in the middle of the tornado warning, and within 5 minutes you could find puddles in the grass that were swalloing people. Made me want to go out and drive bad tho!

[B6driver]

this is why i love SoCal! hehehe

[member]

i thought so highly of my quattro before i drove an evo (even an sti couldnt compare), sorry guys, i still miss my audi thou

i guess quattro is made for traction and evo's awd is made for cornering
tell me what you think about my statement about evos

[bhvrdr]

Beautiful mate. Man, I wish I had them. As for the MS suspension and swaybars it probably depends more on their individual recommendations for your car and more importantly your personal feel and needs for suspension. A buddy of mine loves upgraded swaybars with his MS suspension while I know another person who likes the stock bars with them. It's really such an advanced system that you could probably go either stock or you could really be into such individual preferences for different tracks and for your driving style that you would end up consulting with them to see what is right for you. The reason I am so jealous of the MS setup is that it really can be a setup for the novice who like the IMPROVED ride quality WHILE also getting vastly measurably improved handling yet the setup is also perfect for even the hard core track person who guts their car to make it into a track toy.