Should my 190 Quattro have enough power to spin all 4 wheels?

j033y

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In light of Nutkin's recent find with his 190bhp Quattro only running 154bhp it has led me to worry more about mine.

Now I knew from day 1 it would never be the same as my chipped Golf GTi turbo with 190bhp due to weight and 4 wheel drive.

I did a 0-60 in my A4 using my iphone trip thing to get a time and it came back with 7.6 seconds, which is about what it is on the books (i think).

I had a play around the other day doing a quick start, with traction control off, revs up to 4k rpm and dump the clutch, just to see how well it puts the grip down, and it was amazing! really lunged forward, very impressed.

But then I got thinking that it must be able to break traction, but i just cant make it break traction, it just wont, not even really in the damp!! I tried on a gravely bit and it did, but then it gripped again.

is the combination of my continental tyres and quattro just proving brilliant, or should it loose grip?

As i have only had the car a month, I have not pushed it hard on starts. If I am honest, it feels like what I imagine a slipping clutch feels like, but without the smell!!! But then its not, as it grips the road well!! I really have no idea what to expect to be honest!!:ermm:

Having never driven a Quattro before, I am very unsure how these are ment to perform!!

oh yes, and its only done 60,000 miles, I am saying that as its still on the same clutch!!
 
My old Subaru Impreza which had aprox 230BHP couldnt spin the wheels no matter what i tried in the dry it would just surge off the line. i was then told by some other scooby owners that i was killing the clutch doing that as the best way to start with a 4wd is to get the car moving a little first before dumping the clutch and then foot flet to the floor.
 
I've driven a few quattro's RS4 & S4 and don't remember ever spinning all 4 wheels!
 
Its broken if you can spin in in the dry with anything less than 280BHP IMHO.

I can get mine to tail slide deliberatley, so kind of breaking traction, but not on 5 k launches, wet or dry
 
The only time I've had all four wheels spinning was in the snow.. Even in the wet I still seem to get a lot of grip.
 
I tried this the other day in my a4 (220bhp) with traction fully off (Hold button down for 7secs) and still couldn't spin the wheels. I had an evo 8 previously with about 350bhp..a launch over 4.5k rpm would always spin all four!..god bless that car i miss it. :)
 
Cheers guys, you have made me feel a lot better. I dont want to go round spinning all 4 wheels like a chav on crack, just got concerned that mine was maybe lacking power and it was fairly normal tp spin all 4!

I can get it too step out on harsh corners if i force it too, amazing how it catches itself.

What a car, I love it too bits. makes me grin like a cheshire cat, cannot wait until it is chipped!!

Cheers people
 
I'm not sure I'd fancy trying this..... I can see my clutch shattering in the process :(

I've done some pretty hasty pull aways and as mentioned the car just grips and goes, no drama, just instant take off. Even on a wet road it's only ever sliding on a roundabout that will get the ESP light to flicker, can't ever get wheelspin.

Quattro? :respekt:
 
I could spin up my old B5 s4 but that was running a very healthy 320+
but all in all its not good for the clutches and i wouldnt make a habit of it unless money and time is not an issue.
 
If you turn ESP off the light should come on so you'll know if it works! I think that if there is a fault with the system the light comes on too. ESP on a quattro doesn't have much work to do ......
 
That means you drive like an old man on Sunday if you never had the light flicker at you lol.

Only kidding, the way to get it on in the dry is make a turn and boot it the esp will kick in and stop you from loosing traction with no worries at all in the wet just floor it in a straight line and the ESP will flash at you while it controls the power and brakes to stop wheel spin.
 
That means you drive like an old man on Sunday if you never had the light flicker at you lol.

Only kidding, the way to get it on in the dry is make a turn and boot it the esp will kick in and stop you from loosing traction with no worries at all in the wet just floor it in a straight line and the ESP will flash at you while it controls the power and brakes to stop wheel spin.

i have seen mine flash, was on a corner with a bump in it, felt nice and controlled.

So if you turn your esp off and boot it in the wet will it loose traction? Mind you looking at your sig it looks like you have done a fair bit of work to your car? is it running a K04?

cheers
 
Awwww, just think of all the stress you are putting on your drive chain "dropping the clutches" ....and such like...

I would not dream of doing such a thing to my pride & joy.......but yep did have the ESP light flashing away recently having a right hoot in Morrisons car park in Chorley with all that snow......
 
Yep hybrid K04 and the esp should keep the clutch nice and safe.

I loved it in the snow when I hammerd it to see what the traction would do and it killed about 90% of the power to keep the car safe was amazed how it worked and took control of the car.
 
At work I drive a Focus TDci (1.6 115bhp ??) and that will spin the front wheels no trouble, and the ESP just kills the power dead to the point where if you keep your foot down the revs die right back. It's infuriating!
 
it's the quattro... 150bhp FWD A3 and I have the front tyres chirps and the TC light on at every junction where I put my foot down (not even dumping the clutch).... but with teh A4 (TDi adn 325lb/ft of torque) and the only time I've seen the TC light flicker is when pulling off hard on in the ice / snow on summer tyres and on v loose gravel (on top of tar)...

probably wouldn't even try on any other surface... with 4 fat tyres driving a solid car, there's so much grip that some thing has to give slip and most of the time, it'll be your clutch, not the grip...
 
I've driven a few quattro's RS4 & S4 and don't remember ever spinning all 4 wheels!
+1

I've owned 2 S4s and an RS4 and I've never managed to spin all 4 wheels unless I turn ESP and TC completely off (only possible on the RS4, and by pressing and holding the ESP button until the symbol on the dash flashes).
 
I've just been out in a rather evil stripped out Pulsar. That spins, drifts and everything. Lovely!
 
In light of Nutkin's recent find with his 190bhp Quattro only running 154bhp it has led me to worry more about mine.

Now I knew from day 1 it would never be the same as my chipped Golf GTi turbo with 190bhp due to weight and 4 wheel drive.

I did a 0-60 in my A4 using my iphone trip thing to get a time and it came back with 7.6 seconds, which is about what it is on the books (i think).

Should not be too far off your golf, unless of course you had the Anniversary model with the AUQ engine. Golfs were only 150 bhp and as you say remap to around 190. Yours uses a slightly different turbo, has variable valve timing, all of which add up to around 215bhp off the back of a remap. A reliable 235-240 bhp is easily possible with a turbo back exhaust. I still have the graphs of my old AUQ engined Leon Cupra, that started life as 180 bhp. Throw it into a Round about hard and you should easily make the wheels spin up. Stop trying to do it off the line though, you will kill your clutch.
 
Thats what I love about my quattro. In most conditions its very stable and can put the power down nicely. And don't just dump your clutch lads. Its not the fastest or the kindest to the drivetrain.
 
I doubt you'd do that in a quattro A4 for the reasons mentioned in this thread.
you can in the damp with good bhp but the car will go into a 4 wheel drift which isnt really the way to use public roads.
 
Yeh but thats more of a slide, than out and out wheelspin, thats what I meant.