The new A4 'Quattro with Ultra' system proves just how far down the priority list fun is for current Audi, and also shows how Quattro has become a millstone that's dragging them backwards.
With the S3 though I think there may be more truth in Audi not wanting to pay to license the required (heavily patented) GKN twinster rear axle from 'der Englunders'.
GKN, based in the U.K., came up with a 'diff-less' rear axle for focus RS and the Range Rover Evoque. The Evoque uses the system to vector torque from one side of the car to other, using a torque transfer clutch on each rear driveshaft (as opposed to the S3's single clutch on the rear diff input). Not only does this do away with the need for a rear diff, but it allows active control over how much power goes to where, allowing total torque vectoring and all sorts of other capabilities not possible with Audi's system. In the Evoque this allows very impressive rock climbing and mud plugging and with the capability to disconnect the propshaft entirely from the rear axle, and (via an additional clutch from the transfer box at the front), they get the all important fuel efficiency gains. In the Focus RS, it does something altogether more... ...entertaining.
Quattro ultra in the A4 is the future direction of mainstream Audi, and probably tells you all you need to know about how Audi is now lumbered with Quattro rather than celebrating it like Range Rover and Ford. The system is 100% front wheel drive almost all the time, because that's the cheapest way to get the economy up and the emissions down. Of course with utilisation ratios of only 20% in the hands of testers from CAR magazine, it's also a tacit admission that AWD is utterly pointless most of the time. This is something Audi have long known, despite dining out on images of the yellow and white rally cars that made "Quattro" so desirable 30 odd years ago.
Problem is you can't compete with the other premium Germans with front wheel drive cars, and since most of the VAG chassis that Audi use are front drive biased they 'need' the added complexity of bolt on AWD to be perceived as peers to Mercedes and BMW. The buying public would probably now accept a rear drive chassis from Audi, but a front drive A8 or S model? No way.
So Quattro, for a while at least, probably won't be a big priority for Audi. They have to fit it to stay relevant and play in the same ball pit as the other big boys, but right now they need it to be ecomomical more than they need it to be good. Our only hope is that some petrolheads in Audi-sport share the madness and sense of fun they have at Ford made them wonder would would happen if they fitted a GKN axle to one end of a focus, a Mazda MPS lump to the other, and turned the GKN controller up to eleven...
"Oh look, it goes really sideways!"
. Plus, as of all us mere mortals on here, the other half is ALWAYS the boss and they command the remote control.
Knowledge is power 
