I have a 2.8 quattro and it works great when going straight, but I noticed that it's really easy to do donuts when I have that wheel turned. It's fun, but it also acts somewhat like a rear drive car in normal turns. My wife's CRV is all wheel drive as well, but handles much better in turns. I can't get that thing to do a donut to save my life.

Is something wrong with my car?

 

I believe it is because our cars have the 40/60 power split. That means that the 60% goes to the rear and essentially makes it more like a rear-wheel drive car. My car does that too- pretty sure thats just how the stock torsen differential system works

 

all quattro 2001 and older are split 50/50. 2002-2006 40/60 and the all of the new ones are 30/70. BUt to answer you question it could just be the rear diff slipping more than usual because it is worn. I dont know what year you have I would say if you have around 100,000 on your odometer it is just excess slippage due to normal wear. Try changing out the diff fluid and going slighty thicker than recommened to help the clutches to engage.

 

Torsens work in a non-intuitive manner. There are no clutches, viscous fluid disk packs, or locker pawls in them, just gears and bearings (DU type washers). The drive shaft can not make one output shaft spin faster than the other, but one output shaft can affect the speed of the other. When you are on dry pavement and turn the steering wheel, the front axle has a larger turning radius than the rear axle, but since there is no tire slip at any corner the center differential offsets the speed to the front and rear. (Example; Straight ahead with 10 rpm into the diff results in 10 rpm to the front and 10 rpm to the rear but when in a turn you could see 10 rpm input with the front seeing 11 rpm and the rear seeing 9 rpm since the front has to cover more distance for a given turn angle at a faster rate than the rear)

Torsens also use a bias ratio rather than a lb-ft torque value to describe their operation, where the bias ratio is the output shaft torque delivering the most torque divided by the output shaft torque of the lesser output torque. As long as the operating torque ratio is less than the bias ratio, it will differentiate and activelybalance the outputtorque. Once the bias ratio is exceeded a Torsen basically becomes a spool, or locker where everything is spinning at the same speed. This last condition is what happens in a snow covered road or parking lot where the tires can slip. Now with the front and rear axle both spinning at the exact same speed but the rear axles track is shorter than the front axles so it is spinning slightly more. When a car spins on ice it is very easy to push it sideways, even by hand. This is what is causing the oversteer.

Now, turn the steering wheel towards center and gas it, you should feel it hook up and pull you forward. With practice and liberal use of the E brake you can pitch the car to start rotating into a corner before the corner and nail the throttle before the apex for a smooth hard accerating exit. I love to have a nice snow covered road for my morning commute, playing with the arrogant SUV drivers that look in disbelief at a quattro's capabilities.

 

mine does the same thing as same as a friend of mine. i think therussian had his car dynoed and the split was 40/60 but i could be wrong though. i think the crv is an electrical system isn't it? quattro is a mechanical one. and i bet if i was driving your wife's crv i would be doing donuts in a parking lot lol. get some green diamond snow tires though. i heard they rock

 

i'm not sure about b7's, but i think you're wrong on b5's and b6's.. i think its always 50/50 on both, and on both, when slippage is detected, power can be adjust on both, up to 40/60 on both. can anyone verify? both

yay! 300th posts.. woohoo! both!

 

Wish I had your problem, mine plows like a fwd....

 

you just have to drive it differently... grab it by the horns and let it have it... haha and yeah the my '97 has 40/60, but now its more like 35/65 after i put in my light weight one piece driveshaft. i'll post on that in a little bit.

 

the power split depends on the situation. in straight driving it will be 50/50, under hard cornering up to 80% of the torque can be directed to the rear or front axles. starting with the b7's however the power split is 40/60 due to the a4 being nose heavy and it is able to direct 100% of the tq to the rear wheels or 80% to the front.

it should be easy to do donuts in any car in the snow tho. AWD ain't perfect