I have a quattro 1.8tqm 03..


I was testing out the parameters of the vehicle, today. Just so i know what the cars and my driving limits are. And i suck at shifting i mean, when i shift gears... the rpms pop up a tiny bit(one notch) and then go down and then go up as i press gas again. I dont know much about manuals, but i know they didnt do this in an auto.

thats besides the point though... I was turning in a pretty sharp, probably 70-90 degree, turn at about 30-40mph. And my car started to make a larger angle. There were no cars around. It was a two lane (each way) road. And i ended up on the lane further out, when i was steering it properly (from what i know).

This is normal in awd?

 

Well you might just be a little inexperienced but understeer is apparent in all audis. Its just at a higher limit than most fwd/awd cars out there. Having the engine hanging over the front end and 3400+lbs curb weight doesn't help either. The quattro is pretty good though, I can take 35mph turns on uneven roads at over 60mph with minimal understeer. Its all how you control the weight shift. Good tires help also.

 

i would learn to shift better and then start worrying about the cornering. cuz once ur good at shifting, u could go bout 70 in the opposite lane (left lane on a right hand turn), brake rly hard at bout 80ft b4 the turn, down shift, turn and power over. works wonders. even more fun in the snow though. but geting back to wut ur talking bout, jsut turn a little more. ya awd cars do have understeer, but it's mostly the driver (im not implying that ur a bad driver)
disclaimer: i don't guarentee this to work but it works for me

 

press gas before you let out the clutch and try and match the revs. it'll spool the turbo and eliminate that drop in RPM

yup they understeer like a bitch and are heavier than a rhino. you'll get used to it. there's lot of ways to improve the handling tho

 

Thank god mines quattro. Its definitely noise heavy, which is fixed now in the b8 model. Its a much better balanced car.
It'll be like 2015 before I'll be able to afford one of those probably.
So, Im just dealing with it. A BT will make me feel a little better.

 

Hrm.. okay Thanks guys.. Yea, i know about the rev b4 letting go of the clutch deal. I'm just not good at estimating it.

Maybe one of the guys will tell me at the meets this 30th.

 

I rev match every downshift. It gets easier the more you do it. But you can't be scared and hesitate, you need to match it and let the clutch out, don't wait. I find that for most downshifts it's about 1k RPMs except 5-4 it's less and I don't bother with downshifting to 1st because that means I'm just going to stop anyway. I was doing this all the time on an old beater truck before I got the Audi so it was just natural by the time I started driving the A4. I don't even watch the tach, just listen to the engine and know how far/long to press the gas.

If you really want to get a good idea of where you need to rev it to downshift go at a constant speed (no braking) and downshift with no clutch from 4th to 3rd (I find 2nd can be tricky and 5th to 4th is too easy.)