Diet Coke

Sad that I knew that just by looking at it, but its my favourite drink. Actually think i'm a bit addicted to it

 

After a good surf, I NEED a Diet Coke for some odd reason!

 

I have a Volvo S60R AWD that uses a Haldex rear diff that puts more power/torque to the rear on take off/accelerating and also entering a corner, but at other times it is fwd. Its an O.K. system on the car, but it took me a while to get use to it. It works well on snow as I found out this last week up in The Lakes

I wanted to know what the differences between Haldex and Torsen Diff.

The only down side with my car, is that the angle gear and collar can fail and the car becomes FWD only - becomes fun with 300bhp and 400nm in a 2+ ton car.

I was actually thinking about getting a Audi S4 over the S60R as I have had too many problems with mine.

I currently own a Volvo S60R and although it is a loverly car, I am getting get up of it constantly having to be booked onto a Volvo garage because this or that has failed/broken/worn out. The next item on the list after having replaced angle gear/collar, near side rear wheel bearing (warranty), radiator(£570) , power steering pump and tank(warranty) , discs and pads and new brake fluid (£1k), Low gearbox/engine torque mount, front wishbones and two weeks ago, Cambelt service totalling £1100, the Turbo Control Valve/boost control solenoid plus diagnostic fee of £88 totalling £151. Thats since late August/beginning of July when I picked the car up. Now I need a new front strut (Pair) at £540 each plus fitting. Its becoming rather an expensive car to run or keep road worthy.

Wondering whether I should change or get another Impreza?

 

I had one, I had lots of problems with aswell, very close to your list, but it didnt weight 2 ton +, it weighted 1670kg

 

If I plant the right hand pedal in the RS4 in the snow (like this morning for example), the traction control kicks in and limits the power/revs in much the same way, but I can't say that I notice it flicking power between front and rear. If I press the ESP button, it revs freely, but becomes very *interesting*

 

So if you have a haldex equiped car in the snow and the traction control backs the power off tothe point were all 4 wheels are going at the same speed does the haldex disengage and start the whole process over again?

 

Just tried to get to work in my s4 avant in snow, (didnt think id have much chance in the van), but was told to turn around, great! Mine has the torsen quattro system and the car handled it perfectly but very rear biased when giving it a bit to much out of a corner but good fun though!

Its a foot thick here in malvern, worcestershire

 

I think on gen II cars it stays engaged, if you boot it in the snow, it kicks the **** out then the ESC has a hissy fit and cuts the power. However, say you were in 1st gear in the snow at 5mph (bad idea/practice to hold 1st gear in the snow BTW unless your pratting about ) and then lift off the throttle too quickly, the engine braking will throw out the back end and make the car spin. If you lift off in a low gear on ice/snow, it oversteers, much like a RWD car does if using too low a gear. This suggest to me the rear wheels are still engaged (the excessive engine braking is causing the slide).

I believe its down to the programming anyway, which might vary between year, model, engine, etc, as it works on a combination of throttle position, vehicle speed as well as detected wheelslip, and AFAIK is independant of the ESC (I know the can bus signals to the haldex controller includes TPS position, and speed of each wheel, but nothing I've read mentions anything on if the ESC tells it to disengage or engage). Certainly the upgraded controllers allow the system to engage more upon throttle application rather than wheelspin.

Anyway, I don't use the ESC in the snow. It remove the ability to control the car via the throttle, and sometimes it gets it knickers in a right twist.

ESC= ON, slight wheel spin, quick twitch of the rear end, then power is cut dead. If you get into a slide it continues pulsing the ABS away like mad and you can do squat all about it barring steer (which doesn't do much - may as well jump out, like in that youtube video ).

ESC= OFF, **** out fun, drifts, doughnuts and ability to use the rear end to turn into junctions and control vehicle direction using the throttle.


Drove past a few stranded X5s and a merc ML on the way to work in my R32 today (presumably didn't know how to turn off the TC, or use the throttle/gears correctly - its not what you've got, its how you use it ).

Yet to find out if Haldex works in reverse (might try that later today).

 

S4, RS4 & R8. Both with proper 4WD systems. Both got/get great reviews.

S3 & TTRS. Both with Haldex. Both got poor reviews. Conclusions always the same, "Fast but boring".

 

Forget the reviews and just test drive them; I've seen some say a VW GTi is better than a S3 (maybe on price, buts thats as far as it goes IMO).

Comparing an RS4 and R8 to an S3 is a bit unfair, of course an RS4 or R8 is going to be more interesting. They are much more expensive cars (especially seeing an R8 is £80K new vs £27K for an S3)

For example, take a similarly priced A4 2.0 TFSi Quattro for a spin (same price as a new S3 ), you might want to take some caffine beforehand to stay awake though.