Specifications

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quattro® with sports differential24
With quattro®, we have created one of the
best all-wheel drive systems in the world.
Of course, that was not good enough for us.
quattro® is a permanent all-wheel drive system.
If the wheels on one axle of the vehicle lose grip
on the road and threaten to spin, then the power
is transferred to the other axle – automatically
and permanently distributed through the centre
differential. The basic distribution is 40 : 60 –
40 % of the power comes from the front axle,
60 % from the rear. The benefit is better traction
during acceleration and improved safety due to
improved grip. So much for the technology. But
what makes quattro unique is really the driving
feel. “As if you are stuck to the road,” some
customers say. We put it like this: quattro gives
you a better feel for the road – and increases
safety.
The optional quattro® with sports differential
further reinforces this unmistakeable quattro
feeling. Vehicles tend to experience understeer
when steering or driving into corners. This is a
normal physical process: a moving object
opposes a change in direction. The elastic tyres
and the suspension mounts tense up until the
new direction has been adopted. When
accelerating into a corner, the load on the front
axle is reduced and it therefore transfers less
lateral force to the tyres – the vehicle
understeers. With the sports differential on the
rear axle, the tendency to understeer is
counteracted.
This is because the quattro rear axle differential
has been extended left and right by a clutch
system with two gear levels. They ensure that the
individual wheels on the rear axle receive
different levels of torque. The clutches are
activated by an electro-hydraulic actuator.
Depending, for example, on the steering angle,
lateral acceleration, yaw angle and driving speed,
the system calculates the distribution of wheel
torque. In this way the power is specifically
channelled to the outer rear wheel, when
steering or accelerating into a corner.
The fuel consumption and CO₂ emission figures can be found on page 48.
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