Quattro v X Drive

R

ronk

Lifer
 Durham
Its almost time that my wife needs a change of car and she tells me it must be another 4WD car and Auto.

She currently has a 3.0 Tdi A4 Quattro and I have been trying to convince her to look at a 330 xDrive - The YouTube videos seem to conflict as which is the better system.
I know there are users of both on here so any opinions would be appreciated.
 
Have you considered a SUV my wife adores her new X3 auto - she feels much safer because of the higher driving position and the 8 speed auto is the best automatic 'box I've ever used

I know that doesn't help regarding the merits of the various 4WD systems but the X3 always feels very planted on the road
 
I think she wants a "Car" as we also have the Disco 3 - As much as she likes driving the D3, she hates (attempting) to park it!
 
ronk said:
I think she wants a "Car" as we also have the Disco 3 - As much as she likes driving the D3, she hates (attempting) to park it!
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Ah... Cindy was a bit worried about that at first but the new PDC distance displays in the iDrive are brilliant - you can even get a 360deg surround view and reversing camera as options
 
Currently have our recently bought X3 on summers as i had already shoe'd the TT up on Dunlop winters
I appreciate 2 totally different cars which i have not had chance to explore in snow but would love to try out , especially the Quattro on decent winter tyres which should perform as good as any 4x4 :?
Previous X3 we ran through last winter on Pirelli Scorpion all season tyres & it did feel sure footed at all times but we never really had any snow to speak of
As for the Xdrive V Quattro debate ? i imagine there is little to distinguish for the majority of end users & choice of tyres could be the make or break of either if it came to the crunch ?
What is the price difference like for like on the Awd A4 V Xdrive 3 ?
 
I have x3 x drive sticks to the road averages 42 to the gal much more on a run 8 speed auto box is superb would have a :thumbsup: nother
 
mr wilks said:
Currently have our recently bought X3 on summers as i had already shoe'd the TT up on Dunlop winters
I appreciate 2 totally different cars which i have not had chance to explore in snow but would love to try out , especially the Quattro on decent winter tyres which should perform as good as any 4x4 :?
Previous X3 we ran through last winter on Pirelli Scorpion all season tyres & it did feel sure footed at all times but we never really had any snow to speak of
As for the Xdrive V Quattro debate ? i imagine there is little to distinguish for the majority of end users & choice of tyres could be the make or break of either if it came to the crunch ?
What is the price difference like for like on the Awd A4 V 3 ?
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Not sure about price at the moment - Its just an itch thats starting to need a scratch at this time and Im just doing the home work.
Her A4 will be a hard act to follow if she does change. Its only done 40k (Registered Sept 06) and has all the toys. We ll have to find a well specced car to match it.

As you say in the real world you would probably be hard pushed to notice any difference between the two systems !
 
Cant comment on the X Drive system as we've never had one, however my dads Quattro on his A7 is flawless ..

Naturally Audi have a history with the Quattro whereas BMWs x drive is a relative new comer in comparison. I know thats not that helpful..
 
bluestreak56 said:
Naturally Audi have a history with the Quattro whereas BMWs x drive is a relative new comer in comparison.
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Audi's first 4wd car came in 1980 and bmw's first 4wd came in 1985 (e30 325iX). So there's not thàt much difference. BMW is certainly not a 'new comer'.
 
For me personally X drive is miles better than the Quattro system without question, the X drive on my old X5 4.8 was really good in that it shifted all the power to the rear wheels when you needed it to and it felt rear wheel driven in certain situations, the Quattro system on the Audi TTS however was always front wheel driven and showed absolutely no sign of shifting the power to the rear wheels.

With the most recent Audis though the system has improved from what I have read but I really enjoyed the way the X5 felt when it shifted the power to the rear wheels so for me its far and away the better system but I prefer RWD to FWD but if your personal preference is the other way around then the Quattro system should tick the box for sure.
 
One thing to consider is the fact that the X-drive 330d has an increased ride height over the RWD model. I found that it had mucked up the cars handling quite a bit.
 
Are you sure about that?
The engine sits a bit higher, as xdrive requires 1 axle to go through the sump just under the crank, but car dimensions (bmw spec) are the same, so that would include rideheight.

Obviously with a higher engine (and 100kg extra weight) the cornering is a bit less as the balance point sits higher (so that's probably what you're experiencing), but audi makes the tradeoff that although the engine sits low, it sits 100% in front of the axle, including part of the gearbox.
So there's always a trade-off unless you place the engine in the middle (maybe buy a lamborghini? :lol: )
 
I can't find official confirmation but from a piston heads review of the 335d x-drive

"The downside of the XDrive is that you don't get the lowered and stiffened M Sport suspension - along with an increased ride height. The adaptive dampers go some way to making this back up - in comfort mode the car is nicely refined on motorways and A roads but when into sport it is reasonably fun on back roads, but you still end up with a bit of body roll."

I drove one without adaptive and it was wibbly wobbly horrible.

Probably all beside the point anyway though as I doubt the OPs wife is going to be hooning about in it.

The Audi is designed to have it's engine in that position so it's not like they designed the car with perfect weight distribution and balance only to stick the engine in at the last minute and realise that the engine was way out front and just thought "f**k it, we're not starting again. It'll have to do". It's a bit like saying a 991 will be a mess because the engine is way out back so you should buy a cayman.
 
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