I’ve often wondered if having an AWD Audi detracts from the sensation of acceleration. Ie. the front wheels pulling you; the rear wheels pushing you; they cancel each other off and you end up feeling not much of a sensation of acceleration. I recently drove a fast RWD car and thought holy shit the sensation of being pushed hard forward is striking.
Thoughts?
Agreed. RWD 335i feels faster than an S4.
Drive a slow AWD car for a little while and then go to a fast AWD car, The sensation will come back.
Once you are used to the cars performance it becomes numbing. That is why a lot of people can’t stop trying to make their cars faster.
As for the theory, I am no physics major, but I am pretty sure they do not cancel each other out.
I don’t think the drivetrain and which wheels the power is coming from has anything to do with acceleration sensations.
It mostly has to go with power delivery (boosted/nothing nothing nothing wham vs. sustained/linear) and the amount of power the car has relative to what you’ve grown accustomed to.
I do that weekly; drive the S5 through the week and the Q5 on the weekend. Every Monday morning it’s AWWWW YEAH lol
In addition to that, I felt the sensation in the RWD car was better.
Is the RWD car faster than yours? Was it turbo?
The thing with turbos is that when boost comes in it gives you a whole different feeling. You are starting out slow because no boost, and then all of a sudden BOOST.
Absolutely, but a lot of this has to do with the design of a vehicles suspension. Mostly with respect to the geometry rather than the parameters (not spring rate or damping etc…e.g. things that traditionally affect ride). The RWD car needs to pitch back more to maximize rear traction on acceleration. The AWD car does not need to do the same thing. From my experience, my car feels like it squats at all 4 corners when I accelerate, could be because of the aftermarket suspension parts I have…dunno.
There is a design parameter called the pitch pole which determines the point which the car CG rotates about the side view plane. It’s possible to actually make the car pitch backward when hitting the brakes, should the design of these poles be sufficiently bad. I’m having trouble finding a good reference on the pitch poles, but similar ideas can probably be read by looking into anti-squat etc
Wasn’t a turbo lag thing - car was a naturally aspirated brute. Nope not a Vette lol
Given that I was driving someone else’s car with them in it I was giving it kid gloves treatment; only moderately giving it gas. WHAM as I got pressed into the seat, or so it felt.
Cool! So, spill the beans! Which car was it?? I’m really curious now. And was it stock or modified?
Oh, and let me know if you’re ever in Toronto. My AWD wagon’s acceleration is pretty brutal, especially in 1st and 2nd.
LOL come on, bruno. Just tell us what car it was.
^ I was going to say the same thing.
In general, a turbo car will typically feel quicker than a N/A or most S/C cars at the same power level due to the rush you feel as boost kick in. Effectively one way to look at it, with some turbo power bands, the acceleration at a certain RPM range is faster as it is more concentrated than a more linear powerband would be in a NA car or most S/C cars. Because the acceleration is more concentrated it feels faster.
But I don’t think it necessarily has much to do with RWD and AWD. The only way I feel RWD would “feel” faster is the sensation fro tires spinning or the rear end wagging around. Obviously loss of traction is never the best way to go faster, but it can make you have the sensation of crazy power.
Get in a light weight WRX that is tuned up and tell me that doesn’t scare the piss out of ya. My Porsche can still scare me when the boost hits hard in 2nd gear. But that again is turbos spooling up vs instantaneous power available.
LOL all righty now that drama is sufficiently pumped up:
http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r594/thenewbruno2/large_4_zpsk1ftuipf.jpg
I’m assuming that’s the SV and not the VT right? 
I think it would comfortably rape your car torque wise.
Your S5 makes around 330 ft lbs of torque and around 380-390 hp.
That Diablo makes around 50% more torque and 30% more hp…and weighs 400 lbs less.
You’re not feeling the difference between AWD and RWD. You’re feeling the difference between moderately quick and legitimately fast.
To put it another way, if your S5 can run 12.8 @ 106 MPH at the dragstrip, and we get you into the JHM S5 supercharger that adds about 75 ft lbs torque and about 150 hp and runs 11.8 @ 118, the difference would be shocking. Similar to Diablo vs. your all motor S5.
IIRC, one of the car mags (R&T, C&D) did a series of tests and determined that the body perceived acceleration in the musculature. Some time ago tests.
'91 RWD. Some updated skirts, '99 headlamps and 2001 6.0 wheels. Car was originally red on tan, now blue on horrible blue/grey interior.
This Diablo that I drove. It was off autotrader for a while and has popped back up at a dealer in Sault Ste Marie. Dunno if the owner wholesaled it away or what, anyhow the owner was at $139,000 and the dealer is at $299,999
I sent them an email basically asking WTF is with the price and I was told that’s where the market is now, as if I were naive…even though in my email I:
88 up to 300 in 2 years. Yaaaaaa mon!
no bueno!
Well it hasn’t sold yet so who knows what it will actually sell for. And the Soo isn’t really an accurate market representation. I’m surprised they’re even bothering to try and sell it there.
Weird…
That said, I have a friend that bought an old 1st generation viper in the spring purely for investment purposes. I guess he feels the market is changing as well.
