Following on from the 4wd VS winter tyre video last year, where everyone told me I was an idiot for using a BMW and that I should have used an Audi for AWD systems, I thought it would try and prove to the world that there wasn't much difference in the systems anymore. Hopefully, this video will help any future Quattro VS XDrive arguments :) You can find me on insta here for plenty more car and tyre fun: instagram.com/jonathan__Benson/
You need to know that the famous Quattro system is NOT used in the new generation of A4. The new A4 uses a Haldex system, so it is Front+rear-on-demand. The old famous quattro was permanent 60:40 rear:front. It was much better, used Torsen differential. But it was expensive, so Audi dropped for more profits. It would be great to do the test with a proper Quattro system. One more thing - due to the law of physics, when a car accelerates, the weight of the car is shifted to the back-end. This is even more true when a car starts on an incline, even more of the weight is at the back of the car -> rear has better traction so a RWD bias AWD system (like xDrive, old quattro) would do better in such scenario.
Deniz - I spoke at Audi at length, and they assured me the Ultra system was every bit as good. But I also agree with you, the Torsen system would have been better. Sadly with these tests we have to use the newest cars available or you don't get support, plus these are the cars people will be looking at buying so I guess it's more relevant than an older Audi. RIP Torsen :(
@@tyrereviews Well of course Audi would say it as better as the old system, they need to sell the cars :) By the way, their 3L engines (across all models) still use the Torsen system, so it is still possible to buy one.
@@Mattittas I'm sorry I didn't pay attention and asked stupid questions. But there is one problem. Although the power and weight is similar, one is diesel and one is gas on the audi and BMW and they behave very differently. I'm sorry to say but I know that from actually trying on snow in similar situation. If you don't believe me, please try yourself.
Props for the same wheels/tires, but a big no no for Audi TDI/Diesel vs BMW i/Gasoline. One has a lot of Power on low revs, the other on high revs. Would have been so much more comparable if you had the 2.0tdi vs the 320d or 2.0tfsi vs 320i ... Otherwise very fair test. From my experience (living uphill in switzerland, owned audi, bmw, merc and skoda) Audi and Bmw are nearly identical - while the bmw is more rwd layout vs. more fwd on the audi side. Merc's 4matic was disappointing (W211, R6, E320cdi) and with the skoda i got stuck couple of times.
@@backtrack8094 lmfao "luxury car from japan" German cars are the kings of luxury cars (not talking about Bentley, Rolls and Maybach. Even tho they're all "germanized")
probably this doesnt matter at all, since they were not able to put that much torque down to the surface like this. This would be a real difference accelarating on an asphalt surface.
To be honest, I was born in the tropics and some time ago I moved to Canada and this is the 1st time I see anyone performing a winter system/tire/you-name-it test by LEVELING THE FIELD WITH THE SAME SET OF WINTER TIRES! Kudos!!!!
It should be noted though. On the Audi if the engine is mounted longitudinal it uses a completely different quattro system than the transverse mounted engines. The transverse system is not the quattro setup that made Audi famous, it uses a system closer to the Golf R and R32. I bring this up because the A4 can have either one depending on the engine you get. The OG quattro was 100% mechanical and sent power to the tire with the most traction simply by the gearing. I am not sure if it is still like this today. I do know the V8 S4 was still using that setup.
I have the 5 series X drive and my buddy has an Audi Quattro. Exactly like the ones in the video. And when we race im always ahead for most of the race up until about 75% of the way through and he passes me every time. So yeah I’d say these tests are pretty accurate
@@nirfz This is exactly correct. As speed increases x-drive, in the F30 3-series generation shown here, limits torque to the front wheels -- until you get to 80mph where NO power is sent to the front wheels at all.
Did quite a bit of snow mountain climbing last year with my Bmw X1 with performance winter tire and winter wheel (narrower and heavier) in dynamic driver mode (traction semi off), it absolutely owned the roads. Even in sealed off mountains, I had zero problem climbing and have some controlled sideway fun too when I felt like it. The only problem is rear brake wearing off faster as the result of the semi active traction. Great job BMW!
thats why you say 3..2..1..go, so the others can predict, thats how a countdown works lol they might be off by a tenth of a second, that's totally insignificant in these tests
My guess for the uphill battle is that Xdrive has a rear bias and quattro has a front bias. The rear bias would have a slight advantage in scenarios with more load in the rear.
@@juliasrouvali1924 more like 5 different quattro systems. But yeah, "front bias" would be the wrong way to put it. "Less of a rear bias" would be correct. The Audi's torsen diff starts off with a 40-60 distribution, while xDrive is basically a haldex diff, but RWD. Therefore the BMW has a power distribution of 0-100 by default.
@@91PKPower xDrive is very different from Haldex, it has a transfer case at the middle which allows it to be a permanent AWD system. Haldex is part-time.
Quattro vs 4Matic vs whatever the heck Volvo call their system perhaps. Wouldn't mind seeing the SUVs though- perhaps Q5, GLC, RAV4 and Forester to mix it up a bit.
Audi doesn't have the 'propper' Quattro, it has something called Quattro Ultra which is pretty much a Haldex system, meaning it's not permanent AWD anymore. Only the V6 models get the permanent Quattro with Torsen differential.
I thought I missed something.... I drive a Audi A5 3.0 v6 TDI ... and when I turn the systems completely off... they are OFF .... oversteers in a very controllable and predictable manner. Still... nice test... good video.
@@307834ST no, they started including Quattro Ultra in all their models including the higher-end ones. It's unclear if Quattro Ultra is designed by Haldex, but it works just like it. It's a part time AWD system, like Haldex.
Ondra Neuman yes this is true, but in the end it’s still Audi’s fault. You cannot blame BMW because Audi decided to remove the Torsen. Audi should have kept it. Now they are losing one of the biggest advantages of the Audi brand and on paper, at least, the BMW is overall becoming the better option.
Honestly seems like splitting hairs between all 3, in normal winter driving they all work incredibly well. Fan boy arguments aside, predictably comes down to preference of which you’d like and for me it depends on year as they constantly leap frog each other with improvements which is great
Especially since the systems get very close to each other. More electronics, less mechanics. It seems that the traditional quattro just couldn't compete with other systems with regard to efficiency and thus environment friendly, which is becoming more and more important. Though I would also take either of those (and in fact probably would chose the BMW as estate version), I personally would like the predictability of a fix mechanical system, rather than a computer calculating things I don't understand and which might come to a different conclusion in similar terrain situations.
Conclusion: Audi and BMW have pretty comparable AWD systems, but an experienced driver with the right equipment is superior to electronic traction control.
Some nice testing there but there are so many variables in reality that doing a really comprehensive test would be very difficult. I had an F30 BMW 330D with X-Drive and it's an excellent system. I was out in the snow on summer tyres (stupid I know but I had no choice) and it was going up hills (although only just) that other AWD vehicles were sliding back down. In fact the only time I got stuck was simply due to the sheer depth of snow and lack of ground clearance that it bogged me down. However, I now have an Audi S4 B8.5 and it has the Torsen 4WD centre diff and Torque Vectoring via the brake system (will lock up an individual wheel to somewhat simulate a front/rear LSD) and it's insane, almost unearthly how much grip this thing has. I've not had it out in the snow yet, but even in the heaviest of rain this thing is scary good and married with the brake wash system results in a very confident ride in torrential downpours. Regardless of how much I respect the proper Quattro system, it's worth noting that many of the Audi cars now have the non-permanent Haldex system. But despite this, I would never knock X-Drive as it is a fantastic system and more than capable beyond my expectations.
It’s also important to know how the systems work. This version of quattro uses a torsen center differential while the bmw uses an actimax transfer case. The center differential when the grip is equal sends a percentage to the front and the rest to the rear like 40% front /60% rear. If the front has zero grip it cannot send any torque to the rear, but in that case the esc will apply brakes on the front tires and that way power will be transferred to the rear. However, while driving on snow, the grip front vs rear is similar for same weight. The front is heavier on audi but but because the rear still has grip the torsen can send more power to the front. Whith the actimax xdrive things are very different. The rear is permanently connected to the gearbox output so whenever it is grip it will always push. There is no center differential but instead a transfer case. The front is connected to the gearbox output through a set of clutches. There is a preload value, so the cutch will slip only when the clutch limit is reached that is 40% gearbox output torque. Below the limit both axles will have more power than required. When that happens the computer squeezes the clutches for more grip up to locking the front 100%. On hill climbing the car relies more on the rear tires which always have grip. Basically to make an xdrive you take a RWD car and connect the front though a set of clutches. The problem is the clutches can overheat wear when there is clutch slip so that is when the front wheels rotate at a different speed than the rear. Bmw can also modify the software to make it completely RWD when you don’t want to cause any wear to the clutches or it can fully lock the front also it will not cause wear anymore. In RWD mode is also more fun and much less wear for snow drifts. That is available on m5 but there is aftermarket software for other models. Locking the front can be done by software except bmw doesn’t want it. By doing that it will behave like a 4x4 with locked center differential
Unfortunately you are incorrect. Starting in 2017 most Audi models including the A4 use a new Quattro system called "Quattro Ultra". Similar to a Haldex system except it's better and was developed in house by Audi. It is NOT a torsen system. - uses a 2 clutch system. Multi-plate clutch at the end of the transmission. A separator clutch at the rear axle drive. - a series of worm gears, pins, levers and springs engage and disengage a unique front plate clutch to divide torque between front and rear as needed. The rear claw clutch connects abd disconnects the prop-shaft and rear wheels for maximum efficiency. - Audi admits 250 milliseconds is still enough time for tire slip to occur, so Ultra has new sensors all over the car thst monitor manybthongs such as wheel slip, cornering speed, engine torque and more, the data is processed by a computer system constantly runs simulations every 10 milliseconds, calculating where traction will like up to 500 milliseconds later. Audi example: during a turn, the inside tire will loos traction, the system analyzes the drivers behavior (turn, throttle and wheel) to calculate what torque and traction will be 500 milliseconds later. When it determines torque will exceed available traction, the system engages Quattro Ultra in half the time before it's even needed. Even in most extreme conditions where no prediction is possible such as hitting a water puddle, the sensors can detect slippage so early there is no perceptiable difference from a traditional system. - The threshold for Quattro engagement adjusts based on what driving mode your in. Or in offroad mode puts it into the same full time AWD mode as on Torsen systems. - Quattro Ultra starts in AWD when you first take off. - Ultra works electromechanically and can be fully engaged in under 250 milliseconds. 8x faster than haldex or other reactive AWD systems.
@@shawhub3204 Quattro does have a match - it's called xDrive. I have a 2014 S4 and a 2010 A5 (both with full Quattro) and a 2021 X2 w/ xDrive. On wet or snowy roads, Bmw xDrive is safer, while Audi Quattro is more maneuverable.
_1:00__ "the third reason this should be better than the rest is: 'I don't care who wins. I'm a tyre tester, not a car tester.'" - TR_ ...and after that, I sub'ed
Great review! It is awesome that you normalized the tires. That makes it a relevant and fair test. The original Audi Quattro system was purely mechanical and very competent. The new Quattro systems vary quite a bit from model to model, but none the less the original should have a leg up on the others.
@@spidercho indeed, sometimes you have to be able to actually spin the tires some, more then the computer will allow one other thing is the fact the bmw is primary rwd, with front wheel assit, so the weight transfer from the incline also helps it in that aspect vs audi/vw being primary fwd with only rear wheel assist
One big stand-out is that even when you try to match things, pure luck with reaction, surface etc can make a big difference between cars that are basically equal
Huge respect for the testing. Really great that you normalised tyres and wheels sizes, noted the power and weight differences and accounted for them when interpreting the results, swapped drivers, did multiple runs etc, honestly I have big expectations for your future content now :P I would be interested to see how they compare to Subaru which are known for their AWD too, but mamma mia I know it was probably very hard to organise BMW vs Audi already. Keep up with the good work
You need to use the “Dynamic Traction control” for the “systems on” run in the BMW as that is BMW’s answer for the best safety/performance. It makes a huge difference because the normal “systems on” setting is for the conservative drivers.
A buddy of mine owned his S4 and his 335ix at the same time, and he hated the X-Drive system for every day driving. He said it was twitchy at lower speeds and accelerating. His experience made him state the Audi was more driver friendly and overall easier to drive and more stable and predictable in the snow. He said the BMW was awesome for power sliding in the snow though. He lives in northern Alberta, quality winter tires are necessary up there. Same Nokian winter tires on both his cars...
Huge history mistake - Audi didn't invent AWD. Quattro was introduced years after some other awd systems. However Audi did popularize it in passenger cars.
@@diarreallen2803 It depends what kind of vehicle you consider. There are passenger cars like Mitsubishi PX33 or Kurogane Typ 95 from mid 30's. Then came the Jeep, Toyota, Nissan or Suzuki (40's-60's) but these were more offroaders (however first Jimny was kind of small crossover fun car). If we take into consideraton passenger cars in "modern" shape than there is Jensen FF (Ferguson Formula) from 1965 (awd masterpiece), Subaru Leone from 1972 or AMC Eagle from 1979.
@@unwantedlinks2730 Actually rally versions of Quattro (up to 1985) were very simple - no center differential (or locked center differential) and rear lsd. It worked great on gravel or snow, it didn't work at all on tarmac (not possible to turn in rallies like Corsica).
PhantomMark you’re a BMW man? Wow! Does that mean you’re involved in the company? Do you hold the majority share? Are you the owner of BMW? Such an honor to finally meet the man! Oh wait, you mean you’re just a consumer blindly following a brand because of its brand name, like a proper slave? Carry on then.
Q Qrax oh god learn how to speak with your own vocabulary! “Why so toxic” “ok boomer” and all this crap for morons like you who need a template to write something. No wonder you immediately go to your “toxic” cookie cutter reply instead of actually reflecting on my comment. Toxic enough, “snowflake”?
Ken Cur what are you, twelve? He’s simply stating that he prefers Beemers but that he recognizes the solid performance of the Audi and Jag. No need for petulance.
When it comes to winter driving, the all wheel drive and electronics are helpful. But at the end of the day, to effectively drive in bad winter conditions it mostly comes down to skill. Practice, practice, practice!
i agree with you on the snow handling on the bmw.... the electronics on the BMW are quite annoying... however, turn them off (or for those of us like me, that have sport +), the BMW becomes crazy amazing fun to drive on snow.... :) whenever it snows, sport + mode just gives you the exact balance you need to lay power down to regain control of your vehicle.....
This is great, thanks a lot for it! Personally, I've a feeling that the 1980s Audis happened to be somewhat less of a compromise and provide better show handling than more recent models of the same brand. The purely mechanical central torsen differential seems to distribute power in a quite predictable way. Would be fun to see one of those in a similar test, to see how it would perform, and whether this impression is correct or rather my imagination.
Hi, i am bmw fan, but i agre with you. Back in days the mecanical quatro was much better for grip. People nowdays are impres by quatro maybe because its history of rally. Now xdrive or quatro are like android vs IOS do the same thing but with slight diffrences.
@@nickcook7408 actually not anymore. Most of the latest Audis are sold with the Quattro "Ultimate", which is no longer a Torsen. Now it's kinda in the midway, basically It's just FWD most of the time and engage Quattro when needed, that's to improve efficiency, but it comes with the cost of not being as good as the OG Torsen in the snow.
The BMW is extremely under-torqued compared to other cars here, its almost 40% down... in a fair torque to torque scenario, I'd say the Audi and BMW are probably going to tie more times than not
You do know that cars have transmissions with different gear ratios so torque driving the wheels is comparable right? Maybe it's mind boggling but torque is not important at all. What's important is the power engine produces at different rpms - the power curve. And in this regards diesels have a slight advantage over turbo petrol engines and a big advantage over naturally aspirated petrol engines. Here the BMW is turbo petrol engine, so yes the diesel has a slight advantage but it's not much.
@@pavlins123 The wide torque band and good get-go even from low rpms in a car with a diesel engine might well be very favorable in this test setup over a petrol engine, which also has to use semi low rpms and the edge of the grip to accelerate fast on a low friction surface (plus the 4wd systems that use breaks on individual tires and restrict engine throttle might catch the edge of the grip quicker after restrictive measures when theres plenty of torque behind the rpm at hand) The test would have gotten way more valid with more similarly matched vehicles (there still would have been the difference in the weight distribution between the front and rear axel of the BMW and the Audi, unless there was a front wheel drive BMW with Xdrive)
I think you should have tested an Audi with the permanent quattro system, instead of the quattro ultra, which is haldex based. That's why we can see the BMW winning on the hill climb test - it has rear wheel bias, compared to the Audi, which is front wheel biased.
I spoke at Audi at length, and they assured me the Ultra system was every bit as good. But I also agree with you, the haldex system would have been better. Sadly with these tests we have to use the newest cars available or you don't get support, plus these are the cars people will be looking at buying.
Yep. I think history will try to pretend Quattro Ultra never existed (it will jump straight from torsen quattro to electric cars). If this test was in 2014 then I think it would've given a very different result especially with ESP off. The reality is Audi sell front-wheel-drive cars and Subaru sell weak engines so it's hard to blame the reviewers for being honest. I'll be keeping my A4 B8 for a while.
I totally understand how difficult it is to sort everything out with the manufacturers. It would be awesome if you do a test with two Audis - one with quattro ultra, and one with torsen quattro.
For most people who have to occasionally drive on snow in the mountains, all that matters is the ability to get the car moving from a stop when on a snow or ice covered slope. This avoids a lot of embarrassment if there are vehicles behind or the nightmare of having to put snow chains on. From the film the Jaguar did best.
Great review. Thanks! Note that BMW has a special mode for winter driving which doesn't cut power, it basically works like a locking diff and a tuned down stability control together, allowing for wheel spin, moderate drift angle.
With host HHR there will be a 0.3-0.5 second delay. When he says ‘go’, the people with the other radios will be hearing it with roughly half a second delay.
As a Finn I must say, that this was a pretty decent real life test of everyday winter driving. As a Finn I would give extra points to the off the line take off (you want to get your car going). As a Finn I would also give exra points to the hill climb test (thats where you get stuck like we saw here). As a Finn I would be interested in the cars ability to STOP. As a Finn I have ZERO interest for the slippery surface drag race test.
As a Finn I must say, that braking on the ice is a completely diffirent topic. In this video the point is to test these three AWD systems, and AWD does not effect in braking in any kind of form. Braking on ice tests the brakes, ABS and tires of a car, which are not the point of this video.
@@Scramasax As a Finn I must say, that firstly that video is made with 4WD, which behaves quite diffirently compared to AWD. Then that video is inadequate, because that guy in that video does not explain why the things in that video are happening. Yes, that truck does stop faster with 4WD, but it is not because of the 4WD, but I think it's because of the poor brakes in that truck. That truck probably even has drum breaks in the rear. So, when that truck is in 4WD it keeps the wheels spinning longer at the front, and the wheels lock more or less at the same time. In 2WD there is no power going to the front and the front wheels lock split-second faster and results in an un-even wheel locking times. That is the best explanation I can give you about that video. So in conclusion, in that video the poor brakes are to accused for that result. In normal vehicles like these one in this original video have quite high-performance disk breaks which brake much better
@@kevarimies8130 Audi has a mechanical viscous coupling dividing the power between front and rear axles. By default it's front axle biased, but can divide the power 50/50 on each axle on demand. BMW is using an electronic clutch and can transfer 100% of power for any axle or anywhere in between. By default Audi sends 100% power to the front, as by default BMW sends 60% power to the rear 40% front. Would be interesting to know how they manage the power during breaking. On sports cars (like Porsche) and racing cars you have a breaking bias valve for rear breaks, adding more break force to the rear during light breaking. This makes breaking on a slippery surface more effective. AWD has some what the same effect. If utilized. The video link I gave you is propably not the best possible, but you should be able to understand the basics. He has more videos about the same matter by the way...
@@snapdragogon69 Please define which RS models. RS3 with Haldex or RS5 with TorSen diff? To be more complicated R8 is using something between TorSen and Haldex, but more bias to Haldex system.
The Audi's quattro was the "haldex " or the "torsen" system???? Cause it's really big difference between them! I would really would like a answer! Thanks!
@@antonikrzsztofik355 No. Permanent AWD (aka the mechanical torsen diffs) for Audi's are gone in lower classes. It's either Haldex or some other stupid thing.
Great review. Would be cool to use timing equipment in all three cars for the acceleration tests as well just to have a bit more data to compare (ie: off the line acceleration 60' vs trap speed, etc.)
BMW probably did best up hill because the AWD system is RWD-biased. That is, it sends more power to the rear wheels, in most driving circumstances, that the Audi.
@@henrickhansel A5, A6, A7, A8 all have rear wheel biased AWD system 40front/60rear and some A4 models. A3 and TT have the front wheel drive AWD system.
This is so awesome. I would really love to see how 4WD can keep up with newer AWD Tech. I also like to see braking in a corner as well. My bet AWD to win as I don’t see any new tech for 4wd for on road handling (I could be wrong).
@@zepter00 I see different components when looking under the car. For example how 1 drive shaft from transmission to the rear when I look under an AWD Subaru Ascent / Toyota Highlander vs under a 4wd Toyota 4Runner / Jeep Wrangler/ F 150 how 2 drive shafts going from the transfer case.
what a well done test! The effort that's gone into this is amazing and appreciated, as an Audi fan im kind of upset how the other companies have caught up in terms of awd systems but good on those other companies
Audi fan here too i got mention though a rwd car with winter tires will outperform an awd car using all season tires. Tires really make a difference though most of bmw’s fun stuff is rwd and u cant own them up north without it being a nightmare i just bought a 2015 rs5 its a beast
Note that not all Audi A4 of the (featured in this video) B9 generation have Quattro AWD system with a Torsen differential. I believe the 3.0 TDI model has Torsen but lower trims have Quattro Ultra which has an electronically controlled clutch pack for the center differential which can disengage completely, while the old-fashioned Quattro has Torsen - a purely mechanical contraption that always keeps both output shafts spinning but adjusts power transfer ratio between them. The way Audi was oscillating at 8:36 did not look like Quattro to me but I'm no expert.
What a fantastic video! I live in Finland and ”the winter is coming” so these videos that you make about AWD systems and snowy conditions are absolutely marvelous! I hope to see more of your videos. Btw Nokian Tyres are the best northern tyres that you can buy (if you ask me).
That’s what I’m saying, the boy said he was unbiased at the beginning, yet he chose BMW(fanboy) for the win, when the Audi clearly passed the cones first 2:43
@@daytoncorl271 Plus he showed his implicit bias 0:10 when he said he couldn't see why the Audi (funboys) were so keen on the Audi being better. I guess it must have come down to stats. Which is always a mistake... I SHOULD KNOW I'M BLACK! 😅🤣😅
@@eastoakland-S65feen I owned an 2009 A4 (B9), a 2014 TTS (haldex) and I could pitch both sideway quite easily and controllably. Haldex is fine for most situations.
Great test! Would have been interesting to see some lap times on the BMW with the DTC half off, that setting allows for a surprising amount of wheel spin and slip on snow while still remaining fairly safe, and is good for less experienced drivers who want to learn how the car handles over the limit.
@@hipflask69 Fab setting for when you don't want to be bothered by the DSC system all the time, but you aren't quite "on it" enough to turn everything off and really hoon about.
This is probably the most well done and fair test between 3 comparable cars I've seen on YT. So many comparisons on here just flat out piss me off because they seem to be actively trolling the car brand enthusiasts that they seem to try to make look bad. ...Or give the car they are rooting for a crutch when it fails to win by saying something like "The Mercedes would have won if the tires weren't bald." ....well D-UH!!!! I live on the east coast of Canada, and drive a 2010 Audi TTS. With the traction control off it is so tail happy that I find it hard to control on snow or ice--as fun as it may be. I will say that it understeers a fair bit on snow and ice with the traction control on. Not as fun, but it allows even an inexperienced, somewhat unconfident driver to still be fast in those winter conditions without having to worry too much about ending up in a snow bank. I know it has saved my bacon more than a few times over the years, when I was pushing it too hard in a turn on black ice. The car stabilized itself immediately like magic. One second you are out of control and the next second you are not. It is quite something to experience. One last thing: you can further improve takeoff in the Audi from a dead stop by switching to manual mode and putting the car in second gear before hitting the accelerator. The wheels will hook up better with less spinning. Thumbs up and subscribed.
That wasn't a hill... Go in the mountains and climb and actual hill... I am pretty sure Audi would do better in such circumstances. Furthermore, what's more important - to climb a hill at all or climb it faster?! Who cares about the climbing speed when in reality all you would care about is to climb the hill safely. Once again, that's not a real hill. The incline % is bollocks here. This test doesn't make BMW better in no way. The Audi Quattro system has been better, is and will continue to be better and dominate the X-drive. BMW is producing and selling cars with this "x drive"... But believe me, all of this doesn't work properly. They're doing this so that they could get more sold cars with the extra badge at the back "Xdrive"... I know front wheel cars which perform way better in such conditions than an X-drive BMW. If you're planning on buying a 4 wheel drive car, make yourself the favour to buy an Audi and leave all the other bullshit aside.
All three are super close. Wow. No one thinks Jaguar and snow but it kept it together and frankly, safely does snow...and when not snow it is the nicest car to actually drive. That makes it, to me, the winner. The underdog was the most fun - done.
So, from observations from this and other 'test' videos my humble conclusion is, that they are ~the same in straight lines. The difference is the tiny start moment, when you actually start moving every attempt: better start = winner it's simple math: when: X is moving 1km/h Y is moving 0km/h X goes ~3cm further distance during 1st miliseconds when: X is moving 2km/h Y is moving 1km/h X goes 3cm AGAIN during next miliseconds... etc... When you get grip - it's pretty similar to me.
Excellent video. It seemed on the hill start test though that the Op was always driving the Audi. That can make a huge difference as to how the driver inputs the initial torque applied through the throttle. What this video comes down to is buy the brand that you like and you won't go wrong.
Yes! Maybe a 5000CS turbo, the generation of Quattro that had vacuum-actuated center and rear differential LOCKERS. I bet that thing would've out-launched the whole bunch of them.
I have a year 2012 Q5 2.0 TDI, I am the first owner. The Quattro performance especially on snowy & icy roads is unbeliavable. Of couse, the high quality winter tires is a must even on this vehicle. I can climb any hills even on icy roads and heavy snow without any issues. It makes you feel so confident at high speeds on sharp winding roads with an amazing handling performace. I feel so lucky to own this vehicle and I will never own anything other than an Audi Quattro in the future when I sell my Q5.
I love your videos for the accuracy and showing the other effects like driver, normalizing the size and brand of the tyre, side of the street, we never see that and we can see how important it is to make a good comparison. Thank you for that ! I nevertheless have a problem with the comparison since the Audi and the Jag are Diesel, the BMW petrol. It means the BMW has ~100kg less on the front axle. This is a huge advantage for the Audi for the grip on Ice, since the Quattrosystem on that car is by default front biased -> you save the reaction time and slip of the whole system. Hill Climbing: The lighter petrol engine in the BMW and thus the slighlty rear biaised weight distribution is a big help to make this rear wheel put the torque down. Audi has less weight on the rear and the the weight on the front is just without help for climbing. Same story for the snow handling, the heavy diesel enforce the understeer of the car, wich is already designed to understeer. A BMW Diesel would also gave you more understeer feeling. Please please please do it again with A4 TDI 190 + 320D ideally without automatic :)
"Quattrosystem on that car is by default front based -> you save the reaction time and slip of the whole system." Would have love to see a test with Quattro`s Torsen 6 gen. Its 60/40 back/fron based.
I think they are very similar but the engines make a big difference. The Audi if it's like my 2013, builds peak torque at 1800rpm while I assume the BMW builds it later/more gradually. Also you absolutely can turn off all the Audi's traction control. Just hold the tc button. It's like that In a lot of cars
This. And from what I can tell from watching the video they did not do this. It appears all they did was turn off ASR. As an Audi driver who drives to mountain resorts weekly in the Winter, ESP OFF is how you use Quattro in the slush, snow, ice conditions. Perhaps a complete sheet of ice (polished ice) you could use only ASR Off, but those conditions are RARELY seen in real-world driving. www.audihelp.com/auda-102-electronic_stabilisation_program_esp_.html
This is excellent! I hope you can do even more cars in this type of test, like Volvo, Skoda, Subaru or Tesla (maybe this winter, if the situations allow it)
I think the Audi is a Diesel. And not just more torque it has a bit more power and is a faster car overall. Of course you'll never get a perfect apples to apples comparison because any two cars you compare will have more differences than just the AWD system they use. But I think this test showed that there is only a small difference between this Audi and this BMW in the acceleration tests which can be easily explained by this Audi just being a more powerful and faster car overall, and on the hill test the BMW actually did better which should shut up all the fanboys who think "quattro" is some sort of witchcraft that defies the laws of physics (and "quattro" isn't even a technology, it's just a trade name that Audi uses and abuses for marketing when in reality Audi's AWD transmissions are made by Haldex or Torsen and plenty of other manufacturers use them too). All of these cars have four wheels on the ground and four wheels being driven, if they all have the same tyres then it would be very strange if they didn't have very similar levels of grip in these conditions because that's all it really comes down to.
he is meaning effective torque. "Driven to the surface". You may have 1000000000 Nm (with capital N) torque, but if you do not care about the traction coefficient, you end up spinning wheels like Flinstones bowling yabadabadoo :D
Parsa Kaali my 2006 Audi 3.2l natural aspirated Avant pulled a 2017 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton 8ft bed 4x4 out of a ditch today. Yesterday I pulled an upside down 2020 Ford 250 4x4 that had flipped and landed in the middle of the road on its crushed roof. I pulled that into the ditch. I still have my summer tires on and they are 3 years old. This was in 6 inches of snow on top of ice. I agree with Sergio that the Audi is a diesel, obviously a turbo diesel. I don’t know if the BMW is turbo or not. But if you actually watch the footage, when the host says the Audi and BMW are neck and neck, in actuality the Audi is 2 car lengths ahead and pulling away. They had a drone over each challenge. You can count the drone shots on one hand. Because the Audi was either crushing the BMW or pulling away. So they used odd angled footage to make it appear closer than it actually was. But watch the details in the footage. If you decipher the deceptive angles using angles and math, the host is desperately wanting the BMW to best the Audi. Also the Audi is winning with an incredibly torquey diesel that has pretty bad turbo lag. BMW’s are awesome in special packages, but with those tires on my 2006 A6 naturally aspirated 3.2l v6 I could pull all 3 of those cars through that whole course sideways at about 70 mph and have fun. I mean the guy used more torque as an excuse for the Audi ! On the 10% angle hill climb the driver was chopping ice with his rear tires. The host says he doesn’t care what car wins, didn’t really hear that much about tyres, did you? I just heard another beemer bitch trying to make excuses. They’re good cars, just not the best at everything. If you want, bring your beemer to the 600 acre dairy farm I live on and drive it like I drive my silly little wagon. Your car is a status symbol, my car is a fucking badass tool, that is part tractor, part truck, part race car, part luxury car. Oh and part tow truck. But what do I know? And what brand of tires were those ?
brandistocker thank you! a torquey diesel with a laggy turbo does not translate to great winter performance, unless maybe you start out in 2nd or 3rd gear😀. Yet it still crushed the other two cars. My A6 3.2l naturally aspirated v6 Avant would pull all three of those cars through the courses sideways and not spin a tire. Plus, by the end we’d be going about 140mph. I just responded to the person beneath your comment as well. He’s seems a little beemer blind. I admit I’m a little Audi biased, but only because they’re all around better cars.LOL
They aren't haldex. I know what you are getting at but it isn't haldex. The AWD system in the larger Audi's is more advanced than the haldex despite being part time in many cases. The full time AWD is still available in many Audi's particularly the performance oriented models.
Lovely test!! I drive a F30 320d 135kW RWD, dream of a car! A friend of mine drives an Audi A4 and last winter we had massive snowfall and he thought his Quatro let me see his tale all the time. Well I proved him wrong, all systems off and the BMW was such a peach to handle even driving away from him! We had lots of fun but he couldn't get it why the Beemer was that more quicker... hehe. Thanks for having fun in the name of science whilst making this great vid!!
Just curious where the Subaru falls out in this and really curious how a Tesla would fare in this competition. And have someone NOT driving a car count down to GO.
DTH The Tesla owner would never drive in this conditions and would stay in the city. The Subaru owner would never risk pushing their engine for fear of an exploding engine or transmission. 🤣
Thanks for this test. It clearly shows that "Audi Quatro" is not something different; it is a good AWD system, yet it can be compared to others. Some people think that Quatro is the ultimate system and there are no competitors... :D
Great test buddy! I appreciate the fact that you paid attention to car power, wheel/tyre size and tyre type, which are big variables in these tests! Well done!💪👍
In all seriousness: In a time like this, going for Land Rover or Jeep when you will, at best, pull up your 10m snowy drive to your house (if you have that much snow at all) is nonsense and will probably set you back more than either of those cars
Following on from the 4wd VS winter tyre video last year, where everyone told me I was an idiot for using a BMW and that I should have used an Audi for AWD systems, I thought it would try and prove to the world that there wasn't much difference in the systems anymore. Hopefully, this video will help any future Quattro VS XDrive arguments :) You can find me on insta here for plenty more car and tyre fun: instagram.com/jonathan__Benson/
You need to know that the famous Quattro system is NOT used in the new generation of A4. The new A4 uses a Haldex system, so it is Front+rear-on-demand. The old famous quattro was permanent 60:40 rear:front. It was much better, used Torsen differential. But it was expensive, so Audi dropped for more profits. It would be great to do the test with a proper Quattro system.
One more thing - due to the law of physics, when a car accelerates, the weight of the car is shifted to the back-end. This is even more true when a car starts on an incline, even more of the weight is at the back of the car -> rear has better traction so a RWD bias AWD system (like xDrive, old quattro) would do better in such scenario.
Deniz interesting comment.
I didn’t know that Audi dropped the Torsen differential on the A4, such a disappointment.
Deniz - I spoke at Audi at length, and they assured me the Ultra system was every bit as good. But I also agree with you, the Torsen system would have been better. Sadly with these tests we have to use the newest cars available or you don't get support, plus these are the cars people will be looking at buying so I guess it's more relevant than an older Audi. RIP Torsen :(
@@tyrereviews Well of course Audi would say it as better as the old system, they need to sell the cars :) By the way, their 3L engines (across all models) still use the Torsen system, so it is still possible to buy one.
@@natoftw Great, then I need to retest when the next M3 is released. M3 vs RS4 in the snow, both with the proper systems ;)
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the effort gone into making this video! 👏👏👏
Thank you! :)
@@tyrereviews one question: you did not mention power, engine type and weight of the cars. Okay weight we can look up.
Such an amazing video. Pure content with breathtaking visuals... And most of all no bullshiting with just 1 test run.
@@raiiiar AT around 1:18 they show some of the stats :)
@@Mattittas I'm sorry I didn't pay attention and asked stupid questions.
But there is one problem. Although the power and weight is similar, one is diesel and one is gas on the audi and BMW and they behave very differently. I'm sorry to say but I know that from actually trying on snow in similar situation. If you don't believe me, please try yourself.
FINALLY A TEST WITH SAME TYRES! OMG Am I dreaming?
Right?!?
I am amazed how many winter car reviews want to claim a test opinion but don't bother to put the same tires on the cars. Unbelievable
The extra torque from the Audi's diesel engine is advantageous over petrol.
Audi for the ultimate win, as per expected 💪💪😄
Props for the same wheels/tires, but a big no no for Audi TDI/Diesel vs BMW i/Gasoline. One has a lot of Power on low revs, the other on high revs. Would have been so much more comparable if you had the 2.0tdi vs the 320d or 2.0tfsi vs 320i ... Otherwise very fair test. From my experience (living uphill in switzerland, owned audi, bmw, merc and skoda) Audi and Bmw are nearly identical - while the bmw is more rwd layout vs. more fwd on the audi side. Merc's 4matic was disappointing (W211, R6, E320cdi) and with the skoda i got stuck couple of times.
Try Dachia 4x4, better junk from europe, vs junk from china-audi... I drive only made in japan luxury car
@@backtrack8094 lmfao "luxury car from japan" German cars are the kings of luxury cars (not talking about Bentley, Rolls and Maybach. Even tho they're all "germanized")
Exactly my thoughts!
400nm vs 270nm is not fair once the grip is there!
probably this doesnt matter at all, since they were not able to put that much torque down to the surface like this. This would be a real difference accelarating on an asphalt surface.
👌
I live in a tropical country, what the hell am i doing here..
Buy RWD car
Being awesome
hahah you guys are awesome
@@Lucas-ck1po you are here to see all the fun you miss out on by not having snow.
Maybe planning a holiday in Sweden? Januar 2020? 😉
To be honest, I was born in the tropics and some time ago I moved to Canada and this is the 1st time I see anyone performing a winter system/tire/you-name-it test by LEVELING THE FIELD WITH THE SAME SET OF WINTER TIRES! Kudos!!!!
It should be noted though. On the Audi if the engine is mounted longitudinal it uses a completely different quattro system than the transverse mounted engines. The transverse system is not the quattro setup that made Audi famous, it uses a system closer to the Golf R and R32. I bring this up because the A4 can have either one depending on the engine you get. The OG quattro was 100% mechanical and sent power to the tire with the most traction simply by the gearing. I am not sure if it is still like this today. I do know the V8 S4 was still using that setup.
I couldn’t see anyone conduct this test better.
Very kind, thank you
Apart from the odd mix of engines, why use a tdi Audi and petrol bmw, it gives them hugely different torque outputs
Should have changed drive on the uphill
I have the 5 series X drive and my buddy has an Audi Quattro. Exactly like the ones in the video. And when we race im always ahead for most of the race up until about 75% of the way through and he passes me every time. So yeah I’d say these tests are pretty accurate
Sounds like the x-drive system stopps "incuding" the front wheels if you reach a certain speed. (like the awd system of ferrari does)
@@nirfz This is exactly correct. As speed increases x-drive, in the F30 3-series generation shown here, limits torque to the front wheels -- until you get to 80mph where NO power is sent to the front wheels at all.
Show Me What I Need To Know if the car slips it will still end power in front, but it does default to a rear bias.
@@nirfz yeah, sure... lol. But you do realize the 5 series doesnt compete with the a4 right? 5 series has more ho and tq too.
270 vs 400 nm. There´s the difference.
There's something magical in a british person reviewing cars with proper steering wheel side during the winter.
Why thank you :)
Wrong side that is
@@Randomdude21-e Driving on the left and steering on the right is just right, the opposite is strange.
@@adamali1774 no, most countrys got the driver on the left side, driving on the right..
@@adamali1774 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic
Did quite a bit of snow mountain climbing last year with my Bmw X1 with performance winter tire and winter wheel (narrower and heavier) in dynamic driver mode (traction semi off), it absolutely owned the roads. Even in sealed off mountains, I had zero problem climbing and have some controlled sideway fun too when I felt like it. The only problem is rear brake wearing off faster as the result of the semi active traction. Great job BMW!
I own X1 too. It’s a beast you can go almost everywhey
Which X1 do you own? I used to have an F39 X2 with the transverse engine. It doesn't handle at all like a 3 series.
whomever says "go" will get the jump
That was my first thought. To be fair a 4th person should count.
thats why you say 3..2..1..go, so the others can predict, thats how a countdown works lol they might be off by a tenth of a second, that's totally insignificant in these tests
Jump
If you watched the whole video he mentioned that and compensated for it
i think thats why he did the test over and over to give the most accurate result
and as u can see specially at the first test
audi keeps winning
My guess for the uphill battle is that Xdrive has a rear bias and quattro has a front bias. The rear bias would have a slight advantage in scenarios with more load in the rear.
There is 2 different Quattro systems and front bias is only used in small cars like A3 and TT
@@juliasrouvali1924 more like 5 different quattro systems. But yeah, "front bias" would be the wrong way to put it. "Less of a rear bias" would be correct. The Audi's torsen diff starts off with a 40-60 distribution, while xDrive is basically a haldex diff, but RWD. Therefore the BMW has a power distribution of 0-100 by default.
@@91PKPower xDrive is very different from Haldex, it has a transfer case at the middle which allows it to be a permanent AWD system. Haldex is part-time.
I would like to see 4matic too
There's only so many cars you can test... but it sounds like an excuse to do another one!
@@tyrereviews Its not only another car but awd vs 4wd ( and i love my 4matic ;P )
And Opel Insignia with new AWD pleasee , because is ' AWD car of the year 2019 '
Quattro vs 4Matic vs whatever the heck Volvo call their system perhaps. Wouldn't mind seeing the SUVs though- perhaps Q5, GLC, RAV4 and Forester to mix it up a bit.
@@donrul04r 4matic is awd.
Audi doesn't have the 'propper' Quattro, it has something called Quattro Ultra which is pretty much a Haldex system, meaning it's not permanent AWD anymore. Only the V6 models get the permanent Quattro with Torsen differential.
I thought I missed something.... I drive a Audi A5 3.0 v6 TDI ... and when I turn the systems completely off... they are OFF .... oversteers in a very controllable and predictable manner. Still... nice test... good video.
i have a 2008 a5 3.0 quattro and it drives beautifully
Haldex is only used in the smaller A3,TT, A1, Audi uses torsen in the bigger vehicles.
@@307834ST no, they started including Quattro Ultra in all their models including the higher-end ones. It's unclear if Quattro Ultra is designed by Haldex, but it works just like it. It's a part time AWD system, like Haldex.
Ondra Neuman yes this is true, but in the end it’s still Audi’s fault. You cannot blame BMW because Audi decided to remove the Torsen. Audi should have kept it. Now they are losing one of the biggest advantages of the Audi brand and on paper, at least, the BMW is overall becoming the better option.
Honestly seems like splitting hairs between all 3, in normal winter driving they all work incredibly well. Fan boy arguments aside, predictably comes down to preference of which you’d like and for me it depends on year as they constantly leap frog each other with improvements which is great
Especially since the systems get very close to each other. More electronics, less mechanics. It seems that the traditional quattro just couldn't compete with other systems with regard to efficiency and thus environment friendly, which is becoming more and more important. Though I would also take either of those (and in fact probably would chose the BMW as estate version), I personally would like the predictability of a fix mechanical system, rather than a computer calculating things I don't understand and which might come to a different conclusion in similar terrain situations.
We need carwow to be involved. So more cars can be tested
I'll message Matt
Agree 💯
@@tyrereviews If you guys did a collab! Oh man a dream come true!
ironically this video was related to me only after watching carwow vids
TM After their horrible off-road comparison test, not sure if they are qualified.
Conclusion: Audi and BMW have pretty comparable AWD systems, but an experienced driver with the right equipment is superior to electronic traction control.
New one awd based advanced electronics works almost same
Nope. Real conclusion is that Quattro is always superior to any other AWD system.
@@Jousten16 i dont know where you got that ...
@@petrosrz8990 hes right
@@catchinxbodiezz9299 no he is not. on the cars people buy the Audi ultra isnt an all time AWD. which isnt that nice.
Some nice testing there but there are so many variables in reality that doing a really comprehensive test would be very difficult. I had an F30 BMW 330D with X-Drive and it's an excellent system. I was out in the snow on summer tyres (stupid I know but I had no choice) and it was going up hills (although only just) that other AWD vehicles were sliding back down. In fact the only time I got stuck was simply due to the sheer depth of snow and lack of ground clearance that it bogged me down.
However, I now have an Audi S4 B8.5 and it has the Torsen 4WD centre diff and Torque Vectoring via the brake system (will lock up an individual wheel to somewhat simulate a front/rear LSD) and it's insane, almost unearthly how much grip this thing has. I've not had it out in the snow yet, but even in the heaviest of rain this thing is scary good and married with the brake wash system results in a very confident ride in torrential downpours.
Regardless of how much I respect the proper Quattro system, it's worth noting that many of the Audi cars now have the non-permanent Haldex system. But despite this, I would never knock X-Drive as it is a fantastic system and more than capable beyond my expectations.
All Fxx and Gxx BMW's also has the brake assisted torque vectoring that mimicks the LSD also some Exx models with powerful engines had that feature.
I love that you guys tested the vehicles with the same tires on all cars! Great job mate. I'm looking forward to seeing more tests.
Thank you :)
thats exactly my tzhough, everytime u watch one fo these videos they have diferent tires on
But did they tested with the same engine, same power? No
@@liviumititelu7397 They were as close as you're going to get with different brands of vehicles.
It’s also important to know how the systems work. This version of quattro uses a torsen center differential while the bmw uses an actimax transfer case. The center differential when the grip is equal sends a percentage to the front and the rest to the rear like 40% front /60% rear. If the front has zero grip it cannot send any torque to the rear, but in that case the esc will apply brakes on the front tires and that way power will be transferred to the rear. However, while driving on snow, the grip front vs rear is similar for same weight. The front is heavier on audi but but because the rear still has grip the torsen can send more power to the front.
Whith the actimax xdrive things are very different. The rear is permanently connected to the gearbox output so whenever it is grip it will always push. There is no center differential but instead a transfer case. The front is connected to the gearbox output through a set of clutches. There is a preload value, so the cutch will slip only when the clutch limit is reached that is 40% gearbox output torque. Below the limit both axles will have more power than required. When that happens the computer squeezes the clutches for more grip up to locking the front 100%. On hill climbing the car relies more on the rear tires which always have grip. Basically to make an xdrive you take a RWD car and connect the front though a set of clutches. The problem is the clutches can overheat wear when there is clutch slip so that is when the front wheels rotate at a different speed than the rear. Bmw can also modify the software to make it completely RWD when you don’t want to cause any wear to the clutches or it can fully lock the front also it will not cause wear anymore. In RWD mode is also more fun and much less wear for snow drifts. That is available on m5 but there is aftermarket software for other models. Locking the front can be done by software except bmw doesn’t want it. By doing that it will behave like a 4x4 with locked center differential
Unfortunately you are incorrect. Starting in 2017 most Audi models including the A4 use a new Quattro system called "Quattro Ultra". Similar to a Haldex system except it's better and was developed in house by Audi. It is NOT a torsen system.
- uses a 2 clutch system. Multi-plate clutch at the end of the transmission. A separator clutch at the rear axle drive.
- a series of worm gears, pins, levers and springs engage and disengage a unique front plate clutch to divide torque between front and rear as needed. The rear claw clutch connects abd disconnects the prop-shaft and rear wheels for maximum efficiency.
- Audi admits 250 milliseconds is still enough time for tire slip to occur, so Ultra has new sensors all over the car thst monitor manybthongs such as wheel slip, cornering speed, engine torque and more, the data is processed by a computer system constantly runs simulations every 10 milliseconds, calculating where traction will like up to 500 milliseconds later. Audi example: during a turn, the inside tire will loos traction, the system analyzes the drivers behavior (turn, throttle and wheel) to calculate what torque and traction will be 500 milliseconds later. When it determines torque will exceed available traction, the system engages Quattro Ultra in half the time before it's even needed. Even in most extreme conditions where no prediction is possible such as hitting a water puddle, the sensors can detect slippage so early there is no perceptiable difference from a traditional system.
- The threshold for Quattro engagement adjusts based on what driving mode your in. Or in offroad mode puts it into the same full time AWD mode as on Torsen systems.
- Quattro Ultra starts in AWD when you first take off.
- Ultra works electromechanically and can be fully engaged in under 250 milliseconds. 8x faster than haldex or other reactive AWD systems.
All systems are good and probably more than what an average person needs! Just get the car you like :)
Exactly!
.. and winter tires for snow and ice - no matter how many wheels your car drives!
Quite a bad fallacy. Quattro power just doesnt have a match.
Well not that true. I live in the Swiss alpines and I need a good car with great AWD.
@@shawhub3204 Quattro does have a match - it's called xDrive. I have a 2014 S4 and a 2010 A5 (both with full Quattro) and a 2021 X2 w/ xDrive. On wet or snowy roads, Bmw xDrive is safer, while Audi Quattro is more maneuverable.
_1:00__ "the third reason this should be better than the rest is: 'I don't care who wins. I'm a tyre tester, not a car tester.'" - TR_
...and after that, I sub'ed
The car tester is always jumping the start in all three cars 😂😂
the walkie talkie has a delay.
Facts ist should be count down from a Person thats not driving
2nd run went to audi too not bmw
Yes he is, and the only delay is between him pressing the accelerator and saying "3"
Great review! It is awesome that you normalized the tires. That makes it a relevant and fair test. The original Audi Quattro system was purely mechanical and very competent. The new Quattro systems vary quite a bit from model to model, but none the less the original should have a leg up on the others.
Original would understeer bad
B9 have torsen quattro....haldex likely as bad as BMW xdrive system
Audi won acceleration due to the huge torque advantage of almost 150nm
It certainly helped after the initial launch, but didn't help on the hill.
Jag have more torque and he was last...
@@tyrereviews BMW won on the incline as it's still RWD biased plus more weight shifted over the rear etc
@Zombie Head 35kg and still 30nm more
@@tyrereviews Turbo diesels are shit for snow driving due uneven delivery of torque compared to petrol where you can precisly add power
You forgot to swap drivers for uphill driving.
And forgot to try quattro with ESP off. ESP interferes quattro, especially at low speeds.
@@spidercho True!
@@spidercho indeed, sometimes you have to be able to actually spin the tires some, more then the computer will allow
one other thing is the fact the bmw is primary rwd, with front wheel assit, so the weight transfer from the incline also helps it in that aspect vs audi/vw being primary fwd with only rear wheel assist
agree
and the Audi is a Diesel and the bmw petrol. Diesel has the most power in low rpm, to much power in the snow 😅
One big stand-out is that even when you try to match things, pure luck with reaction, surface etc can make a big difference between cars that are basically equal
Huge respect for the testing. Really great that you normalised tyres and wheels sizes, noted the power and weight differences and accounted for them when interpreting the results, swapped drivers, did multiple runs etc, honestly I have big expectations for your future content now :P
I would be interested to see how they compare to Subaru which are known for their AWD too, but mamma mia I know it was probably very hard to organise BMW vs Audi already.
Keep up with the good work
Thanks for the kind words, lets see what I can manage in the future :)
You need to use the “Dynamic Traction control” for the “systems on” run in the BMW as that is BMW’s answer for the best safety/performance. It makes a huge difference because the normal “systems on” setting is for the conservative drivers.
Yes. Exactly
A buddy of mine owned his S4 and his 335ix at the same time, and he hated the X-Drive system for every day driving. He said it was twitchy at lower speeds and accelerating. His experience made him state the Audi was more driver friendly and overall easier to drive and more stable and predictable in the snow. He said the BMW was awesome for power sliding in the snow though. He lives in northern Alberta, quality winter tires are necessary up there. Same Nokian winter tires on both his cars...
Пфф, бмв более заднеприводный просто, а ауди переднеприводный.
@@tomcray7907 I don’t speak in a Cyrillic language…
Huge history mistake - Audi didn't invent AWD. Quattro was introduced years after some other awd systems. However Audi did popularize it in passenger cars.
Wasn't it ferguson??? I remember a 60s mustang with the mechanically set up..
@@diarreallen2803 It depends what kind of vehicle you consider. There are passenger cars like Mitsubishi PX33 or Kurogane Typ 95 from mid 30's. Then came the Jeep, Toyota, Nissan or Suzuki (40's-60's) but these were more offroaders (however first Jimny was kind of small crossover fun car). If we take into consideraton passenger cars in "modern" shape than there is Jensen FF (Ferguson Formula) from 1965 (awd masterpiece), Subaru Leone from 1972 or AMC Eagle from 1979.
of course, but audi has a heritage of 4wd cars since the original Quattro (rally legend) had it
@@unwantedlinks2730 Actually rally versions of Quattro (up to 1985) were very simple - no center differential (or locked center differential) and rear lsd. It worked great on gravel or snow, it didn't work at all on tarmac (not possible to turn in rallies like Corsica).
I'm am a BMW man, but I like all three brands, finally a decent and fair measured test with some equality thrown in, good job.
PhantomMark you’re a BMW man? Wow! Does that mean you’re involved in the company? Do you hold the majority share? Are you the owner of BMW? Such an honor to finally meet the man! Oh wait, you mean you’re just a consumer blindly following a brand because of its brand name, like a proper slave? Carry on then.
Ken Cur why so toxic tho, he said he likes all three brands and whats the problem?
Q Qrax oh god learn how to speak with your own vocabulary! “Why so toxic” “ok boomer” and all this crap for morons like you who need a template to write something. No wonder you immediately go to your “toxic” cookie cutter reply instead of actually reflecting on my comment. Toxic enough, “snowflake”?
Ken Cur what are you, twelve? He’s simply stating that he prefers Beemers but that he recognizes the solid performance of the Audi and Jag. No need for petulance.
@@kencur9690 bro ur from malta and a loser so shut up toxic boomer
When it comes to winter driving, the all wheel drive and electronics are helpful. But at the end of the day, to effectively drive in bad winter conditions it mostly comes down to skill. Practice, practice, practice!
i agree with you on the snow handling on the bmw.... the electronics on the BMW are quite annoying... however, turn them off (or for those of us like me, that have sport +), the BMW becomes crazy amazing fun to drive on snow.... :) whenever it snows, sport + mode just gives you the exact balance you need to lay power down to regain control of your vehicle.....
This is great, thanks a lot for it!
Personally, I've a feeling that the 1980s Audis happened to be somewhat less of a compromise and provide better show handling than more recent models of the same brand. The purely mechanical central torsen differential seems to distribute power in a quite predictable way. Would be fun to see one of those in a similar test, to see how it would perform, and whether this impression is correct or rather my imagination.
Hi, i am bmw fan, but i agre with you. Back in days the mecanical quatro was much better for grip.
People nowdays are impres by quatro maybe because its history of rally. Now xdrive or quatro are like android vs IOS do the same thing but with slight diffrences.
All Quattro cars have Torsten diffs.
All the modern Haldex cars are not Quattro, they are Haldex. (Rebadged VW fyi)
@@nickcook7408 actually not anymore. Most of the latest Audis are sold with the Quattro "Ultimate", which is no longer a Torsen. Now it's kinda in the midway, basically It's just FWD most of the time and engage Quattro when needed, that's to improve efficiency, but it comes with the cost of not being as good as the OG Torsen in the snow.
A4/A5/Q5 are predominantly supplied with Quattro Ultra, which is close to Haldex, not Torsen ☝🏻
The BMW is extremely under-torqued compared to other cars here, its almost 40% down... in a fair torque to torque scenario, I'd say the Audi and BMW are probably going to tie more times than not
You do know that cars have transmissions with different gear ratios so torque driving the wheels is comparable right? Maybe it's mind boggling but torque is not important at all. What's important is the power engine produces at different rpms - the power curve. And in this regards diesels have a slight advantage over turbo petrol engines and a big advantage over naturally aspirated petrol engines. Here the BMW is turbo petrol engine, so yes the diesel has a slight advantage but it's not much.
@@pavlins123 The wide torque band and good get-go even from low rpms in a car with a diesel engine might well be very favorable in this test setup over a petrol engine, which also has to use semi low rpms and the edge of the grip to accelerate fast on a low friction surface (plus the 4wd systems that use breaks on individual tires and restrict engine throttle might catch the edge of the grip quicker after restrictive measures when theres plenty of torque behind the rpm at hand)
The test would have gotten way more valid with more similarly matched vehicles (there still would have been the difference in the weight distribution between the front and rear axel of the BMW and the Audi, unless there was a front wheel drive BMW with Xdrive)
@@pavlins123 yes, but on snow you could see the BMW had a good lunch and then lost on torque
Perfect video , finally a channel doing properly the tests using same tires, many trials and different drivers!Well done!
I think you should have tested an Audi with the permanent quattro system, instead of the quattro ultra, which is haldex based. That's why we can see the BMW winning on the hill climb test - it has rear wheel bias, compared to the Audi, which is front wheel biased.
I spoke at Audi at length, and they assured me the Ultra system was every bit as good. But I also agree with you, the haldex system would have been better. Sadly with these tests we have to use the newest cars available or you don't get support, plus these are the cars people will be looking at buying.
Yep. I think history will try to pretend Quattro Ultra never existed (it will jump straight from torsen quattro to electric cars). If this test was in 2014 then I think it would've given a very different result especially with ESP off. The reality is Audi sell front-wheel-drive cars and Subaru sell weak engines so it's hard to blame the reviewers for being honest. I'll be keeping my A4 B8 for a while.
I totally understand how difficult it is to sort everything out with the manufacturers. It would be awesome if you do a test with two Audis - one with quattro ultra, and one with torsen quattro.
However, B9 a4 sedan still has permanent quattro, only b9.5 or b9 alltrack have ultra.
@@martin.kirilov Probably too much of a risk for Audi if the newer one proves to be inferior.
For most people who have to occasionally drive on snow in the mountains, all that matters is the ability to get the car moving from a stop when on a snow or ice covered slope. This avoids a lot of embarrassment if there are vehicles behind or the nightmare of having to put snow chains on. From the film the Jaguar did best.
Cool
Great review. Thanks! Note that BMW has a special mode for winter driving which doesn't cut power, it basically works like a locking diff and a tuned down stability control together, allowing for wheel spin, moderate drift angle.
Audi and de Jag are diesels.. why tf is BMW a petrol then? Make it equal pls
@@mariovjacka1560 typically diesels have more low down torque than petrols. Hence the concern about the fuel type.
@@mariovjacka1560 no YOU dont understand cars 😂😂😂
Diesel takes longer to warm up, the operator needs somewhere to warm up
That's exactly what I was wondering in the start of the clip.
well said
With host HHR there will be a 0.3-0.5 second delay. When he says ‘go’, the people with the other radios will be hearing it with roughly half a second delay.
Another pointless age old argument solved by the tyre geek. Thank You, good sir!
Thank you!
Wow, that's the best test I've seen! Thank You!
Thank you!
really detailed comparison of differently tuned ESCs and RWD vs FWD biased 4x4 systems, more than a comparison between brands. well done again!
Would like to see a MB 4Matic and a Subaru Legacy GT in the test as well.
4matic is known to be quite well shit. The legacy would probably wipe the table especially if it’s the old gem.
Please
Bump!!! Best idea ever!!!
Including Subaru is probably not a good idea. the Legacy is too good, and UA-cam doesn't allow rape vids.
As a Finn I must say, that this was a pretty decent real life test of everyday winter driving.
As a Finn I would give extra points to the off the line take off (you want to get your car going).
As a Finn I would also give exra points to the hill climb test (thats where you get stuck like we saw here).
As a Finn I would be interested in the cars ability to STOP.
As a Finn I have ZERO interest for the slippery surface drag race test.
As a Finn I must say, that braking on the ice is a completely diffirent topic. In this video the point is to test these three AWD systems, and AWD does not effect in braking in any kind of form. Braking on ice tests the brakes, ABS and tires of a car, which are not the point of this video.
As a Finn i would've pushed the audis ESC-button a few second to get all the systems off. At least thats how it works in 2013 b8.5 quattro.
@@kevarimies8130 Actually AWD on a slippery surface has quite some effect on braking. ua-cam.com/video/y-gEXP6hECA/v-deo.html
@@Scramasax As a Finn I must say, that firstly that video is made with 4WD, which behaves quite diffirently compared to AWD. Then that video is inadequate, because that guy in that video does not explain why the things in that video are happening. Yes, that truck does stop faster with 4WD, but it is not because of the 4WD, but I think it's because of the poor brakes in that truck. That truck probably even has drum breaks in the rear. So, when that truck is in 4WD it keeps the wheels spinning longer at the front, and the wheels lock more or less at the same time. In 2WD there is no power going to the front and the front wheels lock split-second faster and results in an un-even wheel locking times. That is the best explanation I can give you about that video. So in conclusion, in that video the poor brakes are to accused for that result. In normal vehicles like these one in this original video have quite high-performance disk breaks which brake much better
@@kevarimies8130 Audi has a mechanical viscous coupling dividing the power between front and rear axles. By default it's front axle biased, but can divide the power 50/50 on each axle on demand. BMW is using an electronic clutch and can transfer 100% of power for any axle or anywhere in between. By default Audi sends 100% power to the front, as by default BMW sends 60% power to the rear 40% front.
Would be interesting to know how they manage the power during breaking.
On sports cars (like Porsche) and racing cars you have a breaking bias valve for rear breaks, adding more break force to the rear during light breaking. This makes breaking on a slippery surface more effective. AWD has some what the same effect. If utilized.
The video link I gave you is propably not the best possible, but you should be able to understand the basics. He has more videos about the same matter by the way...
The Quattro system differs across models. RS models have the best system
As well as xdrive
This was my only complaint about this video, it didn't talk at all about the actual differences in the systems.
Dragon Sickness RS has the same system as S models RS performs better because RS
Differs greatly across RS models too. More dependant upon platform.
@@snapdragogon69 Please define which RS models. RS3 with Haldex or RS5 with TorSen diff? To be more complicated R8 is using something between TorSen and Haldex, but more bias to Haldex system.
Should have had Mercedes instead of Jag
The Audi's quattro was the "haldex " or the "torsen" system???? Cause it's really big difference between them!
I would really would like a answer!
Thanks!
Why should they have Mercedes there? the whole german executive car thing is so played out.
dragoi cristian audi has torsen
@@antonikrzsztofik355 No. Permanent AWD (aka the mechanical torsen diffs) for Audi's are gone in lower classes. It's either Haldex or some other stupid thing.
Should've brought a Subaru with permanent AWD rather than the Haldex systems both Audi and BMW is using.
Great review. Would be cool to use timing equipment in all three cars for the acceleration tests as well just to have a bit more data to compare (ie: off the line acceleration 60' vs trap speed, etc.)
Finally someone gets it. The same tires and matching power makes the competition equal
Not realy matching power when audi has much more torque than bmw in this video
But one's diesel one's petrol.........
@2:45 I can see that Audi is in front... Am I wrong?
It took him way too much time to catch up, the test was to see who's off the line first
you are right, he is biased against audi
@@Timochat_ no it's not, it's whoever finishes first, he even says that in the video
He got off the power knowing he would win thats why he said 1 for the BMW i assume
against? The driver wouldn’t have put it in dynamic if it was biased, my ass
BMW probably did best up hill because the AWD system is RWD-biased. That is, it sends more power to the rear wheels, in most driving circumstances, that the Audi.
@Thomas Rock S and RS yea, but the normal Quattro models are not.....
And i case you didnt now not all Audi have the same Quattro system.
Very interesting fact to note indeed
@@henrickhansel A5, A6, A7, A8 all have rear wheel biased AWD system 40front/60rear and some A4 models.
A3 and TT have the front wheel drive AWD system.
This is so awesome. I would really love to see how 4WD can keep up with newer AWD Tech. I also like to see braking in a corner as well. My bet AWD to win as I don’t see any new tech for 4wd for on road handling (I could be wrong).
4WD is the same as AWD. It is just marketing.
@@zepter00 I see different components when looking under the car. For example how 1 drive shaft from transmission to the rear when I look under an AWD Subaru Ascent / Toyota Highlander vs under a 4wd Toyota 4Runner / Jeep Wrangler/ F 150 how 2 drive shafts going from the transfer case.
Great video; thanks for getting as many variables as possible under control!
Tyrereview you’re my hero! Thank you for comparing same tires with different AWD! A first for UA-cam.
Best test i've seen so far , no bias, same tires etc... Good Job guys
Thanks :)
he is bias
what a well done test! The effort that's gone into this is amazing and appreciated, as an Audi fan im kind of upset how the other companies have caught up in terms of awd systems but good on those other companies
Audi fan here too i got mention though a rwd car with winter tires will outperform an awd car using all season tires. Tires really make a difference though most of bmw’s fun stuff is rwd and u cant own them up north without it being a nightmare i just bought a 2015 rs5 its a beast
these were haldex systems
Would Like to see a WRX as a point of reference
Lmao, a control car. The standard
Blown head gasket
Audi fan is here🕺
You loose
@@jeffa.8976the bm-trouble-u literally lost, all day long 🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@iangraham6730 BMW was the fastest around the snow course at a 127.9
@@jeffa.8976 Sure they had to give it something I guess 🤭
@@iangraham6730 That's all that matters. The fastest is the best
well done, for the first proper test in history, clap clap
Haldex vs torsen next video please 🙂
Note that not all Audi A4 of the (featured in this video) B9 generation have Quattro AWD system with a Torsen differential. I believe the 3.0 TDI model has Torsen but lower trims have Quattro Ultra which has an electronically controlled clutch pack for the center differential which can disengage completely, while the old-fashioned Quattro has Torsen - a purely mechanical contraption that always keeps both output shafts spinning but adjusts power transfer ratio between them.
The way Audi was oscillating at 8:36 did not look like Quattro to me but I'm no expert.
What a fantastic video! I live in Finland and ”the winter is coming” so these videos that you make about AWD systems and snowy conditions are absolutely marvelous! I hope to see more of your videos. Btw Nokian Tyres are the best northern tyres that you can buy (if you ask me).
But every Car need its own
tires however I’d say that Quattro is the best
Yes I would say the same thing. Althought I would like to see the year/two years older version (still B9) of A4 were there is torsen.
The second run also goes to the audi😅😊
That’s what I’m saying, the boy said he was unbiased at the beginning, yet he chose BMW(fanboy) for the win, when the Audi clearly passed the cones first 2:43
@@daytoncorl271 Plus he showed his implicit bias 0:10 when he said he couldn't see why the Audi (funboys) were so keen on the Audi being better. I guess it must have come down to stats. Which is always a mistake...
I SHOULD KNOW I'M BLACK! 😅🤣😅
i drift my audi no problem in the snow with systems off doesnt break at all and with 60/40 to the rear its perfect for staying sideways
But what year audi do you have???? Im guessing one with torsen system?? Holdex or holtex is fwd bias
Same my a4 is so much fun this time of the year
@@eastoakland-S65feen I owned an 2009 A4 (B9), a 2014 TTS (haldex) and I could pitch both sideway quite easily and controllably. Haldex is fine for most situations.
Great test. We want more snow tests like this between the three leading German brands. :) Maybe a comparison of Japanese awd with German awd models.
Great test! Would have been interesting to see some lap times on the BMW with the DTC half off, that setting allows for a surprising amount of wheel spin and slip on snow while still remaining fairly safe, and is good for less experienced drivers who want to learn how the car handles over the limit.
I was going to ask this as well. this is a setting i use alot as i don' always hold the dsc button off for long enough to totally disable lol
@@hipflask69 Fab setting for when you don't want to be bothered by the DSC system all the time, but you aren't quite "on it" enough to turn everything off and really hoon about.
This is probably the most well done and fair test between 3 comparable cars I've seen on YT. So many comparisons on here just flat out piss me off because they seem to be actively trolling the car brand enthusiasts that they seem to try to make look bad. ...Or give the car they are rooting for a crutch when it fails to win by saying something like "The Mercedes would have won if the tires weren't bald." ....well D-UH!!!! I live on the east coast of Canada, and drive a 2010 Audi TTS. With the traction control off it is so tail happy that I find it hard to control on snow or ice--as fun as it may be. I will say that it understeers a fair bit on snow and ice with the traction control on. Not as fun, but it allows even an inexperienced, somewhat unconfident driver to still be fast in those winter conditions without having to worry too much about ending up in a snow bank. I know it has saved my bacon more than a few times over the years, when I was pushing it too hard in a turn on black ice. The car stabilized itself immediately like magic. One second you are out of control and the next second you are not. It is quite something to experience. One last thing: you can further improve takeoff in the Audi from a dead stop by switching to manual mode and putting the car in second gear before hitting the accelerator. The wheels will hook up better with less spinning. Thumbs up and subscribed.
This is great format keep doing it. Try Mercedes 4matic and Alfa Q4
Great idea
Alfa Q4 is the safest by far. You can't crash a car that won't start ☺
And Tesla Model 3 Performance Track Mode :-)
@5putput going on a track with controls on isn't a bright idea in first place
I’m an audi fan, but this was really fun to watch, didn’t know that bmw, would do so good on hillclimb. 😄
due to BMW's 50% -50% weight distribution
cuz he dont know how to drive with quatrro😂😂
That wasn't a hill... Go in the mountains and climb and actual hill... I am pretty sure Audi would do better in such circumstances. Furthermore, what's more important - to climb a hill at all or climb it faster?! Who cares about the climbing speed when in reality all you would care about is to climb the hill safely. Once again, that's not a real hill. The incline % is bollocks here. This test doesn't make BMW better in no way. The Audi Quattro system has been better, is and will continue to be better and dominate the X-drive. BMW is producing and selling cars with this "x drive"... But believe me, all of this doesn't work properly. They're doing this so that they could get more sold cars with the extra badge at the back "Xdrive"... I know front wheel cars which perform way better in such conditions than an X-drive BMW. If you're planning on buying a 4 wheel drive car, make yourself the favour to buy an Audi and leave all the other bullshit aside.
@@nikiskior this is true!!!Audi way better!!I have both so I can tell wich better any situation.
@@nikiskior just stfu pls ! cry somewhere else !
All three are super close. Wow. No one thinks Jaguar and snow but it kept it together and frankly, safely does snow...and when not snow it is the nicest car to actually drive. That makes it, to me, the winner. The underdog was the most fun - done.
uphill the left lane is slightly better because every time the car in left lane won.
Thank you for the hard work. It's very hard to find someone on UA-cam doing winter tire reviews.
So, from observations from this and other 'test' videos my humble conclusion is, that they are ~the same in straight lines.
The difference is the tiny start moment, when you actually start moving every attempt:
better start = winner
it's simple math:
when:
X is moving 1km/h
Y is moving 0km/h
X goes ~3cm further distance during 1st miliseconds
when:
X is moving 2km/h
Y is moving 1km/h
X goes 3cm AGAIN during next miliseconds...
etc...
When you get grip - it's pretty similar to me.
Great test, honest review!
Wish there were more like these on UA-cam.
Excellent video. It seemed on the hill start test though that the Op was always driving the Audi. That can make a huge difference as to how the driver inputs the initial torque applied through the throttle. What this video comes down to is buy the brand that you like and you won't go wrong.
FINALLY a test with same Tyres! Thanks
I would love to see old like 1990s quattro vs those cars here
Yes! Maybe a 5000CS turbo, the generation of Quattro that had vacuum-actuated center and rear differential LOCKERS. I bet that thing would've out-launched the whole bunch of them.
THIS is how a proper comparison is done!! Much appreciated, thank you!
it's only proper if all cars are using same tire treads
I have a year 2012 Q5 2.0 TDI, I am the first owner. The Quattro performance especially on snowy & icy roads is unbeliavable. Of couse, the high quality winter tires is a must even on this vehicle. I can climb any hills even on icy roads and heavy snow without any issues. It makes you feel so confident at high speeds on sharp winding roads with an amazing handling performace. I feel so lucky to own this vehicle and I will never own anything other than an Audi Quattro in the future when I sell my Q5.
I love your videos for the accuracy and showing the other effects like driver, normalizing the size and brand of the tyre, side of the street, we never see that and we can see how important it is to make a good comparison. Thank you for that ! I nevertheless have a problem with the comparison since the Audi and the Jag are Diesel, the BMW petrol. It means the BMW has ~100kg less on the front axle.
This is a huge advantage for the Audi for the grip on Ice, since the Quattrosystem on that car is by default front biased -> you save the reaction time and slip of the whole system.
Hill Climbing: The lighter petrol engine in the BMW and thus the slighlty rear biaised weight distribution is a big help to make this rear wheel put the torque down. Audi has less weight on the rear and the the weight on the front is just without help for climbing.
Same story for the snow handling, the heavy diesel enforce the understeer of the car, wich is already designed to understeer. A BMW Diesel would also gave you more understeer feeling.
Please please please do it again with A4 TDI 190 + 320D ideally without automatic :)
This is how this one panned out sadly. I think the next time I'm going to try RS4 vs (new) M3
Damn, good point man
"Quattrosystem on that car is by default front based -> you save the reaction time and slip of the whole system."
Would have love to see a test with Quattro`s Torsen 6 gen. Its 60/40 back/fron based.
@@tyrereviews But the M3 only comes with RWD, the only M car with xDrive is the M5 with it's M xDrive system
I think they are very similar but the engines make a big difference. The Audi if it's like my 2013, builds peak torque at 1800rpm while I assume the BMW builds it later/more gradually. Also you absolutely can turn off all the Audi's traction control. Just hold the tc button. It's like that In a lot of cars
Audi forever 👊🏻
Great test! I very much appreciate the effort put in this video. Well done, guys! Audi power!!!
Conclusion: those tyres are 👌🏾
you have to hold down the esp button on an audi to fully turn it off
This. And from what I can tell from watching the video they did not do this. It appears all they did was turn off ASR. As an Audi driver who drives to mountain resorts weekly in the Winter, ESP OFF is how you use Quattro in the slush, snow, ice conditions. Perhaps a complete sheet of ice (polished ice) you could use only ASR Off, but those conditions are RARELY seen in real-world driving.
www.audihelp.com/auda-102-electronic_stabilisation_program_esp_.html
In BMW you also have to hold esp button
Most of these reviewers don't no shit about Audi's
They also test performance in comfort 🤷🏽♂️🤦🏽♂️
Would be curious to see how a Subaru would've performed
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Subaru Carton
Blown head gasket
@@Ashley_van_Schooneveld Probablement oui haha
This is excellent! I hope you can do even more cars in this type of test, like Volvo, Skoda, Subaru or Tesla (maybe this winter, if the situations allow it)
Imagine that “Snow Handling” test with an Evo or a STI🥶🔥 Anyways, nice video!
Oh that would be fun
@@tyrereviews how would they fare against the German cars ? - any chance you fancy making another comparison video with them ?
"a bit more torque" is like 130nm😂
I think the Audi is a Diesel. And not just more torque it has a bit more power and is a faster car overall.
Of course you'll never get a perfect apples to apples comparison because any two cars you compare will have more differences than just the AWD system they use. But I think this test showed that there is only a small difference between this Audi and this BMW in the acceleration tests which can be easily explained by this Audi just being a more powerful and faster car overall, and on the hill test the BMW actually did better which should shut up all the fanboys who think "quattro" is some sort of witchcraft that defies the laws of physics (and "quattro" isn't even a technology, it's just a trade name that Audi uses and abuses for marketing when in reality Audi's AWD transmissions are made by Haldex or Torsen and plenty of other manufacturers use them too).
All of these cars have four wheels on the ground and four wheels being driven, if they all have the same tyres then it would be very strange if they didn't have very similar levels of grip in these conditions because that's all it really comes down to.
he is meaning effective torque. "Driven to the surface". You may have 1000000000 Nm (with capital N) torque, but if you do not care about the traction coefficient, you end up spinning wheels like Flinstones bowling yabadabadoo :D
@@BigUriel no audi has better awd than bmw
Parsa Kaali my 2006 Audi 3.2l natural aspirated Avant pulled a 2017 Dodge Ram 3/4 ton 8ft bed 4x4 out of a ditch today. Yesterday I pulled an upside down 2020 Ford 250 4x4 that had flipped and landed in the middle of the road on its crushed roof. I pulled that into the ditch. I still have my summer tires on and they are 3 years old. This was in 6 inches of snow on top of ice. I agree with Sergio that the Audi is a diesel, obviously a turbo diesel. I don’t know if the BMW is turbo or not. But if you actually watch the footage, when the host says the Audi and BMW are neck and neck, in actuality the Audi is 2 car lengths ahead and pulling away. They had a drone over each challenge. You can count the drone shots on one hand. Because the Audi was either crushing the BMW or pulling away. So they used odd angled footage to make it appear closer than it actually was. But watch the details in the footage. If you decipher the deceptive angles using angles and math, the host is desperately wanting the BMW to best the Audi. Also the Audi is winning with an incredibly torquey diesel that has pretty bad turbo lag. BMW’s are awesome in special packages, but with those tires on my 2006 A6 naturally aspirated 3.2l v6 I could pull all 3 of those cars through that whole course sideways at about 70 mph and have fun. I mean the guy used more torque as an excuse for the Audi ! On the 10% angle hill climb the driver was chopping ice with his rear tires. The host says he doesn’t care what car wins, didn’t really hear that much about tyres, did you? I just heard another beemer bitch trying to make excuses. They’re good cars, just not the best at everything. If you want, bring your beemer to the 600 acre dairy farm I live on and drive it like I drive my silly little wagon. Your car is a status symbol, my car is a fucking badass tool, that is part tractor, part truck, part race car, part luxury car. Oh and part tow truck. But what do I know? And what brand of tires were those ?
brandistocker thank you! a torquey diesel with a laggy turbo does not translate to great winter performance, unless maybe you start out in 2nd or 3rd gear😀. Yet it still crushed the other two cars. My A6 3.2l naturally aspirated v6 Avant would pull all three of those cars through the courses sideways and not spin a tire. Plus, by the end we’d be going about 140mph. I just responded to the person beneath your comment as well. He’s seems a little beemer blind. I admit I’m a little Audi biased, but only because they’re all around better cars.LOL
It's the old torsen differential where it's at.
The new Audis are pretty much all haldex.
They aren't haldex. I know what you are getting at but it isn't haldex. The AWD system in the larger Audi's is more advanced than the haldex despite being part time in many cases. The full time AWD is still available in many Audi's particularly the performance oriented models.
Lovely test!! I drive a F30 320d 135kW RWD, dream of a car! A friend of mine drives an Audi A4 and last winter we had massive snowfall and he thought his Quatro let me see his tale all the time. Well I proved him wrong, all systems off and the BMW was such a peach to handle even driving away from him! We had lots of fun but he couldn't get it why the Beemer was that more quicker... hehe. Thanks for having fun in the name of science whilst making this great vid!!
02:05 If the BWW driver reacted any slower a stork would have nested on the roof.
Cheers
Just curious where the Subaru falls out in this and really curious how a Tesla would fare in this competition. And have someone NOT driving a car count down to GO.
DTH The Tesla owner would never drive in this conditions and would stay in the city. The Subaru owner would never risk pushing their engine for fear of an exploding engine or transmission. 🤣
@@0farmerjohn0 i disagree from norway. loads of teslas in the mountans, and the boxer engines from subaru is great. trans not so much tho..
@@mth0d I disagree, the CVT will do wonders in this conditions. I would get the turbo though. My regular 4 is just ok.
Thanks for this test. It clearly shows that "Audi Quatro" is not something different; it is a good AWD system, yet it can be compared to others. Some people think that Quatro is the ultimate system and there are no competitors... :D
Great test buddy! I appreciate the fact that you paid attention to car power, wheel/tyre size and tyre type, which are big variables in these tests! Well done!💪👍
Thank you :)
Should’ve thrown in a off-roader ie range, Rover or a Toyota Land Cruiser with winter tires on them
@Trystelune you're kidding right?
It would've probably broke down on the way to the test site 😂
In all seriousness: In a time like this, going for Land Rover or Jeep when you will, at best, pull up your 10m snowy drive to your house (if you have that much snow at all) is nonsense and will probably set you back more than either of those cars
@@shutupnavikrant no why the comment was about to see which is best all wheel drive, or a proper 4x4 in that type of conditions
@@0farmerjohn0 fair, shout, put a Toyota land cruiser in
This channel should have a million subscriber.
Thank you :D