Another dissapointing tear up

[Ice_Coffee]

Some of you may remember a few months ago I had a little tear up with an A5 2.0 TFSI, It did not quite go the way I was expecting and so I ended up chalking it up to my inexperience driving my car, my lack of ability to drive and the fact that I was not prepared to drive as recklessly as the other guy.

Today I had another tear up with another A5/S5 quattro, it was a very straight forward 3rd gear run from 50mph to 90mph in a straight line (on a private road), there was not much room for my lack of driving ability to shine through, this guy was right behind me when I started of at 50mph, and he was right behind me when I backed off at 90, although I was just beginning to inch ahead.

At this point there are a whole bunch of things running through my head like is it an RS5, but a quick glance in the rear view mirror reveals front fog lights, so NOT an RS5 then.

Maybe a chipped V6 turbo S5, but no, there is no aluminium trim around the windscreen this is a coupé not a cabriolet so it would have to be a V8, at 350 BHP, im thinking ok so if it was a 350BHP V8 and I have 4 years of carbon build up dragging me down to 370ish BHP, maybe that would explain it.

I pull over and let the car pass me by, and must admit, I was a little disappointed when I clocked the A5 badge on the back of the car, the vehicle did not have an engine designation on the rear, so I assumed it was a 3.0, but clocked the licence plate so I could run it through a DVLA check at home.

Back at home the disappointment continued, I ran the plate through the DVLA and it came back as another A5 2.0 TFSI (211 BHP), initially im thinking that I should have left the car for dead, until I remember 3 important things.

A) BHP sells cars but Torque wins races
B) My car has 317 lb/ft of torque but only 60% is available to me in 1st 2nd and 3rd, which = 190 lb/ft MAX (before factoring in carbon build up)
C) It turns out according to wiki this new range of "hi-torque" 2.0 Turbo audi engine have 258 lb/ft of torque

in short it was a wonder I was able to pull away from him at all, and maybe I did because he was backing off first !

In conclusion !

Fun as our cars are, in real world situations it is rare I will be playing around in 4th gear @ full torque as pushing limited 3rd gear puts me well over 100 MPH and pushing 4th Im guessing would see around 130 MPH.

by the looks of the torque figures a couple of possibilities come to mind.

A) Pay MRC to derestrict your car, something im seriously considering.
B) Chop the RS in for a 2.0 turbo and still have as much real world enjoyment.

[wrekka]

I understand your pain, I used to blow most so called fast cars away with the skyline and my modified Subaru, yet it just doesn't happen with the RS4. You do feel deflated and have to get to riduculous speeds in the RS4 to pull away.

On the plus side as an all round car it is great ( to be super needs a supercharger!!)

I'm also considering the MRC route a little too! or possibly a GTR in the near future!!

[Steve_C]

IIRC the torque is limited to 75% in the first 3 gears. If you went through some twisties you would have left him for dead though as the handling on the RS4 is untouchable.

PS - next time take the handbrake off!

[HYFR]

these cars are pretty slow on the torque front vs. a turbo car

i'd say getting MRC to delimit the torque in 1,2,3rd is the best bet

My S4 would murder an RS 4 up to 80, then the RS would take it

btw, did you start in 3rd gear? if so, I recon if you started in 2nd and went to the limiter you'd have pulled a bigger gap

[Ice_Coffee]

these cars are pretty slow on the torque front vs. a turbo car

i'd say getting MRC to delimit the torque in 1,2,3rd is the best bet

My S4 would murder an RS 4 up to 80, then the RS would take it

btw, did you start in 3rd gear? if so, I recon if you started in 2nd and went to the limiter you'd have pulled a bigger gap

I had the fortune to try both over the full course of the tear up, but it didn't matter at best I could only make small gains !

Im strongly considering MRC, im coming from a turbo car my self so I know how cheaply tunable they are (if you only want 10~20% gains) I also know how quick they can feel when you get punched in the back by the turbo. I have never had a supercharged car before but I don't see my next car being Normally aspirated, I might check out the new S5 coupé in a couple of years when they drop in price, as apparently these will be getting the V6 TFSI supercharged engine in the 2011 facelift.

[lengster1]

Why do you think ive had mine given the full monty 460 mrc treatment? Full power after 100mph when the car is stock is useless in real world driving Its not cheap with milltek costs etc but im up by approx 90 bhp from totally stock performing example,the feel and responsiveness coming out of roundabouts and normal "real" situations is far far better than stock,i too often felt underwelmed by the car in standard form and thought come on come on lets go!!!!!! Based on your repeat experiances i would get it on the dyno as it sounds like you possibly have a problem with the car

[sonny]

Hats off to you Ice_coffee for posting something like this, most ppl will just brush it under the carpet and will pretend it never happened.

Its worth having the car tweaked with. As you say Torque does win races.

[Ice_Coffee]

IIRC the torque is limited to 75% in the first 3 gears. If you went through some twisties you would have left him for dead though as the handling on the RS4 is untouchable.

PS - next time take the handbrake off!

75 % of 258 is still 193 vs our 190, all you have managed to answer is why he couldn't overtake me

@ lengster, I could not have put it better, full power only available after 100mph is useless in real world driving.

[Ice_Coffee]

Hats off to you Ice_coffee for posting something like this, most ppl will just brush it under the carpet and will pretend it never happened.

Its worth having the car tweaked with. As you say Torque does win races.

Thanks, I know what you mean but I have nothing to hide. I'm not naive enough to believe that just because I have a performance car means I am automatically Blessed with the knowledge to be an expert at driving it,

Nor do I believe all the hype that my car is unbeatable on the road. But under normal circumstances I guess I would expect it to give an unmodified 2.0 turbo a good pasting

[Scatman]

Is it not the case that the torque limiter is only applied up to circa 5,500 rpm in 1st 2nd and 3rd?

[neckarsulm]

Ice, the 2.0T has shorter gearing so he's prob just run up to the limiter in 3rd for 80mph.
As a result his engine will be using higher revs while the RS4 will be well down the rev range, if 100 mph is 8000 rpm in 3rd then 4000 is 50 mph and we all know that 5000rpm is a minimum requirement for this kind of childish behaviour
In short use 2nd next time to start!

[Rick_RS4]

also if mapped will be about 300 bhp, not sure on torque, a couple of years ago a mk5 2.0 tfsi mapped gave an rs4 a run for its money there was a vid too, the guy got a ban from posting the vid on u tube too after the police saw it and worked out his speed from the road sign distances

whoops

[thedoluk]

Why do you think ive had mine given the full monty 460 mrc treatment? Full power after 100mph when the car is stock is useless in real world driving Its not cheap with milltek costs etc but im up by approx 90 bhp from totally stock performing example,the feel and responsiveness coming out of roundabouts and normal "real" situations is far far better than stock,i too often felt underwelmed by the car in standard form and thought come on come on lets go!!!!!! Based on your repeat experiances i would get it on the dyno as it sounds like you possibly have a problem with the car

+1

You get loads more low torque and power band starts at 3k instead of 5. I now use third how I used to use 2nd, car feels really strong in any gear.

[neckarsulm]

Don't forget Ice's car is a cabriolet which is a tad slower anyway.

[P_G]

If it's any comfort I had a Skoda Superb and Ibiza FR in line up my arse on the way home along the A19 last night but only on flat surfaces and downhill sections. We got to Testos roundabout where the trffic lights were on red so both stopped with him right behind me; TC off, lights green and I pulled a 1/4 mile gap on him by going round the roundabout within the cars limit of capability and accelerating all the time sticking to one lane rather than having to straightline the roundabout. I could see him struggling round the roundabout and then pililng down the A19 trying to catch up which he did a mile afterward wth me sitting at the speed limit.

These cars are not the best in a straightline on a flat road but on inclines or in bends very little will be staying with you. That said as some have indicated you need to rev these cars to get the best out of them. 3rd at 50 is not in peak power band. Carbon Build Up is an unquiantified mysnoma.