Many folks turned up at Sepang International Circuit (SIC) on the last Saturday of November for #TimeToAttack. Subsequently, thousands of fans thronged the same area later that same day, braving the rain for Avicii. What most did not realize however, Euromobil Malaysia had assembled s a small collective of automotive journalists at SIC for some hoonery across both tarmac and dirt.
We started the day off early, assembling first at Audi’s showroom in Damansara for some food before setting off. As the name might suggest, the day revolved around Audi’s quattro-enabled cars. This meant that at our disposal was a fleet that ranged from the A5/A6/A7/A8 as well as the Q3/Q5/Q7. Quattro, as some of you already know, is Audi’s permanent AWD system. Making its first debut way back in 1980, it has evolved and improved over the years to provide an extremely rapid distribution of power between front and rear axles giving faster acceleration, improving dynamics, precision, and providing excellent cornering and directional stability.
Setting off from the showroom, we headed first for Port Dickson (PD) via a series of highways and B-roads. With exception of the Q3, all the cars in the test fleet were equipped with self-locking center differential. Under regular driving, the torque distribution is rear biased and split 40:60 giving a sportier driving dynamic. When necessary, 70% of power can be sent to the front wheels, and up to 85% to the rear. The Q3 was the only car in the fleet that was equipped with a hydraulic multi-plate clutch, enabling 100% of power to be sent to either front or rear.
In real-time driving conditions and with our recent wet, monsoon weather, it was not difficult to see the benefits of quattro. There was more than one instance where I had the confidence (with the car having the ability) to perform over-taking maneuvers, which I wouldn’t normally have attempted in my own car.
Naturally, it is impossible (also very silly) to push a car to its limits out on a public road. After a quick lunch break, we headed from PD to SIC to exploit the car’s safety and quattro prowess. The fleet was split in to two sections: A5/A6/A7/A8 saloons and the off-road capable Q3/Q5/Q7 to see just how they would stack up.
Starting first with the saloons, we went through a series of training which showcased the car’s abilities. It started off with a simulation for an emergency braking scenario, leading on to a slalom course, and finally cornering in the wet – with both ESC left on and off. The training demonstrated just how able the cars were, not only to move rapidly in a straight line, but also when weaving through corners and coming to a complete and absolute stop. I spent extra effort pushing the cars through the wet corner, accelerating as hard as I could, but even in the gargantuan A8, I found no flaws.
Heading next for the off-road training, we smiled a little to ourselves as the clouds opened and we waited in anticipation for what was to come next. You’ve seen our cover picture already, so you know roughly what to expect. With the impending rain, we smiled as we were briefed on the 1 kilometer long course which consisted of dirt terrain, tight corners, inclines, declines… and a muddy pit. I suppose it comes as no surprise that it was the Q3 which turned out to be the quickest, most agile one of the group – able to lap its biggest brother, the Q7, by a significant margin.
For those of who took part in the Audi quattro® driving experience online via Audi’s microsite, the top 40 finalists (we know at least one is a Zerotohundred reader!) have already been selected to experience what us motoring hacks have, whilst the grand prize winner, Ms Eileen Cheah, will be jetting off to the Dubai Autodrome for the Audi R8 driving experience. Our heartiest congratulations go out to all the respective winners!
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