4Motion tagged posts

A note from admin: we received a lot of emails from our readers inquiring more details and answers to some related questions. To make our editor’s job easier, please submit your comment or question at the bottom of this article. Every question will be reviewed and answered.

When talking about all-wheel-drive systems within the Volkswagen Group, most consumers usually know only two terms: the Quattro in Audi, and also the 4Motion in Volkswagen.

However, they are not just simply two systems: in fact the situation behind these are much more complicated than it appears to be. In this article, I will briefly analyze the AWD systems in Audi and VW cars.

Introduction

The Audi ...

All-wheel-drive system is a somewhat complicated topic. The main factor lies in: there are many types of differential, and also an AWD system always has 3 differentials (front/center/rear), hence there are many possible combinations of ways to implement an AWD system.

Since a typical consumer may not have enough knowledge to understand all technical details behind the AWD system, automobile manufacturers usually employ a single, unified generic term to name all of its AWD systems. Take Volkswagen as example: all of its AWD systems have only one name: “4Motion”, the same thing applies to Audi’s Quattro system.

The current way that car makers name their AWD products seems ...