Surprise to me, but I actually hadn't driven the 93 UrS4 sedan since about Jan. 21st when I got the V8 avant back after the clutch replacement. I was away for most of February and was busy with a house reno project in March. Plus it was raining and I had an UrS6 sedan headliner on the roof of the UrS4 in the garage. Bottomline, I was having too much fun with the V8 avant to bother with the UrS4 sedan. I started it once and a while but it never moved until today (nice sunny spring day in Vancouver).
As I backed it out of the garage, I noticed a big wet spot under where the engine bay was - Oh,yeah, I still have a coolant leak that I need to find and fix. (Lazy). Then I took it for a manual spray wash, a fill up and a bit of a run. That is when the contrasts started to come out.
1. Clutch: The sedan clutch is heavy and awful compared to the new avant (Sachs) clutch. I'll have to move the replacement of the sedan clutch up the maintenance schedule. I almost stalled the sedan a couple of times, now being used to the smoother softer avant clutch.
2. Steering: The sedan has Servotronic and an UrS6 steering wheel. The avant has non-Servotronic power steering and the four spoke wheel with a squeeze-over thick aftermarket leather cover. The sedan is nicer to steer (IMO) than the avant. Love the feel of the UrS6 sport wheel. I'll have to install one on the avant. All that said, a couple of times, on a turn, I over-turned (too much turn)the sedan, maybe because the steering effort is so much less with Servotronic. Definitely have to get used to that again.
3. Brakes: The sedan has big blacks and Textars up front (with 323 x 30 rotors). The avant is OE HP2s (with 314 x 30 rotors). Both are hydraulic "bomb" assist. Not sure what is up with the sedan but the HP2s on the avant feel better (quicker stops) than the sedan. Might need some investigation.
4. Acceleration: Around town, I would say that the V8 avant is quicker. More torque sooner and with the 6 spd., a better selection of gears (3-4-5-6) compared to the sedan (3-4-5). The RS2'd sedan definitely seems (is) laggy compared to the V8 avant. Might not be totally fair because of the clutch and transmission differences. The sedan is by no means slow. You just have to think more about what gear you are in and what gear you need to be in to get the boost up ASAP. (Not much thinking in the V8 avant- I've even been using 6th gear around town a bit).
5. Ride: The sedan rides better. The sedan is on Eibachs/Bilsteins installed in 1999 whereas the avant is on a German Fintec aftermarket spring and shock set (no longer made) of unknown age. The sedan has 214K km vs the avant at 93K km. BUT to be fair, I did completely rebuild the front end on the sedan in 2011 whereas the avant is probably all original, with 20 years of rubber bushing deterioration. The avant is also very (too) low. I will need to replace the springs (I happen to have a new Eibach V6 auto box avant spring set that I might try on the V8 avant).
Don't get me wroing. Both are great and I am happy with them. Just different.
A couple of UrS sedan things I still have to look into (besides the coolant leak):
1. Hmm...why did I remove the warning buzzer on the instrument cluster. It's laying under the ashtray. I know it was sticking on but I don't know why.
2. The hot/warm restart issue is still there - still can trick it by opening up the throttle a tad as I try to start the engine. Might have to investiate the throttle position switch again.
As I backed it out of the garage, I noticed a big wet spot under where the engine bay was - Oh,yeah, I still have a coolant leak that I need to find and fix. (Lazy). Then I took it for a manual spray wash, a fill up and a bit of a run. That is when the contrasts started to come out.
1. Clutch: The sedan clutch is heavy and awful compared to the new avant (Sachs) clutch. I'll have to move the replacement of the sedan clutch up the maintenance schedule. I almost stalled the sedan a couple of times, now being used to the smoother softer avant clutch.
2. Steering: The sedan has Servotronic and an UrS6 steering wheel. The avant has non-Servotronic power steering and the four spoke wheel with a squeeze-over thick aftermarket leather cover. The sedan is nicer to steer (IMO) than the avant. Love the feel of the UrS6 sport wheel. I'll have to install one on the avant. All that said, a couple of times, on a turn, I over-turned (too much turn)the sedan, maybe because the steering effort is so much less with Servotronic. Definitely have to get used to that again.
3. Brakes: The sedan has big blacks and Textars up front (with 323 x 30 rotors). The avant is OE HP2s (with 314 x 30 rotors). Both are hydraulic "bomb" assist. Not sure what is up with the sedan but the HP2s on the avant feel better (quicker stops) than the sedan. Might need some investigation.
4. Acceleration: Around town, I would say that the V8 avant is quicker. More torque sooner and with the 6 spd., a better selection of gears (3-4-5-6) compared to the sedan (3-4-5). The RS2'd sedan definitely seems (is) laggy compared to the V8 avant. Might not be totally fair because of the clutch and transmission differences. The sedan is by no means slow. You just have to think more about what gear you are in and what gear you need to be in to get the boost up ASAP. (Not much thinking in the V8 avant- I've even been using 6th gear around town a bit).
5. Ride: The sedan rides better. The sedan is on Eibachs/Bilsteins installed in 1999 whereas the avant is on a German Fintec aftermarket spring and shock set (no longer made) of unknown age. The sedan has 214K km vs the avant at 93K km. BUT to be fair, I did completely rebuild the front end on the sedan in 2011 whereas the avant is probably all original, with 20 years of rubber bushing deterioration. The avant is also very (too) low. I will need to replace the springs (I happen to have a new Eibach V6 auto box avant spring set that I might try on the V8 avant).
Don't get me wroing. Both are great and I am happy with them. Just different.
A couple of UrS sedan things I still have to look into (besides the coolant leak):
1. Hmm...why did I remove the warning buzzer on the instrument cluster. It's laying under the ashtray. I know it was sticking on but I don't know why.
2. The hot/warm restart issue is still there - still can trick it by opening up the throttle a tad as I try to start the engine. Might have to investiate the throttle position switch again.
Comment