Audi's Quattro technology can save lives and provide a fun driving experience as well

Attending Audi Mumbai’s Weekender event was a fun experience. While I do love cars and bikes, what is more impressive is to check out how the tech beneath these machines perform under the most brutal road conditions. The Audi Weekender was a showcase of just this and there was plenty of car tech everywhere. After a short talk about the do’s and don’t for the drivers, I had a chance to experience the what few may have. From the roaring acceleration and control of the cars and the more impressively the control and prowess of Audi’s Quattro tech in the automaker’s SUVs. The lineup included the Audi A4, S5, TT, Q3 and the mightly Q7. Trying out the powerful S5 and the nimble TT, it was easy to notice how torque vectoring with Audi’s Quattro All-Wheel Drive system put the power where it was necessary without any fuss. It’s almost as if the car knows when one of the wheels is slipping and delivers the power to the other wheels to prevent losing balance and spinning off. This can help drivers on rainy days and even on slippery snow . Since it was a closed track, it was hard to imagine the how the uneven paverblocks on the course may have presented a challenge for the cars. But the shocks absorbed the bumps (a stiffer ride on the TT) and the cars handled flawlessly on the slalom as well. It’s like you point it where you need to and it “just goes”; in a way isolating the driver from the brunt that the chassis and suspension bear, letting you push the vehicle to its limits. Next up it was time for the big boys and Audi kickstarted the Q Drive with a proper off road layout which included the usual rumbles, chicken holes, axle twisters, along with a banked incline, a small hillock and a rather deep trench. Sitting in the Audi full-sized Q7, it was easy to spot how everything from Audi’s virtual cockpit to the Quattro four-wheel drive system work in sync to overcome any hurdle with ease. Our instructors kept commanding every driver, not to panic, keep the steering straight and just “step on the gas”.  It was incredible to see how the SUV that weighs more than two tonnes, drives comfortably on a banked incline with no hiccups even at a steep 30 degree angle, which was enough for a passenger to reach out the window and touch the ground below with ease (we were not allowed to as instructed at the briefing). Sitting in the baby Q3 saw a similar display of talent which was quite surprising considering its small size and lower ground clearance. As one of the customers who were at the event noted, it takes the complications out of the driving and simply lets the driver enjoy the ride and feel the thrills that come with it. When you are riding any of these vehicles the last thing one would notice is the dash and the instrument cluster (keeping the course in mind), but with Audi there’s indeed plenty to explore. At least on the Audi S5, the TT and the Q7 (upgradeable on the Q3 and current gen TT) I got a glimpse of Audi’s virtual cockpit. With tech on my mind, there’s enough in here to take some time out and sit and stare at that display which sits where your usual speedometers and other dials usually reside. It’s a fully digital instrument cluster packing in a 12.3-inch (diagonal display) with a resolution of 1,440 x 540 pixels, which is pretty sharp. Audi uses an Nvidia Tegra 30 chip of the Tegra 3 series that delivers a smooth 60fps. Why would you need 60fps graphics in car? Well, there’s that tachometer that’s usually hard to keep up in vehicles like the S5. Then there’s the navigation map which is more of use in the Q series right there in the instrument cluster. No you will not be watching movies on it, but as a well-endowed control panel, it is placed where its supposed to be, where every driver always keeps an eye on. Impressive stuff indeed! At the end of it I was left wondering as to which was the quickest route to acquiring one of these machines.