Which to buy?: 1.8T or 2.8 Quattro

[teccyjim]

Hi guys and gals. Im in need of a bigger car and as im not doing as many miles now, the Bora TDI seems a little pointless and I want something fairly quick.

Ive narrowed it down to an A6 (C5 shape) but am torn between the 1.8T and the 2.8 Quattro. Both are near enough the same price.

The 2.8 has 193bhp and sounds fantastic. The 1.8T is only 150bhp but a remap can shift that up to 200 or so bhp, is it this engine that is very tuneable? Im a total VAG petrol 'virgin' I could do with your thoughts, pro's and con's etc.....

Any help appreciated.
Jim

[Kiwi Kranker]

Well I would say this, but take the 2.8 the whole way. The quattro means that it just plain handles much better as standard compared to the 2wd.

I am sure a 1.8T remapped would shift but adding an extra 50 of so HP may not do wonders to your long term reliability (I may be wrong here as the engines may be wayyy under tuned).

My 2.8 cruises well, goes quick enough with a full load Obviosuly not like a 2.7T or a 4.2 but I am getting aorund 32-34mpg cruising. I dont really use it around the city as I live in London but I imagine its figures would drop to about 22-24mpg. Oh and over easter I had it on the windy roads of Wales and for such a large rig it handled surprisingly well. I have had ex race cars and all sorts in my time and this still brought a smile to my face. (Though I am now looking at RS4's and RS6's....) . I think you can chip a 2.8 to squeek out another 8 or 9 hp plus associated torque increase.

Another thing worth considering, A6's are not exactly small cars and to me a 1.8 engine in a rig the size of an A6 must surely struggle in the torque department. Once again there are better informed people than me on here who can answer that question.

Hope those rambled thoughts give you a few things to consider.

Oh and buy the 2.8 quattro!!

[Niall76]

If it doesn't have a V6 or V8 it aint no use to man nor beast.

[daxmatt]

personally i wouldnt bother with the 1.8t the a6 is a barge of a car and the 1.8 seems a small engine,you can chip the turbo up a bit but its all about the torque in the a6 cos its such a big car,stop messin and get the 4.2 monster i have one and its a complete beast,not to good on fuel but hey you cant have everything,5 seats a boot and it still rips the heads of 2 seat sports cars LOL


cheers matt

[teccyjim]

pretty conclusive then!? I can understand the point of a 1.8T being 'under-torqued' but surely that's why the turbo is there? That said, I took a test drive in an '02 plate A4 with the 1.8T engine and was massively dissapointed and was a mile apart from my mates A3 1.8T which I thought was a pretty quick motor.

A 4.2 V8 would be awesome, if I had shares in BP or Shell perhaps?? The 2.8Q seems to be the right compromise, although does the quattro system 'sap' power and add considerable extra weight to an already heavy car? What im getting at is if the 1.8T is under powered and the quattro is too heavy, do they not meet in the middle ie they're the same?

Jimbo

[daxmatt]

its more to do with the torque on these cars,the turbo runs the twin cam 20v so its a screamer but it hasnt got the grunt of the 2.8,speed wise there probably wont be much between it until you get a car full and the 2.8 keeps goin and the turbo struggles,if you want turbo go for the 2.7 one

cheers matt

[Kiwi Kranker]

The 4wd system will always suck more power but the handling benefits far far far faaaarrrrrrrrrr outweigh this loss. They are quite different beasts the 1.8t and the 2.8 and by all accounts do not meet in the middle.

The best thing to do is take a 2.8 for a spin, just be sure to let us know what you think between roughly 4k - 5.5k on the tacho. The noise alone is worth buying the 2.8.

It is not a massively quick car but I would hazard a guess and say it will be much more rewarding to drive than a tweaked 1.8 2wd, it will definitely go round corners better and be load safer in the wet.

Let us know how you get on.

[Niall76]

Okay, here goes.

Whilst the 1.8 is an okay little motor it's still a little 1800cc. Yeah you can whack a turbo on it but it aint chainging the fact it's still a 4 cylinder bag of nails. The A6 is a big car. It aint no Lotus but for it's size it handles very well. The 30 valve V6 is superb! It's smoooooth, pulls like buggery and sounds fantastic.

Yeah you can tune up the turbo but your costing yourself more in getting the job done and fuel.

If you really want to tune your 2.8 then there is a supercharger available for it. Now that is some machine indeed! Even more masses of torque and a shed load more power. That's what I'll be doing.......

There are other things too, remaps, free flowing exhuasts (I can get these made if anyone is interested) etc.

In the real world the 2.8 gives me around 32mpg on back roads/town/dual carraigeway daily driving. Get it on the M way and it's 36+ easily. Get the lead foot down and who cares!.....

The leather is fantastic, the bucket seats are real comfy, the quattro system is brilliant (gives better acceleration too) ride is ace, looks great....what more is there?.....

I've got 3 kids and for karting us around up and down to my parents (120 miles each way) and all the rest it's brilliant! We all fit with masses of room inside, the boot swallows everything as it's huge and it has no comprimise in performance.

You know it makes sense.

And for what it's worth, if I could stomach the cost in fuel I would have the V8 too.

[Kiwi Kranker]

Oh yes the 4.2 V8 would be superb.

Not strictly true these days with modern engines but as they used to say

'There is no replacement for cubic displacement'

Still a great quote in my book.

[buster]

I have a 2.7T

Get a 2.7T

Fuel consumption is about the same as the 2.8, power is 250, and there is enough torque to shake a stick at.

I had a 2.4 for a while and was always a little disappointed with power output.

The 2.7 does more to the gallon and goes a whole lot better.