Re: Gearing on 86 4000 quattro sedan

[Eliot Lim <eliot@lanmola.engr.washington.edu>]

> Why did they gear the 86 4000 quattro sedan so low? 

for top gear acceleration and maximum top speed possible.  most
"sporty" german cars are designed with the autobahn in mind first and
the u.s interstate last.  i think that this is a german customer
requirement.  golf GTI's are geared this way till this very day.  i.e.
top gear will reach top speed at engine power peak..  if you gear
either too low or too high, you lose a couple of mphs of top speed.

>At 120 mph the revs are already well near 6000, 

the european model with 136 bhp cannot even reach 120 mph; just a tad
below that, which corresponds very closely to the power peak at 5500
rpm.  the u.s. model with 115 bhp simply retains what they set out to
do in europe. i think the top speed of this car is probably below 110.
in my experience the acceleration drops off significantly after 95
(indicated) or so.

> and it would seem that it wastes gas.

yes it does.

my ex-4000csq was not terribly economical considering its engine output
and weight.

> I have an 84 non quattro coupe that I am selling,
> and it has a similar 1st, 2nd, and third, but 4, and especially
> 5 on the coupe offer a lot more leway. I think it is at about
> 5000 rpm at 120 mph. 

i guess the coupe was not considered to be as "sporty" as the quattro
models, so they compromised top end performance for economy and less
noise.

eliot