Monster

Honda has a similar system in ther Legend for over a year now, so it is actually ahead of the German competition. The Honda's system is very heavy though so the handling benefits that comes with the system is somehow cancelled by the shear weight of the drivetrain. I think it is called Super Handling something... can't remember.

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Yannis

You are right monster but i believe that the very first system with chracteristics like QTV was Mistubishi's Active Yaw which is used in EVO models.

martinbo

What we’re seeing is a convergence in all-wheel drive technology between BMW and Audi. Mercedes, no doubt have access to the same technology and I expect a similar offering from them in the near future. These developments in all-wheel drive technology appear to have a certain congruence with the introduction of electronic stability programs that we saw a few years back. Nowadays electronic stability programs are pervasive across all brands and multitudes of models and such systems no longer serve to differentiate one competitor from the next. In other words no car maker is out there claiming that their stability program is better than the rest’s… Now we’re seeing that the next generation of all-wheel drive systems will make use of complex electro-mechanical differentials to enhance the driving dynamics of an all-wheel drive car. We all know that an AWD car has the natural tendency to understeer in normal conditions and only when clever torque apportioning front to rear is applied do we see all-wheel drive cars adopting a neutral to oversteering cornering stance.

The next level in all-wheel drive dynamics is one where the rear wheels are employed more effectively to give the car sportier and more dynamic cornering ability. To do this, engineers have developed technology that capitalises on the rear wheel with the best grip by using a differential that can rapidly direct torque left-to-right in order to adjust the car’s cornering line in accordance with the car’s intended path. Current rear differentials in AWD cars are seldom more than just limited slip devices – if an LSD is employed at all. We’ve already seen such electro-mechanical differentials in Honda’s SH-AWD.

I have a feeling that DPC or QTV or whatever other clever acronym the marketers will come up with next will become a standard feature in AWD drivetrains and that such technology will differentiate brands for a brief period only. This is in much the same way as we’ve seen with ABS, ESP, Direct Injection, Robotised Manuals, 7 and 8 speed automatic transmissions.

Currently manufacturers use the uniqueness of their AWD configurations for brand differentiation. This has already started to change and soon we’ll see that no manufacturer can lay claim to their all-wheel drive system being superior to another and therefore intrinsic to their competitive advantage.

Harry Plopper

Yes, Super Handling - All Wheel Drive (SH-AWD).

It's a similar system: also able to distribute torque to rear left vs. rear right wheel, not only front vs. rear axle. Yet the system is heavy, and not as flexible as eg Dynamic xDrive from BMW.

The SH-AWD system is brilliant yet the problem is that the rest of Honda chassis - especially due the too soft suspension setting & imprecise steering - isn't able to benefit a lot from SH-AWD.

NarutoRamen

You're precisely right, the system is awesome but the car it's being utilized on isn't the right one.

If I remember correctly Honda might use a lighter more tweeked version of the SH-AWD system on the new NSX. Let's see what that brings.

On a side note, EVO's and STIs have been kicking ass for over a decade with less power than the AUDIs...so while AUDI pioneered AWD it was the Japanese who have been using it for what AUDI is going to do now with it.

Imhotep Evil

Subaru I belive had AWD before Audi, but Spyker beat everyone.

Giannis

Mercedes beats them all

The first all-wheel-drive car for everyday use was built by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) in 1907. The "Dernburg-Wagen", as it was known, even featured all-wheel steering. It is called after the then Secretary of State Bernhard Dernburg who drove many a kilometer in it in Africa the following year.

Giannis

Subaru I belive had AWD before Audi, but Spyker beat everyone.

- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Audi released the original Quattro in 1980, making it both the first car to feature Audi's quattro four-wheel drive system (hence its name) and the first to mate four wheel drive with a turbocharged engine.
- ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

So you are right on this!

Imhotep Evil

1903 Spyker 60 HP, the first AWD car.

NarutoRamen

1899 - NRMC 55hp, AWD car with YAW-control and EDif




j/k LOL

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