Audi Allroad 2000 test drive - 2006 SUV

All photos Audi Allroad 2000 - 2006

Someone is show-off, someone is a maniac

Disruption in the skid, dust clubs and drum fraction of pebbles along the bottom is a tough situation for a car, a toy for an SUV. Stress on the verge of loss of control in one case, a triumphant smile on the face in the other. Be that as it may, the direct injection of adrenaline into the blood is guaranteed. True, the presence of an SUV is not a prerequisite. A fairly full -wheel drive and kind clearance, and some cars have such a set. There are only four of them: Forester and Outback Subaru, Audi Allroad QUATTRO and Volvo XC70 AWD. Forester plays in his class, the new outback has not yet appeared on sale, temporarily leaving AlloD and XC70 to continue the three -year confrontation. The XC70 is continuously improved: last year, instead of primitive viscousyfts in the transmission, the car received a multi -disc clutch, and most recently its gasoline engine was modernized. Allroad is building up muscles, in 2002, presented in the top version of the V8 4.2 with a 300-horsepower engine.

So, Audi and Volvo. The first round is in absentia, let's call it what is and what could be. Everything is clear with the motors: only a turbodiesel Alload turbodiesella is against us with the only engine, supplied to us with the only engine. A gasoline -baked German is too expensive to call this fight equal.

How well are naked cars dressed? Good, but it is unlike each other. General points of mechanical boxes, ABS with auxiliary electronic systems, an electricrope with heating, fog and religions. The upholstery is simple: the fabric in Audi, the fabric plus vinyl in Volvo. Further continuous discrepancies. In the XC70, eight pillows are sewn up in the standard (against four in AlloD), a multifunctional steering wheel, a Servotronic variable amplifier and wipers on headlights. AlloD is equipped with abruptly: ESP, adjustable air suspension, climate control (against the air conditioner for Volvo), 17-inch wheels (against 16-inch), athermal glazing of the front seats in height.

Let's go through the options. To be equal to the XC70, the AlloD is to help Servotronic, four pillows and a multifunctional steering wheel. We will have to spend more on Volvo by ordering a DSTC stabilization system, the body alignment system, climate control, athermal glass and electric drives of the front seats. General options have a mass of cars: leather/tree, high-class acoustics with sound processing systems, amplifiers and subwoofers, electric louds, cruise control, xenon. As well as navigation systems with TV tuners, built-in phones, parking sensors, folding mirrors and rinks.

Parity? Not! Audi offers customers a lowering row (for a mechanical checkpoint), RECARO sports seats with electroregies, heating the rear seats, tire pressure sensors and body decoration with aluminum decor. Volvo has its own temptations: an autonomous engine and a cabin, an additional seat in the trunk, a refrigerator, fasteners for transporting various types of precortion. Finally, the Tiptronic sequental machine is installed on AlloD, and two assault rifles are already on XC70: sectral GEARTRONIC or simple. In general, with the equipment of both cars, everything is in order, but the Audi will be richer and more interesting options.

Despite the general ideological orientation, each of the cars is perceived in its own way. A fraught with alload is a kind of elongated aristocrat in a classic suit. It looks absolutely appropriate at the parking lot near the Bolshoi Theater, but it is a pity to dip in such a beauty in the mud. On the contrary, the rude and lean XC70 option is deliberately suburban. Plastic armor protects not only the perimeter of the body, but also the bow: on such a device you can safely climb into the thicket. The car looks more impudent and bolder.

The interiors are full of opposites. Audi takes the quality and honorance of ergonomics, Volvo design. Inside, the AlloDo is more expensive, stiffer and more boring, while each of its details is extremely conscientiously made. Zero problems with comfort: numerous adjustments will satisfy the most moody requests. The seats are stronger here, but they distribute the load better, and lateral support is more effective. The ultramodern style of the XC70 in three years has not grown at all, still fascinating the impeccable aesthetics and purity of the lines. An unsurpassed masterpiece, which no one has even dared to copy. But too much slippery plastic, subconsciously underestimating the prestige of the machine. And with ergonomics, not everything is super: an algorithm for adjustments of the seats is inconvenient, and tall people do not have enough range of movement of the steering column up. But visibility is better due to the folding rear head restraints. As for the seats of the second row themselves, the level of comfort is approximately the same, well, maybe in Volvo legs a little closer.

Trunk. The key parameter for cars of this category.
Compared to the Audi, the VOLVO wagon wizard of transformations: in its asset, the back of the rear seat adjustable over the angle of inclination, consisting of three, and not two parts, a back of the front right chair, a steel grid in the trunk and two capacious containers with lids in its floor. There is not enough curtains, but it can be ordered.

Allroad is quite an objective name for such machines: all -terrain. And in search of non -acheated spaces, we strive to break out of the vice of a metropolis. In traffic lights XC70 is more dynamic, but it is more convenient to control the dynamics in the case of Audi.

The Volvo interfere with the slowness of the box, the rubber drive of the accelerator and turboyam. At the same time, subjectively, the machine seems more nervous, alive: the developed accelerations are more significant, the switching of the machine is sharper, the XC70 steering is more willing. Allroad is a debugged mechanism full of greatness. The car is heavier and smoother to rise, the transmission is switched more accurately, and less often, thanks to the excellent elasticity of the turbodiesel. In addition, TipTronic has an amazingly effective sports

the regime in which acceleration becomes more vigorous, and when braking is promptly, although the previous gear is slightly in the way. The brakes of the machines are equivalent in their efficiency, but in Audi it is again more pleasant to control them.
On the highway with its fast straight and gentle turns, the superiority of the Audi becomes obvious. The air suspension presses the car to the canvas, making it stunningly stable, the capabilities of the engine are more than enough for energetic attacks at speeds per hundred. XC70 holds less confidently. The car is more noticeable on the waves and rolls in corners, and its advantages can only be attributed to the clear zero on the steering wheel and the smaller level of noise and vibrations in the cabin. And do not forget that AlloD in any situation is all -wheel drive, and in the XC70, the rear wheels are activated only when the front slipping is activated.

Alas, the asphalt is used to end, giving way to primers and engraving. And Audi is forced to give in to the role of the host Volvo, who was previously the former led. A tangible gain in the mass (minus 150 kg is not a joke!), The soft and energy -intensive suspension leads XC70 to the leaders. The car playfully jumps from a slide to the hill, easily bouncing and a spring on the ground, flying over the fits of the comb, not noticing the scattering of small stones. Returning at ease, cheerfully dawns in a steep turn, and even pass it with a beautiful fan and completely a couple of trifles. The exit to the direct rally jerk of the springboard is a new turn in the dashing drift of the next straight couple of minutes of such safari, and only two luminous holes in the dust veil remained from Audi. The German has a tightly! A hard suspension does not allow maintaining a decent pace where the XC70 is 70-80 km/h. Braking by gravel of a massive machine is difficult, electronics in such an environment are not the best assistant. In the turns of Allroad, he is trying to behave correctly, but his efforts seem to be boring.

The car is either stupidly in a plow, or it falls out sideways. Of course, you can also polyghty on Audi, especially since the Torsen differential in the sense of performance is preferable to Haldex coupling, but more space is in any way for maneuvers.

... While Alload takes off at the same speed and tits down almost until the suspension limiters are triggered.

In the tactical application of real SUVs, loose sand, areas with the lunar surface, our heroes feel quite relaxed. Moreover, in the patency of the car, they do not want to give in to each other: where Audi travels to the perfection of the transmission and engineering of the engine, Volvo responds with less mass and abuse of complex places on the XC70, it is most profitable to slip on the move. Road gaps, geometric capabilities, passages of car suspensions are almost the same. But all this is adjusted for the versatility of cars. To pursue the Nissan Patrol mud on them definitely will not work.

It turns out that the first impression is by no means deceptive. Audi Allroad to a greater extent image acquisition, a sure way to demonstrate to others their mobility and independence from circumstances. A great choice for a city dweller, only occasionally choosing for nature, and then for fun. Volvo XC70 The right option for those who are simply forced to spend a lot of time on bad roads, and not only air with them. A real working tool. Accordingly, the choice between these machines is not so much personal tastes and addictions as pure appropriation water.

The Audi Allroad car is provided by RUSE-AUTO.
The Volvo XC70 car is provided by Rolf-Carline.

Text: Leonid Klyuyev
Photo: Evgeny Egorov