PERFORMANCE CAR 1989 MAR - QUATTRO vs. CARRERA 4

 

Within this issue, you will discover the following topics:

 

1.   COVER: The very first four-wheel-drive concept to be widely accepted meets the latest. Audi quattro comes face to face with Carrera 4 and the result is spectacular

2.   IMPRESSIONS: Few would have guessed how good the new 300ZX could look - we've tried it in the US. Plus, the BMW 316i may not be, strictly speaking, quick enough for these pages but it certainly has appeal and its new engine is worthy of note. John Simister meanwhile has been to Nice to test the new Voivo 480 Turbo

3.   ORIGINAL AND BEST? Our four-wheel-drive theme this month centres around. the meeting between Porsche's impressive Carrera 4 and the legendary quattro. Brian Laban tested them both in Germany to try and discover if the Carrera's sophisticated electronic four-wheel drive system is all that it's cracked up to be

4.   FAMILY OF FOUR: Four-wheel drive is no longer the specialised feature of a few years ago. Here, Kevin Blick and Tony Lewin compare cars from right across the market, the Sierra 2.9 4x4, Lancia Delta Integrale, Audi Coupe, Toyota Celica GT 4, Mercedes 300E. All have four-wheel-drive and all went on sale in the last year

5.   CROSS BREED: Mazda's 323 4x4 Turbo has always been impressive, but rallycrosser Terry Briggs has improved it. John Simister takes a detailed look

6.   No 1 IRON: GTi Engineering have added one of their spectacular 2-litre GTi engines to the Golf Syncro. John Simister tests the first proper four-wheel-drive Golf GTi

7.   LONG TERM TEST: John Simister reports on the opening round with his Toyota Corolla GTi-16, and Pete Robain writes again of our faithful Audi 90 quattro

8.   INNER VISION: Brian Laban talks to Audi's Head of Product Development, Dr Fritz Naumann, about the story of the quattro and how Audi's philosophy has matured since the turbocharged coupe, with its 50/50 torque split, was born

9.   FOUR SIGHT: Mike Scarlett meets the Porsche 911 project chief, Friedrich Bezner, who not only discusses the philosophy behind the new 911 Carrera 4, but also demonstrates it, in his own way, on the impressive Weissach test facility

10.   FOUR BELOW ZERO: Vauxhall's new Cavalier 4x4 establishes four-wheel drive firmly in the ranks of the upper-medium sector of the market. John Simister was despatched to Roros in freezing Norway to find out what four-wheel drive is really about. Corners were no problem but stopping proved to be a different matter

11.   LUCK OF THE IRISH: Jeremy Clarkson is unusually contrite this month. So overwhelmed is he by the beauty and serenity of Southern Ireland, the apparent rejection by its people of all things egotistical generally, and expensive cars in particular, that he lets his feelings pour forth in one huge gush of humanity

12.   50/50 VISION? With all due reverence for the Jensen Interceptor, Audi really started something with the quattro. Jeff Daniels looks at how far technology has progressed since Ingolstadt's four-wheel drive system took the world by storm

13.   COMBINING EXCELLENCE: Most of us in this office admit to being fairly baffled by the desire by so many to spend so much on in-car entertainment, but many do. David Rowlands looks at what you can get for £4,658 including crossovers

14.   NOTES: Jesse Crosse considers the future of four-wheel-drive and wonders whether it really is taking off or whether such expensive technology is reaching a watershed

15.   NEWSLINE: This month there's news of the new XR2, the new AC Ace and Opel Manta, and the short wheelbase BMW 750i will soon be available in Britain

16.   DRIVING MONTH: Kevin Blick ties down all those irritating features on our cars that either the designers missed or didn't consider too important at the time

17.   INSIDE INDUSTRY: Despite the hype surrounding the record breaking performance of the British car industry, James Richards thinks things aren't so good

18.   LETTERS: Jeremy Clarkson replies to his critics, somebody is sensitive to what we've been driving in cold weather, and there's further confusion over test results

19.   PERFORMANCE FILE: If you can finnaly affort it, the prices are here together with the performance figures and what you need to know about bhp and lb ft

 

 

Plus other related topics.