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Driving
with
your
quattro
®
With all-wheel drive, all four wheels are driv-
en .
General inform ation
With all-wheel dr ive, power is distributed to
all four wheels . This happens automatically
depending on your driving style and the road
conditions at the t ime . See also <::;>
page 142.
Winter t ires
When driving in the winter, your vehicle with
all-wheel drive has an advantage, even with
regular tires. In winter road conditions it may
be advisable to mount winter tires (or all-sea-
son t ires) for improved driveability and brak-
ing: these tires must be mounted on all four
wheels.
Snow chains
Where snow chains are mandatory on certain
roads, th is normally also applies to vehicles
with all-wheel drive
Q page 198, Snow
chains.
Replacing wheels/ t ires
Only the wheel/tire sizes specified by the
manufacturer
may be used on vehicles with
all-wheel drive
<=>
page 193 .
A
WARNING
- Always adjust your driving to road and
traffic conditions. Do not let the extra
safety affo rded by a ll-wheel d rive tempt
you into taking extra risks .
- Although a ll-wheel drive is very effect ive,
always remember that braking capacity
is limited by tire traction . You should
therefore not drive at excessive speeds
on icy or slippery road surfaces.
- On wet road surfaces, be careful not to
drive too fast because the front wheels
cou ld begin to slide on top of the water
(aquaplaning).
If this should occur, you
will have no warning from a sudden in-
crease in engine speed as with a front-
-
Int e llig e nt technolog
y
147
wheel drive vehicle. Always drive at
speeds which are su ited to the road con-
ditions. - risk of crash.
Energy
management
Starting ability is optimized
Energy management controls the distribution
of electrical energy and thus optimizes the
availability of electrical energy for starting
the engine.
If a vehicle with a conventional energy system
is not driven for a long per iod of t ime, the bat-
te ry is d ischarged by idling current consumers
(e .g. immobi lizer). In certain circumstances
it
can resu lt in the re being insufficient energy
available to start the engine.
Intelligent energy management
in your vehi-
cle handles t he distribution of e lectr ica l ene r-
gy. Starting ability is markedly improved and
the life of the battery is extended .
Bas ica lly, energy management
consists of
batte ry diag nosis, idling current manage-
ment
and dy namic energy manag ement .
Batte ry diagnosis
Battery diagnosis continuously determines
the state of the batte ry. Sensors determine
battery voltage, battery current and batte ry
temperature . This determines the current
state of charge and the power of the battery.
Idling current management
Idling current management
reduces energy
consumption while the vehicle is standing.
Wit h the ign ition switched off, it controls the
energy supply to the various electrica l compo -
nents. Data from battery diagnosis is consid-
ered.
Depend ing on the ba ttery's state of charge,
individual cons umers are gradually turned off
to prevent excessive discharge of the battery
and thus maintain starting capability.
.,..
•
•
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