Video Tries to Settle Audi’s quattro vs. BMW’s xDrive Debate

And the winner is you

This debate won't be settled too soon, but this article hopefully will give you a better idea of how BMW's xDrive and Audi's quattro systems work.

Audi may have been the first of the German trio of premium brands to have an all-wheel drive system fitted to its road cars following quattro's tremendous success in rallying, but BMW has become very good at the AWD game over the last two decades.

Nowadays, xDrive-equipped vehicles outsell quattro-equipped models globally. But which system is better? That's a difficult question, given the variety of models that feature all-wheel drive and the fact that xDrive means two very different things — the traditional RWD-biased system (40/60 front/rear) has been joined recently by an FWD-biased xDrive on BMW's entry-level models.

Not that Audi's quattro system is the same on all models that feature the coveted logo. Larger models with longitudinally-mounted engines (A4, A6, A8) feature the classic Torsen differential with a hydraulic viscous coupling that splits torque 50:50 to the front and rear wheels under normal conditions. Smaller models with transversally-mounted engines (A3, TT) get a different AWD system with Haldex coupling that works as a front-wheel-drive system most of the time.

Obviously, there are more differences, and you'll learn about them by watching the following video from Car Throttle. It explains the advantages and drawbacks of each system so you can get a better idea of which one is better. There's no absolute winner here, but it helps to know which system is better in a particular situation.