Quattro was made famous by Audi over ten years ago. After using it to dominate motorsports, they incorporated versions of it into its road cars, culminating with the torsen-based system found on the Audi A4. The system has changed gradually over the years, moving from a 50:50 torque split to a rear-biased 40:60. Torque vectoring was added in with the debut of the S4 sedan last year. Now at the Geneva Auto Salon, Audi debuted it’s new Quattro system that uses a new center differential. This is significant because Audi stayed with the Torsen center diff from 1996 all the way until this year. Whether this new diff gets put into the regular series of cars or remains an RS-exclusive remains to be seen.

The new center diff is explained in the video below, and also goes over the torque vectoring concept. The RS5 and S4 both come with torque vectoring, and is also seen on the new 2010 Porsche Carrera Turbo.

Now that BMW offers the 335 in xi trim we have two all-wheel drive tourers from the Germans. The BMW 335xi has a lower list price ($54,100 CDN) but the Audi S5 ($65,900) comes with a lot more standard options. What is the price difference when these cars are optioned out as close as possible?

2008 BMW 335xi Coupe
Base Price: $54,100
Selected Options:
sport pack (18, sport seats) $2000
premium sound $1200
premium pack (garage door, dimming mirrors, lumbar, compass mirror, bmw assist/bluetooth, leather) $3950
servotronic $350
park distance control $450
Options not selected:
navigation $2900
sport seats $800 – already on sport pack
comfort acces $750
rear sunshade $400
bmw assist $1100
usb audio $350
Total Price: $61,700

Audi S5 4.2 quattro
Base Price:
Selected Options:
Audi Care $700
Options not selected:
navigation $3500
Audi navigation system plus with six disc CD changer* $3,500.00
Audi side assist $650.00
Stainless Steel Texture inlays $500
Total Price $66,600

The only remaining difference is that the A5 has 19″ rims standard and the 335i only has 18″ as the largest option. The comparable prices are $61,700 for the 335xi and $66,600 for the S5 – just short of $5000.