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Although the Type 44 chassis would live on in the D11 V8 quattro until 1994 (albeit heavily revised), for many the pinnacle of the chassis was the 1991 model year. It was then that finally the U.S. market received the power that Europeans had enjoyed in the chassis for so long. Audi used its Group B, Sport Quattro and IMSA experience to create a four valve head for their road cars. It was utilized in many chassis in slightly different configurations; the U.S. market 200 and early S models received the 3B, while the Quattro had a slightly upgraded RR motor. With mild revisions, this motor was again offered in AAN configuration for the 1992 model year, while Europeans had the ABY. The final development was the RS2’s ADU, but all of these motors shared the same inline-5, 20V turbo construction – and all are very highly sought. For U.S. customers, though, since the S2 and RS2 models were never offered along with the late 20V Quattros, it doesn’t get much better if you like the older cars than the 1991 200, and then again doesn’t get much better in 200s than a clean Avant:
I went to college in London in 2000, about the same time that the first generation TT started to appear on British roads. Because my dorms were in a posh part of town, there were always a few of these parked nearby. The car’s styling struck me as extraordinary. It captured something of the millennial zeitgeist: a minimalist, Bauhaus-esque design that artfully blended lines and curves on the outside, with a bespoke-feeling cockpit on the inside featuring splashes of brushed aluminum and baseball-glove stitching on the leather seats. Back then, I had ambitions to become a lawyer, and this was the perfect car, I thought, for a young single man about town. The perfect yuppie’s car.
Just the other day, I reviewed a 1980 Audi 5000S which I said was a very nice example. While it certainly was, today’s must be considered exceptional. Coming across two mint condition Type 43s in a week is certainly cause for a smile and without doubt a review. This one ups the ante with lower miles, more original condition, a shocking scant 38,000 miles covered since new and a 5-speed manual:
Astute readers will have noticed that I don’t tend to write up many Audis. To be honest, I’m really more of a Mercedes/BMW guy and there aren’t that many cars from Ingolstadt that get me going. However, there are a few exceptions. I’ve always thought very highly of the B6 platform S4, the B7 RS4 and the D2 S8, the car that famously had a starring role in Ronin alongside an E34 M5. It should come as no surprise that I’m a fan of this generation S8: I like conservatively styled uber-sedans that conceal their power beneath restrained exteriors. Costing nearly $100k new depending on how they were specced, these cars now show up on the used market for between $5 and $15k depending on condition and miles. Of course, these were technologically advanced cars for their day with lots of expensive-to-replace components. So if you’re in the market for a bit of late 90s German stealthiness, condition and maintenance history matter the most.
The Type 43 Audi just isn’t something you run across every day. That’s because most are long gone; some had rust problems, but more suffered from depreciation such that a relatively minor repair could suddenly render the car worthless. Such is the case for today’s 1980 5000S, a car which ended up in an auction site likely because of a transmission falling to pieces. Yet someone saved today’s example, cleaned it up well and rebuilt the running gear, and now it’s set to remind show goers of an oft forgotten yet important page in Audi’s history:
