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Tag: CS

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10K Friday: Gimmie Five – Audi 5-pot-off

Today’s 10K Friday is something a bit unique; instead of a normal comparison between similarly valued cars, I’m going to chart the development of the venerable Audi inline-5. While, due to a dearth of examples, we won’t go back to the very early days of the I5 in the U.S., I’ve rounded up some of the more notable configurations that the engine appeared in the U.S.. Since, save some exceptions like the legendary Quattro and RS2, nearly every used Audi with this motor fits the under $10,000 limit (or comes close to it), that gives us the opportunity to see Audi’s continual technical changes to the inline-5. Though not as memorable as BMW’s inline-6 or Porsche’s flat-6, this motor was extremely important to the company nonetheless and was a character-defining attribute of Audis for nearly 20 years. So, let’s see how they kept it relevant from the 1970s into the 1990s:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Audi 4000CS quattro on Craigslist

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10K Friday: A44ordable Audis – 5000CS quattro Avant v. 5000S quattro v. V8 quattro v. 100 quattro

The Type 44 Audi was an impressive advance for German automobiles, a huge leap forward for Audi in a new marketplace – but also nearly the cause of its demise. It was an aerodynamic, futuristic sedan when both BMW and Mercedes-Benz seemed to be producing cars stuck in the 1970s. It was the blueprint for most modern luxury sedans from not only German companies, but many of the advances were copied by the Japanese, Italians and Americans for their large sedans. Yet, by 1990 Audi nearly pulled out of the American market thanks to some creative journalism from 60 Minutes, who in their effort to prove Audi was at fault for some unintended acceleration cases nearly killed off the company entirely. In part as a result of their efforts, it’s become quite rare to find clean examples of them today – but it’s also because they were such good, long-lived and solidly built machines that few have lower miles today. While I recent featured a few 20V turbocharged examples in the 20V Turbo comparison, today we’ll look at a few of the lesser appreciated examples, starting with a clean 5000CS quattro Avant in Canada:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Audi 5000CS Quattro Avant on Hemmings

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1970 BMW 2800CS

“Restomod” is probably a word that’s overused and misappropriated often. I’d consider any car with period-correct or period-inspired modifications, updated to make it more fun to drive or more reliable, and cleaned up to look a bit more sporty while still retaining the essence of the car a “restomod”. Nothing important is taken away, but some of the shortcomings are improved upon – or, at least made more enjoyable. Looks wise, there isn’t much that you can do to improve the E9 BMW – it’s a timeless classic design, beautifully elegant and simple. I wrote up a 1967 Ferrari 330 GTC on our sister site, Classic Italian Cars For Sale, and it’s amazing how similar the overall look of the two cars is. Yet, while you wouldn’t dream of resto-modding a $800,000 Ferrari the prospect of changing your E9 – especially when it’s not the most sought after model – suddenly becomes much easier. As such, I really think the seller of this E9 made a pretty design much prettier with some minor modifications, some nice period details and a bit more sport with a heart transplant:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1970 BMW 2800CS on eBay

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1973 BMW 3.0CS 3.7

If you’ve been watching the E30 M3 market, you’ve been shocked by the seemingly insane appreciation of the entire line. From roughly a year ago’s top value of about $28,000, condition 1 M3s are now valued at nearly $70,000 with no slow down in sight. While the trend is undeniable, the question I have is at what point do you recognize that there are some classic options that are more unique and perhaps as collectable as the E30? Certainly, BMW has plenty of options in its own stable, and the E9 3.0CS is one of the best. Currently top examples are trading at about the same rate as the M3, begging the question of which classic BMW you’d rather have. For me, while the E30 is an awesome ride, I think I might sport for something more classic in that price range, such as today’s “RS” inspired 3.0CS – pared down and turned up with a 3.7 race motor:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1973 BMW 3.0CS 3.7 on eBay

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Heap(s) of the Week 2: Tres Audi Quattros with DTM dreams

Ahhhh, the Audi V8 quattro. It’s like that friend that comes over, crashes on your couch, eats all of your food and smears his greasy hands on your furniture, insults your wife and leaves the toilet seat up, burps and farts in a business meeting, forgets your birthday, and asks to borrow a hundred bucks (or several thousand) that you know you’ll never get back. But he’s your friend, and it would take a lot more than just those indiscretions to make him otherwise. Every once in a while, your friend really dresses up and looks great, but most times that you see him he’s disheveled, unshowered and hacking up some fairly disgusting looking phlegm – which, incidentally, he spits out on your carpet. Sound awesome? My experience with the V8 quattro was pretty similar, and yet it’s a car that I just look at and daydream about. Few are in good shape and serviceable today; many more appear as these do; discarded, forgotten, permanent projects. And much like your college bum friends, they seem to congregate in groups, because of course you need a parts car for your parts car. So what are they doing here? Well, one of this particular lot happens to be the best of the bunch brought to the U.S. – the coveted 1991 Audi V8 quattro 5-speed:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985, 1990 and 1991 Audi package on Craigslist

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