Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
It hasn’t been too long since we looked at a C4 Audi, but 30 years on they’re now so rare to find in decent shape that it’s quite notable when you do see one. Today’s car is far from stock, like the last one – actually, even moreso. Turned up in essentially every way, it’s a built monster that’s ready to rock. Despite that, if you like the work that’s been done these are still remarkable performance deals.
I mentioned in my last post that the pricing of the M4 limited editions might be expensive, but it was far from the most expensive of the smaller Ms. Case in point; today’s M3 Lime Rock Edition. What did that get you? Individual Fire Orange paint is the most obvious item, but this was otherwise a loaded Competition Package car with some M Performance goodies and a sticker showing a track map of Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Only 200 were made, and though they’re essentially just an appearance package – like most of the special E9xs were – they command a premium. How premium?
Just in case the many special editions of the M3 and M4 didn’t strike your fancy, in 2020 BMW launched yet another limited-edition of the outgoing F82 M4. Dubbed the Heritage Edition, it was effectively a Competition model in one of three exterior colors mimicking the Motorsport logo. You could choose from the shades of Laguna Seca Blue, Imola Red II, or today’s choice – Velvet Blue – and you got a special M-striped carbon-fiber roof panel, special interior trim, and the choice of a six-speed manual or the seven-speed DCT transmission. Production was limited to 750 units worldwide, only a fraction of which came with manual transmissions, so collectability is almost assured for the future:
Deep in the middle of the recession and not fully recovered from Audi’s 60 Minutes debacle, the very expensive B3 Coupe Quattro sold slowly. A total of approximately 1,700 of them were imported between late 1989 and 1991 at over $30,000 each. Considering the cost, the performance was rather soft; the heavy Coupe sported only 164 horsepower and though it was smooth and reasonably quick on the highway, off-the-line performance was lackluster at best. Still, though the internet fora would have you believe otherwise, performance between the U.S.-spec Coupe and original Quattro was pretty similar.
Options on the Coupe were limited to the Cold Weather package, 8-way power seats, and Pearlescent White Metallic paint – two of which are seen here on this ’91. ’91s also had the upgraded glass moonroof rather than the early steel panel, though they lost the infamous “Bag of Snakes†tubular header early models carried. ’91s also gained rear sway bars and are the rarest of the bunch, with only 364 sold in the model year and a further 58 traded as leftovers. Today’s car comes to us in the unusual combination of Bamboo Metallic and Travertine leather, but it’s a solid-looking survivor:
Long before “Dieselgate”, Volkswagen teased us with a performance version of their super-economy car; the short lived 2010 Jetta TDi Cup Edition. What you got for your hard-earned bucks was a basically a Jetta GLi with its heart yanked out and replaced by the thrifty and torque-laden turbodiesel, and for good measure they popped on VW “Thunderbunny” body kit. But this wasn’t just a styling exercise for Volkswagen – they had actively engaged in racing the Jetta TDi in the TDi Cup to help promote the TDi brand, so this car has some racing heritage as well. Only 1,500 were produced in black, red, blue, or today’s white:
