About a month has passed since my introduction piece on the new-to-me 1987.5 Audi Coupe GT “Special Build”, and since then a fair amount of work has occurred. There have been a few successes and a few setbacks; as with any project, some things were unexpected and have complicated matters slightly, but then this is a car that has been sitting outside for over a decade non-running – it was never going to be a cake walk. Still, I’m quite a few steps closer to it being a viable car again, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to update the readership as to just how well it is (or, isn’t) going.
5 CommentsAuthor: Carter
If you were to walk into an Audi dealership and spec out a brand new S4, you’d find yourself $60,000 poorer. In fact, that hasn’t changed much over the past decade; the original price on the 2008 S4 shown here would have been pretty close to that amount by the time all the option boxes were ticked, too. However, while anyone can walk into a dealership today and be handed the keys to a new car, it’s not often that you get the opportunity to get into what is effectively a brand new previous generation car. But that’s exactly what we have here, and arguably the DTM S4 is the best of the normal production run. Presented in the signature Sprint Blue Pearl Effect, the DTM edition sported extra carbon fiber bits provided by quattro GmbH. The real treat, though, was underneath – the DTM edition received the same revised differential as the RS4, quite literally turning this car into more of a canyon carver than the earlier models were known to be. Shouty and fantastic, the combination of the high-revving sonorous V8, the 6-speed manual and all-wheel drive gives you the confidence to run this car much faster than legally anyone should. With only 20,000 miles covered and in near perfect condition, the opportunity to get into this package will never be so perfect again – the right color, drivetrain, and the special limited edition model at half the price of a new example makes this one special package indeed – and even comes with a warranty.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2008 Audi S4 DTM Edition on eBay
The below post originally appeared on our site May 4, 2015:
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While on paper it doesn’t really offer any advantages over the three distinct packages that came to the United States, the Audi B2 Coupe quattro still catches the eye of many early chassis fans here. The why is simple; it combines the best elements of the Type 85s into one distinct package. You got the rally-bred all-wheel drive system featured in the Quattro and 80/90 (4000), coupled with the narrow body of the GT. While effectively underneath it’s the same as the 4000S/CS quattro from the same period, it’s somehow slightly better at the same time. In my eyes, the Coupe styling is more attractive than the sedan it was based upon. You got the exotic feel of the turbocharged Quattro without the bills associated with it though, and while keeping those older forced-fed wonders going today can be difficult, there are still good condition Coupes available that offer most of the feel of the legend without the expense of buying into an original. Few come to the market quite as nice as this Graphite Metallic with Mouton red interior from Spain:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1985 Audi Coupe quattro on Mobile.de
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I had this perhaps unrealistic hope that within the next year, a replacement for my Passat was going to become available from Volkswagen. But the promise of the new Golf Sportwagon Alltrack with a manual and TDi motor – even better, in GTD trim – has been slowly evaporating. First was the news that the Alltrack was delayed until 2017; well, I’ve waited this long since the Quantum Syncro, so okay, I’ll wait another few years. Then came the news that it would only arrive in 1.8T form with the DSG automatic. Like many other wagon hopefuls over the past few years, that was very disappointing to say the least. That doesn’t even begin to encompass the problems Volkswagen has encountered in the past week, as the promise of TDi becomes the new “unintended acceleration” for the brand. So where is a fan of 5-doors to look when considering a newer, all-wheel drive manual sport wagon? Audi? No, like Volkswagen, Audi has decided that the car should shift for you. Instead, it is BMW where you can most recently get your manual sport all-wheel drive wagon jollies in a package which even they have done away with; the classic inline-6, a 6-speed manual and all-wheel drive:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2012 BMW 328Xi SPortwagon M-Sport on eBay
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There are still a few cars that have a niche collector status but are generally unappreciated, even by those who love the marque. Until recently, it was the Audi Quattro that was the complicated, turbocharged wonder from Germany; while it redefined the marketplace and racing, it was largely dismissed as a flash in the pan that was too expensive and difficult to keep running. Three decades on, though, and even Audi has finally accepted that it was both an important and influential car and slowly the larger automotive enthusiast community is, as well. But there’s still an automotive icon, an influential leader who brought turbocharging to the “masses” in the early 1980s; an unappreciated car who I’m sure its time will come before long – the Porsche 924 Turbo. Already the market has begun to awaken to this model, though mostly good examples are still dirt cheap on the collector scale – and especially compared to other early 1980s Porsche Turbo models.