I have a bit of a funny relationship with the C6 style Audi A6. On the one hand it is a good looking car that bestowed upon us the option of having a motor with Lambo DNA in a luxury sedan. On the other, it added heft to the most beautiful Audi design of all time, and it didn’t come to our shores in S6 Avant form. For a number of years I have simply found the latter unforgivable, especially since Audi did offer us the C5 S6 Avant. However, Audi crushing my dreams is nothing new, they’ve been doing so with reckless abandon for a number of years now, and frankly their more recent choices have turned me off to the idea of ever getting a new one so long as I’m living in these United States. No manual S4, no manual R8, no hatchback A3/S3?! I understand why these decisions make good business sense, but they’re a blatant FU to the core Audi audience that helped the brand achieve the success that they’re currently enjoying. While I find some of the new cars pretty, and their performance impressive, I can’t help but think that they’ve lost some of the inherent traits that made them special in the past. An RS7 will blow the doors off pretty much anything, and look damn good while doing it, but you’ll need to shell out $120k to have the opportunity to do so. The lower level Audis have just become uninspired, bland, devoid of emotion. That’s why instead of getting a new S4 like every other 30 something that just got a promotion, you should consider picking up an S6 with a 10 cylinders under the hood that only live to please.
Category: Audi
I know, I know – another Audi B2 post. But hey, we hear about every single variant of 911 all the time too, and since I love the GTs I think they deserve to be showcased. There weren’t many special editions of the GT produced, but in 1986 Audi made an entire run of “Commemorative Design” cars. The 4000CS, 4000CS quattro, Coupe GT and 5000 models all got special upgrades and each were slightly different. The closest were the 4000 quattro and Coupe GT, which shared paint colors and interiors. The exteriors were either Graphite Metallic or Alpine White, but inside they shared the same lipstick red “Mouton” leather. While the quattro got the slightly uprated JT code 115 horsepower inline-5, the GT relied on the “KX” code motor with 110 ponies. The difference lay in the exhaust manifold; the GT unit was a 5-1 cast manifold, while the quattro had a beefier 5-3-1 exit, along with a larger diameter exhaust. However, the lighter GT was quicker than the all wheel drive variant; and thanks to the nature of the GT versus the quattro market, more of the special 1986 models have survived. The ’86 CE models also received the notorious digital dash, and if you selected Alpine White, they had color matched wheels, mirrors and rear spoiler. The color combination really makes the sharp Giugiaro lines stand out:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Audi Coupe GT Commemorative Edition on Seattle Craigslist
1 CommentAbout 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 CommentsIf 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.