Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Time for another Honorable Mention Roundup, and we’re sporting some great 1990s style with one throwback to the 80s in this edition. With lovely coupes from Volkswagen, Porsche and BMW, two Audi sedans round out the lineup. Which is the one you’d like to grab for this holiday season? Thank you again to our readers who sent in suggestions, we always appreciate them!
The rare to find 6-speed Variant version of the B5.5 chassis Passat W8 that we looked at last month is back up for sale. The seller has dropped the “Buy It Now” price by $1,000 to $8,995 – more in line with top-of-the-market B5.5 Passats like the TDi Variants and low mile examples. While it’s possible to get more performance out of the Audi 6-speed Avants of either B5 or B6 generation for around the same money, this is one pretty neat sleeper if you’re willing to put up with the maintenance factor of the unique engine.
We all have dreams. In automotive terms, I can remember many cars that I’ve spent countless hours modifying in my head. “No one will be expecting this!” I’d laugh to myself, ignoring the sensibility of my plan. Hurdles such as the cost, the time invested, or even if the end result would be worth the hours spent not only planning but executing the plan were cleared as if I was Edwin Moses on route to another Olympic Gold. Indeed, I’d already be crowning myself champion of the mods as I slowly turned the image of a complete dream in my head at night, during breakfast, while walking or at work, and especially when driving. But then the realities of life set in, and the dreams so carefully laid out by many are dashed on the rocky shores of life. The plan wasn’t economically viable or even possible, the car was too rusty or too far gone, the parts were too hard to source, or as is often the case, priorities changed and something newer and flashier came along. For every 1,000 cars dreamed to completion, my bet is that fewer than five make it to the light of day. When I had my V8 quattro, I was going to restore that and make it a manual. I truly loved that car, but the realities of owning it were too hard to continue on. Then I had my 200 Avant, and I was going to combine the bits from the V8 quattro and make a monster V8 Avant. That, too, was left on the planning board.
All of this is what makes such creations as this car so special. Who would look at an A6 Avant and think “I’m going to turn this car into a S6 Plus Avant”? Maybe one person would have that thought – but it only takes one. The result of what was undoubtedly one of the least likely builds has resulted in one of the most desirable Avants I’ve seen stateside:
Audi established a new bar for fast wagons with the RS2 Avant, and the signature color of that model was termed “RS Blue”. Immediately, the vibrant hue was recognizable as the warning sign to other drivers that more lurked under the hood than most normal grocery getters. Audi would continue this trend and signature color with the new quattro GmbH-made S6 Plus a few years later. But in 2001, Audi made the exclusive color a bit more pedestrian by offering it on the B5 S4. Now termed “Nogaro Blue Pearl”, it developed an immediate fan following since then – as now – for most, purchasing either a RS2 or S6 Plus isn’t in the cards. Audi continued the shade on to the B6 platform, where it continued to be the defacto shade of speed until it was discontinued in the B7 chassis. While Audi has recently brought the color back into its lineup, for many the older cars still have a distinctive draw and Nogaro cars typically demand a premium. For some, that premium is heightened even more when the interior was opted with the Nogaro colored Alcantara. Add in Avant and 6-speed to the option list on these cars, and the collective Audi fanboy community draws a sharp breath as lips are bitten and pants decidedly tighten. As a treat, we have two examples to consider – which is more Nogtastic?
There’s always been a fascination for me with the W8 Passat. Not only did Volkswagen take the B5 and B5.5 models upscale by offering the Audi-based chassis, but they pioneered the new engine configurations that would be the top-tier mills in the Passat. Truth told, the “W” configuration had been around for a few years before it finally entered into the mid-sized sedan and wagon. It was first floated in the Bugatti EB116 16/4, but really came into the minds of enthusiasts with the Volkswagen W12 Nardo concept. Now in appropriately named W12 configuration and powering all four wheels, the 600 horsepower mid-engined Volkswagen captured headlines with its 200 m.p.h. 24 hour run and Italdesign-penned Group C for the road looks. While the Nardo was the prototype for what would become the Veyron after some heavy revisions, the W12 would be an exotic engine only powering the most elite of the VAG range. However, Volkswagen also launched a smaller version of the engine for 2001 in the Passat. It was the first introduction to U.S. customers of the W configuration that would later appear in Bentleys, the D3 Audi A8L and the Phaeton. There was something unique about the Passat’s package, though. First, you could option the mid-ranger in long-roof 5-door configuration. More importantly for enthusiasts, you could select a manual 6-speed, too. The combination of these items coupled with the stratospheric price tag of the model meant very few sold. But briefly, until the new S4 launched in 2004, this was the most powerful manual VAG product you could buy in the U.S.:
