Press "Enter" to skip to content

Tag: Audi

This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.

1998 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro Avant

1998 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro Avant

Published April 23, 2015 by Andrew

Growing up in Southern Vermont a lot of people had wagons. My parents first shared vehicle was a beige 1984 Subaru GL, my grandmother had an 1990 Legacy and my aunt and uncle had an 1989 Loyale . There have been a number of Subarus owned in my family since and I’m actually the first of the clan to go for something German, although it was still a wagon. Point is, there was no history of Quattro love in my family, no reason that I should feel such a strong connection to these vehicles. However, as is often the case in the automotive community, there is no rhyme or reason for feeling a certain way about a certain car. When a car works for you, it just works for you and for me such is the case with the C4 A6 Avant.

My first experiences with one of these was with my buddy’s 1996 Casa Blanca A6 Avant spec’d out just like this example. Right away I was nerding out on just about everything in the car and it’s still just as impressive now as it was then. We all know that your co-pilot needs to be aware of the oil temp, battery voltage and time so the brainiacs at Audi went ahead and made that information easily available to them by extending the gauges over to the center stack. It’s just one of many design details that makes me think of logging many highway hours in this vehicle with a family and a ton of gear. I remember the seats as being some of the most comfortable I had ever sat in and I’d say that still holds true today.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1998 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro Avant on eBay

Read Our Post1998 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro Avant
3 Comments
1990 Audi V8 quattro

1990 Audi V8 quattro

Published April 21, 2015 by Carter

I have a fun ongoing exchange with our reader John; we send each other pretty much every V8 quattro that comes to the market in the U.S., usually accompanied by some brutally honest and laughable one-liner. Considering the number of V8 quattros imported – less than 4000 – and that they were both expensive and a DTM star, they would have been coveted like the rest of the Audi lineup. Yet, many have fallen into extreme disrepair or neglect, leaving precious few left running today and making good ones a rare find. For example, recently John sent me a pretty worn Pearlesant White ’93 model with the line: ” ‘cheap’ and haven’t seen it before, but that’s about it”. I responded that I’d done the “cheap” V8 route before, and that were I to do it again I would have been better off spending three times as much to get a maintained example. The V8 is truly a car that could bankrupt you trying to restore a poor one to original condition. However, if you find a reasonable example that’s well priced, is it a better proposition?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1990 Audi V8 quattro on eBay

Read Our Post1990 Audi V8 quattro
1 Comment
Feature Listing: 2001 Audi S4 Avant

Feature Listing: 2001 Audi S4 Avant

Published April 20, 2015 by Carter

For some time, the B5 S4 was dismissed by a fair amount of enthusiasts as a heavy, complicated car. Truth told, the B5 seemed a bit of a let down initially compared to the already gone and instantly legendary C4 S4/S6 with the venerable inline-5 power plant. But Audi had a new range of motors when it came to the B5, and the inline-5 did not really fit under the more compact hood in the lineup. Replacing the single turbo 5-pot was a new 2.7 liter V6 with not one but two turbochargers. Despite that, performance seemed a bit tame; 250 horsepower was nothing to sneeze at, but it was only a bit more than the outgoing M3, after all. However, the B5 had a few trump cards over its competition. Of course, the major one was that quattro all-wheel drive continued to be the high-performance platform for Audi. In this guise, the lockable options were completely removed from the driver, instead having the computer’s brain work electronically locking differentials coupled with electronic stability. While the combination of these things didn’t sound like an enthusiast’s dream, out of the box the S4 was a quite competent performer. Of course, the big bonus with turbocharging was that there was a tremendous amount of performance potential on tap with some upgrades. Free up the exhaust and turn up the boost, and these Teutonic turbocharged wonders went from tame to terror. There was one other major trump card the B5 had over the competition; as with the last of the run C4 S6s, Audi finally allowed their fast wagons to come over to these shores. They were an instant hit amongst the Audi faithful, and brought many more customers over to the four rings from other marques as well. Arguably the most popular were the two wild color options; the ever popular purple-blue Norgaro Blue and the retina-searing shade of Imola Yellow. Only a reported 64 Imola Yellow Avants were imported between 2001 and 2002, making it one of the more rare B5s produced. Paired with a 6-speed manual gearbox, these Avants have stood the test of time and are still highly sought by enthusiasts:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2001 Audi S4 Avant on eBay

Read Our PostFeature Listing: 2001 Audi S4 Avant
1 Comment
Motorsports Monday Special: Racing to Sell – The ‘Silberpfeil’: Part 6

Motorsports Monday Special: Racing to Sell – The ‘Silberpfeil’: Part 6

Published April 13, 2015 by Carter

SA41
Start of the 1939 German Grand Prix with Auto Union Type D and Mercedes-Benz W154 M163s – their last meeting in the nation of their birth

Yesterday saw an interesting comparison in racing; in F1, Mercedes-Benz once again dominated the field with seeming ease, dictating the pace and watching the strategy of its competitors from Maranello. While truth told my focus remained squarely on the Formula 1 race, there were several other popular race series running concurrently; both wildly popular Moto GP and World Endurance Championship races were contested as well. Notably, Audi won the WEC Silverstone 6-hour contest, continuing its quite remarkable run in endurance series amidst rumors that they could be heading to Formula 1. The question posed by me in my conclusion to the investigation of the Silver Arrows period is simply if the racing was necessary? There were other options in terms of racing for both companies to explore, and indeed they could also have taken the Opel strategy in no racing at all. Did the companies choose the right route?

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our readers for the positive feedback to this feature. It’s been wonderful for me to revisit this research and have the enthusiast community enjoy it. I’d also like to thank Dan and Paul at GCFSB for not only affording me the opportunity to put this research up, but indeed for encouraging me to do so. Though they’re not likely to be paying attention I’d like to thank the Saxony State Archives in Chemnitz and the staff at the Mercedes-Benz factory archives, both of which were very welcoming and accommodating during my time there. Lastly, I’d like to thank my family who has been both encouraging and patient while I’ve spent countless hours working on this site. Without further ado, please enjoy the conclusion!

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 2

Link To Part 3

Link To Part 4

Link To Part 5

CONCLUSIONS : WAS RACING NECESSARY?

Read Our PostMotorsports Monday Special: Racing to Sell – The ‘Silberpfeil’: Part 6
Comments closed
1989 Audi 200 quattro

1989 Audi 200 quattro

Published April 13, 2015 by Carter

The Type 44 Audi was a car that was, in many ways, ahead of its time. Aerodynamic and technically advanced, the Audi 100/200/5000 offered automatic climate control, ABS, the normal host of electronics and on board diagnostics you’d expect from a top-flight executive sedan. But what it was best remembered for was a turbocharged motor connected to all four wheels via a manual transmission and all-wheel drive. Early models had twin locking differentials, just like the Quattro and smaller 80/4000/Coupe quattros, but Audi streamlined things in 1989 with the revision to the model line. Sporting new dashboards, new badges, and new BBS wheels, the real change was under the skin where the now worldwide “200” model featured a revised drivetrain. Gone were the twin locking differentials; instead, Audi simplified things for drivers by switched to the Torque-Sensing limited slip center differential, better known as Torsen. In the rear was still a manually locking differential; however, instead of vacuum operation like the early cars, it was now electronic, which allowed Audi to program in a feature which disabled the lock at 25 m.p.h.. While the 200 was a refinement of the early cars, the reality is that most remember it for the last-of-the-run 20V models that introduced the new 3B motor to the legendary platform. But the earlier 10V units in both MC1 and MC2 configuration have proven to be long-lived, well built classics that are rarely seen too:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1989 Audi 200 quattro on Craigslist

Read Our Post1989 Audi 200 quattro
2 Comments