Tag: C4

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1995 Audi S6 Avant Euro-Spec

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This C4 is listed as sold for $12,950 on November 20, 2021.

Back in January (and, again in July!) I took a look at this European-specification 1995 Audi S6 Avant. So why is it back? Well, in July it moved to a different seller, has different photos, and is now a no reserve auction. Strangely, the new photos also appear to be taken in Europe, but the car is claimed to be in Stamford, Connecticut – and the July auction was also supposed to be no reserve, but here’s the car again – and, again, with a slightly different description with some contact information. Each time a bit of new information is disclosed. Scam? Perhaps, but if you’re interested maybe it’s worth a call.

Original text from January 2021:

It used to be a bit unusual to see 90s-era European-specification cars come this way. But with the advent of the internet and 25-year-old cars being relatively cheap in other areas of the world, coupled with a current soaring market in the US and nostalgia for easier (they weren’t, but it’s okay to think they were) times, it’s less unusual to see Euro-only models for sale stateside. That’s not the case today; this S6 Avant was available here in nearly identical spec. However, there are a few things interesting on this one and it’s worth taking a look:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Audi S6 Avant Euro-Spec on eBay

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1995.5 Audi S6 Avant

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Defying the odds and most aspects of common sense, a group of fans out there still loves, maintains, and drives Audis from the 1980s and 1990s. Why is this so outrageous? Well, first off, there just aren’t many left. Audi never really broke many sales records here in the US. When we look at this car’s model year, Audi sold about 18,000 cars in total – helped in no small margin by the early launch of the A4. Between 1991 and 1994, Audi averaged only about 13,000 cars per a year. To give us some perspective on that, let’s look at Ford’s F-Series trucks. Even in the midst of pandemics, global parts and labor shortages, and inflation, Ford has managed to move between 45,000 and 84,000 F-Series trucks from showrooms each month of 2021. But that’s the Ford truck, you say, not a luxury car. Fair enough. Let’s look at the least popular Volkswagen on offer – the Passat sedan. Volkswagen is on track to sell more of those here this year than Audi sold total cars in 1995, and they’ve already outsold the ’91-94 years by a safe margin with two months to go.

The secondary part of the problem is Audi’s insistence that we don’t need parts for our 25+ year old cars. It’s not that Audi doesn’t make said parts – they do, and sell them through Audi Tradition. And judging by their recent partnership with Ken Block, Audi’s interested in showing off its historical cars here in America. But they refuse to sell you parts to fix them.

This means, of course, that enthusiasts are left to fend for themselves, creating groups of faithful fans that buy, trade, and sell parts amongst themselves, tricks and tips, and…of course…really good examples for sale that pop up. So let’s dive in to this late-production Magnolia S6 Avant:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995.5 Audi S6 Avant on Quattroworld

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1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4

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One thing that doesn’t make sense to me is the Porsche 993 market. A handful of years ago they had a sudden rise and seemed to settled at prices are were somewhat understandable. The Turbo was the king of the hill, then you had the C2S and C4S, followed by the regular C2 and C4, and bringing up the rear was any Cabriolet or Tiptronic gearbox car. Now in 2021, things have reached insanity levels. Any 993 Turbo is going to start at minimum $150,000 and have to potential to go well over $200,000, while the C2S and C4S are starting at $100,000 and making their way towards that $150,000 mark. The rest of the lineup? Thankfully, they’re not drafting to closely. Maybe a rising tide doesn’t lift all boats?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 on eBay

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1995.5 Audi S6 Avant

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This car sold for $17,672 on June 28, 2021.

Just recently I looked at a very nice example of the last of the C4 S6 Avants offered in the US – the ‘95.5 model in Aluminum Silver Metallic:

1995.5 Audi S6 Avant

With “only” 132,000 miles on the odometer and looking pretty fresh, despite a few question marks I felt like it was a pretty reasonable asking price at $14k. Well, wouldn’t you know it? ANOTHER “low mileage” 1995.5 S6 Avant in Aluminum Silver Metallic has turned up for sale. What are the odds? What are the odds? Well, one in 32 according to this seller – but that was when they were new of course. Let’s take a look:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: on eBay

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1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet

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Another day, another cool Porsche color I didn’t even know existed. This is Kiln Red Metallic that was available on the 1983 and 1984 911s and 928s, and supposedly kept in the Porsche library based on us seeing it on a 1995 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet. It is a very deep red and cooper tone that certainly isn’t obnoxiously loud, but will catch your eye for sure. Interesting that this one is selection on a C4 Cabriolet, as most didn’t go for the loud colors on the cab given they were already pretty noticeable. This example up for sale in San Francisco comes in at just 55,000 miles, but the price might be a little high.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet on San Francisco Craigslist

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1995.5 Audi S6 Avant

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The last few C4 Avants we’ve looked at have been of the European flavor, so let’s head back to what was available to us. The S6 Avant launched with the host of C4 changes for the ’95 model year – smoothed out bumpers, color-coded trim, and sometimes (but not always) new cast Speedline Avus 16″ wheels. That model was again almost immediately replaced with the ‘95.5’ model, with a revised transaxle, closed headrests, the move from infrared remote locking, and the big one – the rear differential lock switched to electronic function, meaning it was utilizing the brakes rather than the manual differential lock that had existed for low-speed engagement since the end of the Type 44 production.

Regardless of how you feel about those minor changes, all of the C4 S6 Avants are pretty highly sought. A nice Magnolia example just traded on Bring a Trailer for $19,000 even though it likely had over 200,000 miles. Today let’s look at a more stock example with lower mileage:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995.5 Audi S6 Avant on eBay

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1997 Audi S6 Avant

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As I mentioned in the last listing, Europe got some really interesting options in the C4 S4/S6 that I’d probably be looking at were I importing one. On top of that, most of the C4 range is relatively cheap compared to both other vintage Audis and the prices they achieve in the US market. For reference, here’s the last example:

1995 Audi S6 Avant Euro-Spec

Now before you get all excited and say that I forgot a very important addition symbol on the end of the title here, this one isn’t a Plus. But, it sure looks like it is! Finished in RS Blue over matching Alcantara, what we have here is a right-hand drive S6 Avant 20V Turbo with a few nice upgrades. We’re still a year away from being legally able to import late C4s like this, but what will it cost?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1997 Audi S6 Avant on Car and Classic

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1995.5 Audi S6

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Like the C3 chassis that predated it, the C4 went through numerous changes seemingly every year – giving each individual model year something special for fans to covet. 1994 to 1995 saw some major changes for the C4; the most obvious being the model designation change from S4 (1991-1994) to S6 (1995-1997). European models had some additional drivetrain options that weren’t available in the U.S., and indeed the Avant had previously been available in S4 form, but the 2.2 liter turbocharged inline-5 carried over largely unchanged into 1995 for the US. The big news was the addition of the Avant to the US lineup; at the time, as expensive as an Audi got here. There was also the obvious external refresh; smooth body-colored bumpers and wider side trims eliminated the rubberized black moldings. The hood and lights were lightly re-sculpted too, along with the change (rolling, for some models) from the Fuchs-made 5-spoke alloys to the Speedline-made 6-spoke Avus wheels which would be the signature S-wheel for the next decade.

Gone were two staples of the Audi lineup from the 1980s; Procon 10, the seatbelt pre-tensioning safety system Audi highly marketed in the late 1990s disappeared with little fanfare, but also, perhaps more strikingly, S cars would no longer be branded with ‘quattro’ badges – a change that would carry on nearly until today’s models, where models like the RS7 re-introduced it in the grill. Inside minor changes were introduced; a revised dashboard, shift knob, along with the introduction of the most notable item (once again, rolling) with a 3-spoke sport steering wheel. It was a tremendous amount of minor fiddling that in sum resulted in a slightly different feel for the S6; slightly more polished and grown up, carrying the new design language for Audi that would remain for the next decade.

Audi wasn’t done, though, because in ‘1995.5’ Audi once again altered several items on the then-still-new S6. This included a major switch moving forward – the elimination of driver control of the rear differential, a hallmark of Audis since the introduction of the original Quattro. Audi opted for an ‘electronic differential lock’, which in reality was a system which utilized the ABS system to detect wheelspin and apply the brakes. This major change resulted in some minor interior tweaks, such as moving the cigarette lighter, and there were additional revisions to the radio. The transmission’s traditional weak first gear was also addressed, as well as swapping infrared locking for radio frequency and some other minor trim. All of these changes – some of them running – give the limited production S6s a bit of a bespoke feel. With numbers produced only in the hundreds, these are special and coveted cars that are very capable and highly sought:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995.5 Audi S6 on eBay

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1992 Audi 100CS quattro

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So on to the C4 chassis. Though it was instantly recognizable as an Audi, the all-new C4 bore little resemblance to the boxy C3 it replaced. Fluid lines and curves dominated the design, while new running gear and motors made a splash in performance. The C4 continued to stress Audi’s pioneering aerodynamic tradition, but the result this time was a car which seemed far less top-heavy than the chassis it replaced. It looked more trim even if it was a big bigger than the outgoing model.

On the fly, the 100’s new motivation was a revelation. The 2.8 liter V6 replaced the 2.3 liter inline-5, and though horsepower was only 172 and torque 184, both figures represented a nearly 30% gain over the 5-pot. New, too, was a 4-speed automatic transmission. And while the inside looked little different from the last of the C3, only switch gear was shared and the C4 brought a host of new safety and convenience features to the large-chassis Audi.

Strange, though, was the re-appearance of Audi’s earlier naming convention in the US. Back in the early days of the 5000, Audi had used the “S” and “CS” monikers to denote turbo and quattro models at times (but, again being Audi, inconsistently). Well, the S and CS were back after a four-year hiatus. Base model 100 came with steel wheels, while the “S” model stepped you up in options and gave you alloys. But outside of the 20V turbo S4 model, the 100 to get was still the 100CS, which was the most loaded and gave you the option for Audi’s quattro drivetrain. Fully loaded, they were around $35,000 – not cheap, but also not the most expensive in class, and were still pretty unique in offering all-wheel drive.

However, like the C3, the front-drive 100/100S/100CS outsold the quattro model by a fair margin. Audi claims they traded 2,230 of the new 100CS quattro in 1992, and here’s one of the nicest ones out there:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1992 Audi 100CS quattro on eBay

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1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4

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Don’t get too excited, but it looks like prices of Porsche 964 and 993 models have started to cool off. When I say “cool off,” that means going from red hot to still hot enough to burn you. It seems the giant run up of everything aircooled Porsche from about five years ago has started to wane a little, with the the non-special cars that are in just average condition being the first ones to fall. That means all the C2 examples with over 100,000 miles on them and some cosmetic flaws, along with the boring colors. I don’t think this has anything to do the world’s current situation as the collector market is still very stable, but rather an increased focus on the rare cars and ones with very low miles. Today, a 1995 C4 up for sale in Nevada certainly seems like a decent price for what it is.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 on eBay

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