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I know what you’re going to say the moment you see this post. “Alright Carter, enough with the Audi Coupe GTs already!” you’re furiously typing, “We want more quattros!” The Porsche 924 of the Audi lineup, the reality is that more low mileage, pristine Coupe GTs come to market than just about any other 1980s Audi. But in my mind, they’re far from the least desirable in the line up, as they offered a stylish package with a high fun-to-drive quotient coupled with some serious longevity. And they’ve really begun to appreciate over the past few years; prime examples are now at least asking close to $10,000, a seemingly staggering amount considering you could get a very nice one a few years ago for no more than $3,000. But as with all of the mid-range and cheapish 1980s cars, the pool of excellent candidates is quite small and few come to the market quite as good as this 1986 example, primed for Christmas in a Tornado Red suit:
Considering what it takes to be called a supercar these days, it’s somewhat amazing that in the early 1980s the Audi Quattro sparked such a revolution. After all, the boxflared wonder arrived in the U.S. costing about the same as a Porsche 911 but sporting only 160 horsepower. Factor in the relatively heavy for then (though admittedly light by today’s standards) 3,000 lb curb weight, and the Quattro was anything but high performance by the standards we consider today. But a revolution in performance it was, as it allowed you to push the car hard in any condition with confidence. Recently I watched the old Motorweek clip on the Quattro; performance was about what you’d expect from the numbers presented above and is probably on par with a base Honda Civic these days. But still the reviewers raved about the performance of the luxury coupe, and though few sold on these shores they’ve always enjoyed a cult following which today is growing into a greater appreciation:
Contrary to popular belief, most of the elements of the Quattro were not pioneering. It was not the first production car with all four wheel driven – that distinction goes to the Jensen FF, which beat the Audi to market with a luxury 4WD GT by a full 15 years. It was not the first car to introduce turbo technology, as many manufacturers had been playing with forced induction for some time. Notably, some of the team that developed the Quattro came from the halls of Porsche, having worked on projects like the 924 Turbo previously. Even the signature box flares were borrowed from the Group 5 cars that raced in the 1970s. But the Quattro was the first to put all of these elements together and set the blueprint for what would become a fairly standard hot package going forward. The Ford Escort Cosworth, Lancia Delta Integrale, Subaru Impreza 22B, and Golf Rallye are but a few of the many that copied Audi’s trendsetter. And while some that followed were dynamically better than the Audi, it still has a mystique somehow greater than the both the sum of its parts and its inherently flawed design:
The “Honorable Mention” post from last week seemed to be a popular choice, so I’m back this week with another selection of cars we didn’t get a chance to get to. We’ve got one from each major manufacturer this time around which makes for an interesting and diverse group. Which is the one that deserved a better look this time around?
