The less glamorous version of what was a fantastic chassis and engine combination, the Audi 4000 quattro brought rally-bred performance to the masses. You really could think of it as the original “WRX” because while the big-brother Quattro that stole all of the headlines in its day is currently a reasonably good value compared to some of its contemporaries, when they were new the turbocharged, box-flared brother was simply out of reach of most enthusiasts. Original sticker price of the Quattro put it around the same price as a well-equipped Porsche 911; equivalent today to a base model R8. It was therefore very exciting to see a nearly identical drivetrain layout passed down to the more pedestrian sedan version, complete with a similar-sounding inline-5 and locking differentials. You got all of this in a slick-looking 4-door package for around $20,000 – not cheap, mind you, but half the price of the Quattro. For many fans of the Quattro package, it proved to be legendary in its own right:
