Quattro 1980 1991
THE AUDI Quattro changed rallying forever. It was the first rally car to use four-wheel drive, and while rear-driven rivals could beat it on tarmac, it was usually dominant on gravel and snow. It won the 1983 and ’84 World Rally Championships, and soon everyone rallied with four driven wheels.
The road car’s values have shot up over the last decade. The first and last are most desirable. According to AM Cars, an early ’81 model is worth £18k even in poor condition, while the very best command £70k. It’s a similar story for the last 20v models – one recently sold for £85k at auction. The 10v models that sit between start from £15k for a project, while good to exceptional examples span £20k-£50k. The Quattro enjoyed an unusually lengthy production run, and little changed visually between 1980 and 1991; why would it, when it looks so right with its blistered arches and sawn-off front and rear ends?
Mechanically, however, it was a different story: the suspension was lowered 20mm and the 15-inch tyres widened for the 1984 facelift, and the manual locking centre diff switched to Torsen for 1987. The biggest alterations were to the engine: first a 2144cc 197bhp 10-valve five, later a 2133cc 10-valver with the same power, and finally 20 valves and 217bhp from 1989.
We’re driving a late 20v. Good points? The short first gear, ample traction and turbocharged delivery launch the Quattro pretty brutally. There’s fun in getting the rear axle working with a bung of steering and aggressive application of throttle. And the five-cylinder engine has an excitingly throaty edge – when you can hear it above the wind noise, that is. But there’s also bodyroll and decidedly nose-heavy understeer, middling performance by modern standards, and a brake pedal that does very little.
Just as the Quattro propelled the performance-car genre to another level in 1980, so its successors have moved the game on since its passing. Really, this is a car that’s more important in terms of what it represents than for how it drives today.