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Four wins - 40 years of Audi quattro

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Created on May 6, 2020

Text:

Sven Jürisch

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Audi AG

37

Audi AG

37

Audi quattro (1984) - From mid-1983, the Audi quattro received a subtle facelift

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Audi quattro (1980) - when both differential locks are engaged in the Audi quattro, there is no stopping it

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Audi quattro (1980) - test drives together with VW Iltis in Turrach in 1980 - many parts of the quattro drivetrain had their origin in the Volkswagen off-road vehicle

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Audi quattro (1980) - The maker and his work; Ferdinand Piëch cannot hide his delight at the successful all-wheel drive coup

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Audi quattro (1980) - Ferdinand Piëch at the presentation of the quattro principle at the 1980 Geneva Motor Show

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Audi quattro (1980) - Drive train Audi quattro of the first generation 1980

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Audi quattro (1980) - See-through drawing - All-wheel drive technology made visible

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Audi 80 quattro (1982) - the B2 series' top-of-the-range drawing - this was when all-wheel drive really took off

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Audi Coupé quattro (1984) - for economical all-wheel drive fans, Audi offered the Coupé in a slimmed-down version with 136 hp and quattro

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Audi 80 quattro (1982) - understatement at its finest

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Audi quattro (1990) - with the four-valve five-cylinder engine, the quattro's output rose to 220 hp

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Audi quattro (1985) - the slanted headlights identify quattros from 1985 onwards

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Audi 200 Avant quattro (1985) - luxury truck of the first hour. Up to seven people traveled in the 200 quattro avant

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Audi 200 quattro (1987) - Audi's first luxury saloon with all-wheel drive

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Audi 80 quattro (1988) - the B3 was the first quattro of the new generation from 1987

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Audi 80 quattro (1987) - see-through drawing of the B3 series - the Torsen transfer case was the second stage of quattro development in 1987

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Audi 80 quattro (1986) - With 88 hp, the basic quattro was more for pragmatists. It was hardly any fun to drive

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Audi 90 quattro (1990) - with this second-generation "quattro", Audi achieved success in the mid-size class

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Audi 90 quattro (1988) - quattro was the drive that catapulted Audi's image into new regions

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Audi 90 quattro (1988) - there were various special series for the Audi 90. Here is the exclusive sports series with rear spoiler

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Audi V8 (1988) - masterpiece by chief developer Piëch. It marked the beginning of Audi's rise to the luxury class

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Audi 100 quattro (1991) - the fourth generation of the Audi 100 was available with all-wheel drive as a matter of course

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Audi 100 quattro (1991) - see-through drawing - the technology of the Audi 100 C4 quattro was adopted almost unchanged from the previous model

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Audi Coupé quattro 20V (1988) - the round Audi Coupé was only of limited use as a successor to the legendary Audi quattro

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Audi V8 (1990) - with 3.6 liters and only 250 hp, the heavy Audi V8 was a rather sedate fellow

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Audi V8 (1990) - only 271 examples of the Audi V8 with long wheelbase were produced by hand at Steyr Puch

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Audi 200 quattro 20V (1989) - briefly the fastest production model from Audi AG

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Audi RS 2Avant (1994) - the fastest all-wheel-drive station wagon of its time

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Audi RS2 (1994) - The engine of the RS2 built by Porsche was the five-cylinder 20 V turbo engine with 315 hp

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Audi S6 Plus Avant (1996) - quattro GmbH's first coup was the Audi S6 plus. A V8 with 326 hp drove all four wheels

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Audi S6 (1994) - imperceptibly modified, the Audi S6 with all-wheel drive and turbo engine was launched in 1994

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Audi S6 Avant (1995) - of course there was also an estate version of the S6. With a third bench seat on request

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Audi S4 4.2 (1993) - with 280 hp from the 4.2 liter V8, the Audi S4 4.2 was the most discreet car on the road

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Audi A6 Allroad (2000) - the "allroad" of the first generation has air suspension and takes the quattro off-road

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Audi A6 Allroad (2000) - thanks to permanent all-wheel drive and intelligent wheel electronics, the allroad is definitely suitable for off-road use

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Audi RS4 Avant (2001) - the RS4 followed the RS2 and for the first time offered a V6 biturbo with 380 hp

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Audi A4 quattro (1996) - Audi built the proven all-wheel drive technology of the Audi 80 into the base of the A4 model series

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Summary

Forty years ago, permanent all-wheel drive began its triumphant advance in passenger cars. Audi used the drive concept in large-scale passenger car production for the first time. It started with the original Quattro, but gradually the 4x4 concept became established in all model series. How have the cars aged, which ones have an exceptional status? Are there alternatives to the original Quattro? This report looks back to the beginnings and traces the career of all-wheel drive in Audi passenger cars.

This article contains the following chapters

An idea for all occasions
Quattro for the masses
Evolution
Unbraked premier class
And how has the quattro held up over time?
Timeline - Stages of the lead

Estimated reading time: 7min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Back then, in the late seventies, winters in Germany must have been real winters. With snow and ice on the roads, they ensured that German citizens in simple utility vehicles got stuck in snowdrifts by the dozen and froze to death due to a lack of mobile phone technology. And all because their two-wheeled vehicles were desperately scraping their wheels on the spot despite snow chains, sandbags and mothers-in-law in the trunk or on the hood. Even daddy's rubber mats in front of the tractionless wheels were of no use. But salvation was at hand, not in the form of climate change, but from Audi. The head of technical development, Ferdinand Piëch, had set himself the task of pushing the hitherto staid Bavarians to become a hip trendsetter in technology within a very short space of time. The topic of all-wheel drive seemed to him to be perfect for this and, with the support of imaginative engineers, he succeeded in developing a high-speed all-wheel drive system for the car within a very short space of time, which lacked all the disadvantages of previous systems.

Welcome to Zwischengas!

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