Audi Sport Quattro - the most expensive Audi of its time
Summary
Between 1984 and 1986, Audi built 214 Sport Quattros, which were designed as the basis for rallying. While the cars sold relatively poorly at the time, prices have risen continuously since then, leaving every other Audi behind. This report describes the special features of the short Quattro and shows it in current and historical pictures.
This article contains the following chapters
- Basis for rally sport
- Swiss bodywork made of plastic
- Racing engine
- Better rally suitability thanks to short wheelbase
- Really fast
- And from the driver's perspective?
- The most expensive of the Group B road cars?
- Further information
Estimated reading time: 5min
Preview (beginning of the article)
When Audi unveiled the Sport Quattro - then called the Quattro Sport - at the 1983 Frankfurt Motor Show, the world was astonished not only by its compact shape, but also by its high price. The short Quattro cost around ten times as much as the cheapest Audi or twice as much as the most expensive Mercedes of the time. For DM 195,000 (CHF 160,000 in Switzerland in 1985), you could almost buy two Porsche Turbos or, alternatively, a Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit. Today, however, it is the other way around, as RM estimates the white Audi Sport Quattro built in Arizona in January 2015 at USD 350,000 to 475,000, i.e. 280,000 to 380,000 euros or CHF 339,500 to 460,750. Today, you can easily get five to ten Rolls-Royce limousines from the 1980s for that. The purchase would have been worthwhile at the time, but only a few took up the offer, meaning that Audi had to keep more than 60 of the 214 vehicles built.
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