Rare AWD Turbo: 1985 Audi Ur-Quattro
Iconic is one of those terms like patina, it tends to be overused at times but it really applies with this iconic 1985 Audi Ur-Quattro. Gaining legendary status on the rally circuit, these all-wheel-drive cars were quite a sight to behold in the 1980s and they still are today. The seller has this one listed here on eBay in Southhampton, New York and there is an $80,000 buy-it-now price listed. Thanks to Bluetec320 for sending in this tip!
The idea of driving a 37-year-old $80,000 car in the snow gives me the shivers. Bbbbbbb… Maybe Southhampton, NY doesn’t use salt on their roads but I won’t be able to sleep for days after seeing the photos of this beautiful, rare, and expensive Audi with snow on it. I know, it was meant for that and life is too short so let’s just enjoy our vehicles, yadda-yadda. Still, bbbbbb…
Audi’s first four-wheel-drive vehicle, literally the Ur-Quattro (Ur = original or first, and Quattro = four, as in all four wheels providing power) was introduced to the public in 1980. It’s a legendary all-wheel-drive system but we all know that it wasn’t the first. I’m biased as I’ve owned one (an Audi TT, not an Ur-Quattro for cryin’ out loud) for almost two decades now. Although, I owned a Subaru Outback for longer than that, and I’m putting my money on the AMC Eagle as being the mass-produced, first widely available full-time all-wheel-drive line of vehicles available in the US. Thoughts?
Audi offered the Ur-Quattro to buyers in the United States beginning in the 1983 model year and then after 1986, they were gone, at least from this market. The company also offered a front-wheel-drive Audi Coupe that’s more my style, at least price-wise. We’ve seen a few here on Barn Finds including this one from almost exactly three years ago.
As expected, the AWD version seen here in Tornado Red is beautiful inside and out. The interior appears to be in perfect condition and the seller says that the seats have been reupholstered – no wonder they look so nice and don’t look like what I expected at all. Actually, the 1985 cars had a new interior so there was no more diagonal leather, another iconic Audi feature.
The back seats look like new as expected, you know, since they’re new, and the underside looks solid. They do say that there is no rust on this car and I’m assuming that means no serious rust issues other than normal minor surface rust on a few fasteners and things like that. If a person were being literal, it could be argued that every vehicle ever made out of steel has some rust on it somewhere.
I promise there is an engine in the photo above. It may not be the most picturesque powerplant of all time but it’s Audi’s 2.1L five-cylinder which put out around 160 horsepower and were backed by a 5-speed transmission. The seller mentions that only 77 cars were sent over and I’m assuming they mean in 1985 as 664 were sold in North America not to mention 99 finding homes in Canada. Any thoughts on this Ur-Quattro?
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Comments
His one looks special in red. Most were champagne colored. As I stated in the past I had the opportunity to drive and work on one of these back in the late 80’s to around 91. It was owned by a doctor who drove the wheels off of it. Turbochargers were just oil cooled on this model and he refused to idle down so we were doing them every 15-30K depending how often we got him to change oil. They were a real bugger to work on with the CIS injection stuffed in the corner. Driveline wise they were bulletproof. For years ice examples hung around the 30K mark. Now they have really gained the appreciation and well deserved.
One tip for whoever purchases this car you need to fabricate a new upper air guide for the condenser/radiator. These run hot and need all those guides in place.
I always liked these growing up in Syracuse, perfect “sports car” for that area. But at 80k I’ll never drive on, GLWTA!
A co-worker commuted from Syracuse to Rochester in his Quattro back in 1985. I commuted from Buffalo to Rochester in my Scirocco. We both wised-up and moved to Rochester. And both cars ended up as piles of iron oxide flying in formation. I put an ad in the Rochester paper for the Scirocco that read “Death Trap- Are you man enough to drive this crate?” The Scirocco was donated to charity.
A former co-worker’s dream car. He had the shopping list to coax these to 300 HP, and at the time he drove a Rabbit making about 180 HP with no power adder, so I believed him. The time to pick these up was right around the bogus “unintended acceleration” time frame, early ’90s I remember looking at a six year-old 5000 Avant (wagon), Turbo CS Quattro 5 sp, a $30,000 car new in great condition priced around $5000, but I was scared of all the technology to keep up so I passed. This one looks great and I hope someone enjoys the heck out of it. As for the Eagle, I remember thinking in Junior High School that a 304-swapped Eagle SX/4 would be my ultimate dream car. Sorry I just threw up in my mouth a little there. Anyway I hope someone buys this and flings it around doing their best Michèle Mouton impression, but that’s about as likely as me 304-swapping an Eagle next week.
One of my dream cars. In fact, most of the 1980s-1990s Audi quattros (sedans, coupes and wagons) were great fun to drive, as well as being comfortable long-distance cruisers. I put many, many miles on a number of them, and regretted that I didn’t have the money to lay out on an Ur-Quattro. I still regret it….
I always thought they were fast enough in those days, at least until I attended a DTM race in Germany sometime around 2002 and met Audi factory driver Hans Stuck Jnr, who drove up in a blue RS2 Avant. I’ve never recovered from that.
Ray imagine if Michele Mòuton drove up 👀 remember her the fast driving French woman.
I saw a rally version of this car 400hp+ at a car show and thought how the heck do they keep these things on the dirt roads.. Awesome cars
Never seen an Audi “Trubo” before – must be an extremely rare model! 😄
And I have never see a Red “Baran” before. Must be an extremely rare WW1 pilot. Bada-Bing!
RedBaran.. sounds like a breed of chicken that walks around with its arse in the air and its foot in its mouth..
RB, that got edited after I submitted it, sorry about that typo.
No worries at all, I was just having a bit of fun. Love the website!
I grew up in Southampton, NY and they use salt and sand
Worth half that much..
My dad’s coupe (2wd, not quattro) was black with a black interior; yellow-tint glass and yellow/orange-lit dash. Lovely car.
There’s a great bit of film of one on the Swedish Rally going sideways through a curwed trench in the snow. Fab driving, and also a lovely camera shot.
I may be wrong, but with my research, the first mass-produced 4WD vehicle sold in the US was the Willys-Overland CJ-2A, made in 1945. The first AWD mass-produced and sold in the US was the Subaru Leone of 1972.
You’re probably right about the Willys, Jace, but I was thinking of a company whose entire line of cars had AWD and that’s it, no other option. The Subaru Leone still had front-wheel-drive cars. I may be losing this battle…
I was talking about the first line of cars to all have AWD, not either front-wheel-drive or AWD as Subaru had in that era, but the entire line of cars had AWD.
Jensen FF?
Quite low production numbers, though.
Unimogs!
Just get in, put on your helmet and gloves, close your eyes and all your Group B dreams will come true !! Seriously though, I always felt these 80’s Audi’s had cheap looking interiors, Other than that they were pretty cool in some circles.
I had a 1983 non-turbo, non-quattro version of this car and it was fantastic. I can only imagine AWD & more oomph made it even mo’ betta.
I had an 1983 5000 Turbo (diesel), and even though it may have sounded faster than your non-turbo, it had much LESS oomph, lol
Yea, I worked on those as well. They were great at laying down a smokescreen on acceleration but they didn’t go anywhere! Timing belts were a real pain in the butt.
@alphasud – you’re right about the smokescreen. I would regularly do that to tailgaters, lol
Scotty, you are right on with the snow comments…I too cringe when I see a collectible posed in the snow! I grew up in Chicago and saw plenty of rust buckets ! Don’t like to see it !!
Judging from the background setting, my guess is that the owner just pulled it out of it’s climate controlled garage to snap a few pictures in the snow and then spent the rest of the day drying it off and detailing it again.
I bet you’re right, Bluetec320.
Nice ! I guess my comments don”t make the grade !
? Did one of your comments not show up, John?
I saw comment appear, then disappear (I have seen this happen before) . I’ll have more patience in the future. I like this site alot, and enjoy it every morning…good job!
Beautiful looking car. I remember when Audi cars looked like this. Although its condition and rarity warrants such a high asking price, the asking price is way more than I can afford.
eBay update: the seller has lowered their asking price to $70,000.