Audi Quattro Totally Explained

Everything about The Audi Quattro totally explained

The Audi Quattro is a famous, and historically significant road and rally car, produced by the German automobile manufacturer Audi. Notably, it was the first four-wheel drive grand tourer (GT) since the Jensen FF of 1966.
   "quattro" means four in Italian.
   It is considered one of the most significant rally cars of all time, and was one of the first to take advantage of the then-recently changed rules which allowed the use of four-wheel-drive in competition racing. Many critics doubted the viability of four-wheel drive racers, thinking them to be too heavy and complex, yet the Quattro was an instant success, winning a rally on its first outing. It won competition after competition for the next two years. To commemorate the sucess of the original vehicle, all future Audis' with quattro were badged with a lower case "q". The original car with the upper case "Q" in the Quattro name is highly sought after as a collector's piece.
   The Audi Quattro shared many components and the core of its body style with the Audi Coupé, which was a member of the Audi 80 (B2 model) range.
   Similar market competators included Lancia Delta Integrale, Ford Sierra RS Cosworth, Toyota Celica GT-Four

Model name

Officially, the model name of the car was simply "Quattro".
The word "quattro" is used to refer to either the Audi 4WD system, or any 4WD version of an Audi automobile. To avoid confusion, this car is also commonly referred to as the Ur-Quattro (the "Ur-" prefix is a German augmentative used, in this case, to mean "original" and is also applied to the first generation of Audi's S4 and S6, as in "UrS4" and "UrS6").

European distribution

Audi released the original Quattro in 1980, making it both the first car to feature Audi's quattro permanent four-wheel drive system (hence its name), and the first to mate four wheel drive with a turbocharged engine.
   The powerplant was originally a 2.1 L (2144 cc), SOHC, 10 valve straight-5 producing 200 PS (147 kW); this was eventually modified to a 2.2 L (2226 cc) 10 valve straight-5 and then to a 2.2 L (2226 cc) 20v DOHC straight-5 setup producing 220 PS (162 kW). Audi Quattros are often referred to among owners and enthusiasts by their engine codes, to differentiate between the earlier and later versions: the earliest (2144 cc 10v) being the WR engine, the 2226 cc 10v being the MB engine and the later 20v being the RR engine. Hence, Quattro models may be referred to as either the WR Quattro, MB Quattro, and RR or "20v" Quattro, respectively.
   Total road car production is 11,452 vehicles over the period 1980–1991 and through this 11 year production span there were no major changes in the visual design of the vehicle. For the 1983 model-year the dash was switched from an analog instrument cluster to a green digital LCD display (later changed for 1988 to an orange LCD display). The interior was redesigned in 1985 and featured a whole new dash layout, new steering wheel design and new centre console design, the switches around the instrument panel were also redesigned at this time.
   Externally, overall styling received very little modification during its production run. Originally, the car had a flat fronted grill featuring four separate lenses, one for each of the low and high beam units. This was altered for the 1983 model year and replaced with combined units featuring a single lens, but housing twin reflectors. This was changed again, for the 1985 model year, in what has become known as the 'facelift model' and included such alterations as a new sloping front grill, headlights, and trim and badging changes. The RR 20v Quattro also featured a new three spoke steering wheel design.

North American distribution

Sales of the Quattro in North America began with the 1983 model year, which were constructed concurrently, and were of the same design as, the European 1982 models (they didn't include the minor cosmetic changes of the European 1983 model) and continued through 1986. Total sales in the USA were 664. Canadian market received cars that were identical to the US cars with exception of the speedometer which was Metric like the early Euro cars. Official sales figures for Canada were 99, which included 61 in 1983, 17 in 1984, 18 in 1985 and 3 in 1986. Although it's believed that there might have been up to 6 cars brought in 1986.
US/Canadian cars were also equipped with impact bumpers with built in shock absorbers just like the rest of the 4000/Coupe models. None of the cars came with ABS, however they were otherwise "loaded" with options including air conditioning and in 90% of the cars leather upholstery. Most of the 1984 and 1985 Canadian models didn't have sunroofs. Rest of the electric, suspension and cosmetic updates took place at the same time as the European cars. Out of 99 cars imported to Canada 35 are still known to be on the road.
The initial 2.1L (2144cc, engine code "WX") engine for US/Canadian models included minor component and ECU changes, including lowered turbocharger boost pressure, different camshaft, emission controls including catalytic converter and lambda fuel control, which lowered power to 160 HP. otherwise mechanical specifications were identical to the European spec cars. The WX engine was also used on Swiss and Japanese market cars. In fact Audi built 200 special edition cars in 1988 with WX engine and analogue instruments, rest of the car was identical to the MB cars of that year.

Rally cars

Audi Quattro - A1 and A2 evolutions

The original Audi Quattro competition car debuted in 1980, first as a development car and then on a formal basis in the 1980 Janner Rally in Austria. Largely based on the bodyshell of the road-going Quattro models (in contrast to the forthcoming Group B cars), the engine of the original competition version produced approximately 300bhp. Over the next three years, Audi would introduce the A1 and A2 evolutions of the Quattro in response to the new Group B rules, raising power from the turbocharged inline 5-cylinder engine to around 350bhp.

Audi Sport Quattro

The Audi Sport Quattro was a Quattro program car developed for Group B rallying homologation in 1984, and sold as a production car in limited numbers — it featured a 2.1 L (2133 cc) 20v DOHC engine slightly smaller than that of the Audi Quattro (in order to qualify for the 3-litre engine class after the scale factor applied to turbo engines). In road-going form the engine was capable of producing approximately 305 hp (257 kW), with the competition cars initially producing around 450bhp. The vehicle also featured a body shell composed of carbon kevlar and boasting wider arches, wider wheels (nine inches as compared to the UrQuattro's optional eight inch wide wheel rim), the steeper windscreen rake of the Audi 80 (requested by the Audi Sport rally team drivers for improved visibility) and, most noticeably, a shorter wheelbase. This was carried out in order to improve handling potential in the face of newer, smaller competition, such as the Lancia 037 and the Peugeot 205 T16, which had been purpose-built from the start for Group B rules.

Audi Sport Quattro S1

The Audi Sport Quattro S1 was introduced in 1985 as an update to the Audi Sport Quattro. The car featured a inline 5-cylinder engine that displaced 2110 cc and produced an extraordinary 560 bhp. In addition to the improved power output, an aggressive aerodynamic kit was added that featured very distinctive wings and spoilers to the front and rear of the car.
The S1 proved to be an immediate success in the rally circuit, helping Walter Röhrl and Christian Geistdörfer win the 1985 San Remo Rally. A modified version of the S1, was also driven by Michèle Mouton. The S1 evolution would become the final Group B car produced by Audi, with the works team withdrawing from the Championship following the 1986 rally in Portugal. Twenty years after the cancellation of Group B, the Sport Quattro S1 was still widely regarded as the most powerful rally car ever fielded in international competition, with the final factory machines of 1986 rated at 600bhp.
In addition to Group B competition, the S1 won the 1985 Pikes Peak International Hillclimb with Michelle Mouton at the steering wheel, setting a world record time in the process.

Other information

The Quattro is also famous for being a career highlight of one of the pre-eminent women in rally racing, Michèle Mouton.
   In 2004, Sports Car International named this car number four on the list of Top Sports Cars of the 1980s.
   A Sport Quattro S1 appears in the Colin McRae Rally 04 and Colin McRae Rally 2005.
   A Mars Red Audi Quattro appears on the new BBC series of Ashes to Ashes, a spin-off of Life on Mars, .
   An Audi Quattro rally car appears in the Xbox game "Rallisport Challenge 2."
   a Sport Quattro appears in Forza Motorsport 2 as downloadable content
   A Quattro road car appears in Gran Turismo 4Further Information

Get more info on 'Audi Quattro'.

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