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Audi Quattro

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AudiQuattro

Typ 85, 10-valve

Power
200 PS
0–100
7.1 s
Top speed
220 km/h

Audi Quattro 1983

Showcase

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Photographs: kieranwhite599, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Illustrative of the model.

Curator’s note

The car that brought permanent four-wheel drive to performance cars and rewrote rallying.

The original Audi Quattro, or Ur-quattro, combined a turbocharged five-cylinder with permanent four-wheel drive in a sporting coupé. It proved that all-wheel drive could transform grip on any surface.

  • Permanent four-wheel drive
  • Turbocharged five-cylinder engine
  • Box-flared wheel arches
  • Lockable centre and rear differentials
0–100 km/h7.1s118th of 140 · best 1.8 s
Top speed220km/h115th of 140 · best 420 km/h
Power197hp130th of 140 · best 1,888 hp
Torque285Nm125th of 140 · best 2,360 Nm
Race the Quattro ⚑Launch it, you shiftParts rarityIts engine in 3DRebuild its engine

The story

Audi Quattro

Audi engineers developed the idea after seeing how well the Volkswagen Iltis military vehicle performed in snow. The Quattro was unveiled at the 1980 Geneva show.

Its compact centre differential let four-wheel drive work on dry roads without binding, and the rally versions soon showed the advantage on loose surfaces.

Generation
Original Quattro, 1980 to 1991
Built in
Ingolstadt, Germany
Gearbox
5-speed manual
Kerb weight
1,290 kg

Character

Comfort 6 Pace 7 Off-road 4 Tech 8 Presence 8

Dimensions

4,404 mm long 2,524 mm wheelbase 1,344 mm Width 1,723 mm
01

Michèle Mouton became the first woman to win a WRC round in a Quattro, in 1981.

02

Audi won the 1982 WRC manufacturers’ title with the Quattro.

03

Hannu Mikkola won the 1987 Safari Rally in Kenya in the related Audi 200 quattro.

04

Audi built 11,452 Quattros of all versions; weight is kerb weight.

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