Quantum Leap

In 1977, the VW engineer Joerg Bensinger and others were working on a prototype off-roader to be called the Iltis.The name, Polecat in German, was more of a military or recreational application but Bensinger thought the notion of full-time all-wheel drive might have relevance for conventional passenger cars, especially for those that live in wet and snowy climes. Ferdinand Piëch, who led product development at Audi at the time, and pre-development director Walter Treser, agreed and, ultimately, so did Audi management.

Launched in the spring of 1980, the Audi quattro, so-named for obvious reasons, came to the U.S. market for the 1982 model year.

Until then, AWD had been the provenance of big trucks and serious off-roaders. The genius of the quattro was in compact differentials that would fit the confines of a passenger car, without the quantum increase in ride height found in those trucks and SUVs. A center diff distributed power to the front and rear differentials via a set of dog clutches; the latter were vacuum-operated via controls on the centre stack. An integral part of the design was the use of a hollow shaft in the transmission so power could flow to both the centre differential (and thus to the rear wheels) and to the front diff via an output shaft. Sounds complicated, but it worked beautifully, distributing power 50/50, front to back.

That power came from Audi’s transversely mounted, turbocharged SOHC inline-five with two valves per cylinder, rated in U.S. trim at 160 horsepower (200 in most other world markets). While 160 doesn’t sound like much, considering that 1982’s Mustang GT 5.0 was rated at 157 and the Porsche 911 SC cranked out just 172, the quattro remained a legit performer in its era. Torque output was 170 pound-feet at 3000 revs, and the only transmission offered was a five-speed manual. Steering was via a power rack and pinion, and braking came courtesy of four-wheel discs. In a cool bit of engineering maximisation, the quattro’s fully independent suspension employed Audi 5000 front suspension bits–turned backward–in the rear.

The crisply folded Audi GT Coupe provided the quattro’s platform two-door bodywork. Handsome, if conservative, the look received a personality injection in the form of rectangular fender blisters to cover the increased track. Still, the effect was subtle; performance aficionados nodded knowingly when they saw one, as if not wanting to bust the secret.

Besides the diff lock’s actuator switch and readout, little differentiated a quattro’s cabin from any other Audi–or several VWs, either, as too many components looked as if they came straight out of the econobox parts bin. The hard plastics and shiny materials wouldn’t pass muster in a Korean subcompact now. Cargo room aft was reasonable, and the rear seats at least earned a “+2” designation. Some European model quattros were equipped with a full digital instrument panel, another 1980’s idea perhaps best forgotten.

In its first full year of competition–1982–the factory quattros recorded eight overall wins in a convincing domination of the championship. Mikkola and Arne Hertz brought home the 1983 World Championship, and, in 1984, quattros secured the drivers and manufacturers titles.

The competition cars got more powerful and more outrageous looking, culminating in the 450-horsepower quattro S1.

Mikkola said that “the sudden surge of power is so brutal, you think you’ve been hit from behind by a five-ton truck.”

A series of tragic accidents in 1985-1986 ended the reign of these hyper-powered “Group B” machines, but Audi’s point had been made and punctuated: all-wheel drive was a key to high performance–and the worse the road surface, the more the quattro’s advantage.

1984's rare quattro Sport proved the best--and by far the most valuable--of an impressive pack. Never officially legalized for sale in the U.S., they've become prized among quattronados.

A Sport quattro cost a staggering $75,000 when new. A perfect one today, if you can find one for sale, will set you back about a hundred grand. Many consider it to be the ultimate road-going quattro–I’m among them.

The fact that the original quattro cost around $35,000 in the early 1980s seems staggering now. Today’s STi, WRX, and Evo have much higher performance, technology, and comfort levels for around 30 grand, give or take model and equipment. They’ll run away and hide from the old master and are cheaper by miles, especially taking nearly 25 years of inflation into account. Yet had the quattro not succeeded, there would be no super Subis or Mitsus.

For creating a genre, for providing considerable driving excitement at a time when there wasn’t much, and for launching what is today a cornerstone of the Audi brand, the first quattro must be recognized as an accomplishment of major significance.

So where are they all now?

I came across one not so long ago locked up in a yard behind a terrace of houses.