Background
The Ur-Quattro (Ur means ‘original’ in German) entered the market in late 1980 and remained in production throughout what was undoubtedly the greatest musical and automotive decade of the 20th century.
Offering a grown-up alternative to the VW Golf GTI we all lusted after, the Audi’s 2144cc engine pushed its 200bhp to all four corners via an innovative permanent four-wheel-drive system that was dubbed ‘quattro’ in a flash of marketing genius.
Mounted longitudinally, the five-cylinder engine was fitted with a turbocharger and an intercooler, a move that at least partly contributed to marketing enginerds the world over adding the ‘turbo’ moniker to anything they wanted to imbue with feelings of authority and exclusivity.
As is the way of the world, the Quattro gained capacity and power over the years; first bored out to 2226cc (which gave the same output but at lower revs) and the later 20v DOHC version gave more power and a higher top speed.
The three engine variants were given individual codes, and these are how enthusiasts now refer to them: the original 2144cc 10v engine was ‘WR’, followed by the 2226cc 10v ‘MB’, and the 2226 20v ‘RR’.
But the Quattro was never about top speed; designed to be driven in the sort of conditions only mountaineers and world rally champions find themselves in, traction and handling were far more important than sheer grunt: The Mini had proved the advantage of never having to lift for corners and the Quattro emulated this by channelling more than twice the British car’s torque on snow, ice, gravel, and other loose surfaces.
It worked better than Audi could have ever hoped: From the early ‘80s through to the end of the Group B era, Quattro variants won 23 World Rally Championships in the hands of legends such as Michèle Mouton, Hannu Mikkola, Walter Rӧrhl, and Stig Blomqvist. The final tally included two outright world championships plus another two as runners-up.
Nearly 11,500 road-going Quattros had been produced by the time it died in 1991.
