Background
The Ur-Quattro (Ur means ‘original’ in German) first reached the market in late 1980 and remained in production throughout what is undoubtedly the greatest decade of the 20th century.
Offering a grown-up alternative to the VW Golf GTI we all lusted after and drove if we could afford one, the Audi’s 2144cc engine pushed its 200bhp to all four corners via its innovative permanent four-wheel-drive system, a piece of leftfield thinking 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 engi-nerds the world over adding the ‘turbo’ moniker to anything they wanted to imbue with feelings of power 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 power and torque output but at lower revs) a later 20v DOHC version gave more power and a little extra on the 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 outright power; designed to be driven in the sort of adverse conditions that German skiers and world rally champions tended to 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 twice the Mini’s power on snow, ice, gravel and other loose surfaces.
And 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 and another two as runners-up.
Nearly 11,500 road-going Quattros were produced by the time it died in 1991.
Allow us to introduce you to a 17k mile-from-new, time warp 10v example with a full Audi service history. Such is its condition and provenance that we think that it is surely one of the best and lowest mileage Ur-Quattros in the country…
