Junkyard Gem: 1987 Audi 5000 S Quattro Sedan

Audi launched the third-generation 100 to the world in late 1982, and it first appeared on our shores — with Audi 5000 badging — as a 1984 mannequin. With its easy curves and flush facet glass, it boasted astonishingly low aerodynamic drag, reaching gasoline financial system at excessive speeds that different huge automobiles could not come near matching (till Ford got here out with the Audi-influenced design of the brand new Taurus for 1986). The 5000 S Quattro was an uncommon mannequin with all-wheel-drive however with out the turbocharging of the 5000 CS, practically extinct right this moment, and that is what we have got for right this moment’s Junkyard Gem.

The Audi 100 had its European-market identify right here from its American introduction for the 1970 mannequin yr by way of 1977, after which its identify turned the extra impressive-sounding 5000 right here. The 100 identify returned for 1989, as a result of sure occasions made the 5000 identify toxic.

We will not discuss concerning the 5000 with out addressing the “unintended acceleration” controversy that kneecapped Audi gross sales within the wake of a November 1986 “60 Minutes” piece alleging that 5000s with computerized transmissions typically lurched ahead when the motive force pressed the brake pedal. A lot extremely publicized arglebargle adopted, with the upshot being that everybody concerned appeared dangerous and U.S.-market Audi gross sales — not simply the 5000, all Audis — fell off a cliff and did not recuperate till nicely into the Nineteen Nineties. This 5000 has a five-speed guide transmission, so it would not have been topic to the alleged downside; in actual fact, the unique purchaser could have scored a screaming deal on this automotive, which was in-built June 1987 and thus hit a depopulated showroom flooring on the peak of the Unintended Acceleration hooraw.

Most American patrons who have been keen to pay further for Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system additionally peeled off the additional payments to get the turbocharged engine, so naturally aspirated 5000 S Quattros have been uncommon beasts. This straight-five displaced 2.3 liters and made 130 horsepower, whereas the turbo model whooshed out 162 horses. For those who suppose this engine compartment appears just like the one within the Volkswagen Quantum Syncro from the identical period, you are proper!

The Quattro system first appeared in the USA on 1983 Audis, following within the footsteps of the revolutionary all-wheel-drive rig launched in 1979 by American Motors on the Eagle. By the late Eighties, many different automotive firms provided true all-wheel-drive programs, however AMC and Audi competed solely towards 4-wheel-drive automobiles for a lot of the last decade. This differential-lock management setup was a lot cooler-looking than the one Toyota used within the Camry All-Trac afterward.

Associated: AWD vs. 4WD: What is the distinction, and which is healthier?

Somebody purchased the instrument cluster, so we won’t know what number of miles this automotive drove throughout its 35 years on the street.

The MSRP on this automotive was $24,450, or about $65,120 in 2022 {dollars}. Ford was providing AWD variations of the Tempo and Mercury Topaz in 1987, priced at simply $9,984 and $10,119 ($26,590 and $26,950 right this moment), however it’s uncertain than any potential Audi 5000 purchaser would have thought-about these cramped, underpowered machines.

It seems that Joe Biden took trip from washing his Trans Am to have an Audi 5000 dispatched to The Crusher’s ready room. Or maybe this sticker refers back to the 360,000-mile Toyota Tercel parked within the subsequent house.

There is not any rust, the physique is fairly straight, and the inside can be good with an intensive cleansing. Sadly, these automobiles aren’t value a lot these days, so no person rescued this one.

Constructed to be abused within the metropolis.

Cruelly, CBS performed this industrial throughout “60 Minutes,” about two weeks earlier than the fateful Audi 5000 episode.

Let’s watch the home-market model now. Do not do this in your ski leap at house!

FAW constructed Hongqi-badged Audi 100s in China from 1989 by way of 2004.