5k: Rare Wagon: 1991 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro Avant
Audi never built that many of the Audi 200 Turbo Quattro Avant, so finding one in good shape for a decent price is unusual, so I didn’t expect to see another so soon after the example posted here in Dec of 2014. The C3 body style Audi 200 was built starting in 1982, but it wasn’t until the last and final year of production (1991) that Audi installed the latest 20-valve turbo engine known as the 3B mated to 5-speed gearbox and Quattro all-wheel-drive. Find this 1991 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro Wagon offered for $5,950 located in Bozeman, MT via craigslist. Tip from Oldsmobuick.
This Avant Quattro is surprisingly close to the previously featured car, same exterior color, similar miles, but it is nicer and cleaner under the hood. However, given its location, a thorough check for rust (this is a 25 year old Audi after all…) is a must.
The 3B inline-5 was turbocharged and intercooled to generate 217 horsepower and 228 ft-lbs of torque out of 2.2 liters. It was the first time Audi used a 5-valve per cylinder setup in a production sedan (you could get a 20V engine in the original Sport Quattro, but that was a homologation special coupe) and the tradition continued through the release of the ubiquitous Audi/VAG 1.8T. This it the part where I make up random technical facts about the engine, but today I will do it in the style of Tarzan. Engine run on smelly fire water. Me start engine with key, engine go boom when I no add dark fire water to hole in top of engine. Engine has turbo. Go fast.
I was not able determine exact production figures, but at least one source claimed that only 149 Turbo Quattro Avants exported to the USA. It might not have the performance of an E34 M5, or the hauling capacity of a Volvo 240, but the Audi 200 offers a certain mix of the two.
See a better combination of capacity, cool, and valves? tips@dailyturismo.com
Ooh, yummy.
That's a 'wagonback' all right.
So I could buy the one Audi wagon rarer than my C5 S6…
The '95 S6 Avant is more rare (in North America) than the '91 200 Avant, and MUCH more rare than the 2001-2003 S6.
Added tidbits from my library… weight was 3726 lbs and it had a $44,150 MSRP. My sources say this about the production numbers; "A total of 8,291 series 100/200 Series Audis were sold in the U.S. during 1991, of which 1,590 were turbos and 1,078 were Quattros." Note that includes sedans and wagons.
Another source adds nothing more conclusive, but refers to the wagon as a "fasthatch" and claims that this Audi was the first production car to offer electronic ABS with fulltime all-wheel drive. Values were listed as subject to the used car market and the future return was not predicted.
In the end, just an interesting lower value collectable for wagon and/or Audi fanatics. Frankly, I'd love to own one even though I'm pretty dead set against Audis in general.
The Type 44 was the first volume production car to offer electronic ABS and AWD (The Jensen FF used Dunlop mechanical ABS and it's AWD system was more akin to a truck 4WD design), but that started in 1985 with the 200 quattro (1986 5000CS Turbo quattro in the US), not in '91. However, the Sport quattro had the same ABS and AWD system and beat the 5000 to market by a year. But with just 10 Sports officially exported to the US it's and a bit more that 200 made world wide it's merely academic to this discussion.
I put in my time owning a Type 44 (5000CS Turbo quattro) and won't do it again, as tempting as they may be at times. I currently have its successor, a '95 S6 Avant. The first generation S4/S6 was arguably the most solid, reliable car Audi ever made. It's taken most of them 20 years and 200,000+ miles to get old and worn out enough to start equaling the failure rate and repair frequency of a new Audi.
When did Subaru start to offer ABS with their cars?
1990. When they first introduced the Legacy. ABS was only available with an automatic transmission in the US but my folks managed to convince a dealer to special order a wagon with a manual gearbox and ABS.
Found some interesting related articles. Seems like $8K is a pretty good asking price for a relatively clean example these days, give or take. The issue with exactly how many were imported to the U.S. is a bit confusing, to say the least.
home.comcast.net/~gregsj2/content/audi200.html
fourtitude.com/news/vintage-audi-news/find-of-the-day-unmolested-1991-audi-200-turbo-quattro-avant-in-conschohocken-pa/
oppositelock.jalopnik.com/cars-that-time-forgot-audi-200-20v-935285798
hooniverse.com/2012/07/14/hooniverse-weekend-edition-a-1991-audi-200-turbo-quattro-wagon-on-craigslist/
hooniverse.com/2013/07/21/weekend-edition-a-1991-audi-200-20-valve-turbo-quattro-avant-and-its-for-sale/
bringatrailer.com/2014/03/04/61k-mile-1991-audi-200-turbo-quattro-wagon/
autoweek.com/article/car-life/audi-200-quattro-avant-hits-craigslist-briefly
curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/parking-lot-classic-1991-audi-200-avant-doing-it-right/
api3.co/the-api3-collection/audi/
I must say, after reading all of that, I'm a lot more interested in the car than I was a second ago. Still, I'd rather have my T5 or an R to tell you the truth.
[img] niche-macworld-production.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mac-Apple-copy-paste.jpg[/img]
Another one for sale, this one's wearing a loincloth.
Those have to be some of most unsightly OEM roof rails from the 80s-90s I've ever seen. I wonder if you can actually play a tune with the wind whistle.
Unrelated, but still fun. If the guy would just shut up, it would be even more enjoyable.
youtube.com/watch?v=Uucy_blcSrg
A few (many) inaccuracies in your post:
This is a Type 44 chassis. There is no such thing as a C3.
The Type 44 came out in 1984.
The body is galvanized, Montana isn't in the rust belt, so rust is not a major concern.
The 3B is a 5 cylinder, not 4.
The 3B is 4 valves per cylinder, not 5.
Yikes, that is an inline-5, gotta fire my fact checkers. Regarding C3/Type44, it seems that many sources on the web use those terms interchangeably — same with Audi A4 B7 people who swear up and down that it is a type 8E and has nothing to do with Audi's parent company Volkswagen and their B-nomenclature.
The B/C/D chassis designations are for the most part an internet/forum creation. Audi first started using the Letter/Number format in 1989 with the V8, which despite being virtually indistinguishable from a Type 44 was called a D11. They didn't resume the practice again until the A4 was introduced in '95 on the B5 platform, and again in '97 with the C5 based A6 and the D2 A8 (the dates are European market model years, the US was typically a year later…sometimes two). The interwebs extrapolated the rest of the chassis names based on these as a way to simplify the rather random factory designations. This is further complicated by the occasional chassis sharing between VW and Audi, so when the B5 based Passat was released the Letter/Number nomenclature took on a whole different life over in VW land. Oh…and FYI the 8E chassis is a B6 A4.
I always thought the "rust belt" was a term used for the area in and around Ohio where we made steel back when America was 'Merica. If you are saying they don't use salt on the roads in Bozeman,MT I would question your sources on that. If you wash the salt off when it warms up it doesn't do as much damage. That is if you really wash it all off. Salt isn't nearly as corrosive under 20F
I really doubt this car actually resided in Bozeman, I find that they are only shipped there when bought at auctions for those wheeler dealers wanting to flip them fast.
Montana does not use salt on its own, but a 23% sodium chloride mixture with anti-corrosion inhibitors (salt brine).
mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/travinfo_faq.shtml
missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/winter-roads/Content?oid=1519408
truckinginfo.com/news/story/2011/12/montana-dot-begins-using-salt-brine-limits-use-of-magnesium-chloride.aspx
However it started much later than this car's birth date.
Apparently it is much less corrosive than traditional salt but still requires a regular wash.
AbnMike – Montana
Cheap because of the cost of repairs.