RE: Audi Coupe: Shed Of The Week

[Tony Starks]

vtecyo said:

Am I reading that right? 150bhp from a 2.6 V6?

Mine was 13 years old and according to the Paramount Performance rolling road was putting out 148bhp. Not that it mean anything as it was going up against turbo Esprit s and S type Rs

[Tony Starks]

tig124 said:

Wow... Now just realising my Last car is going to be 20 years old next year! - Yup a '96 Audi Coupe in Dark green.. Same spec engine as in this shed! and I can say I loved this car to bits.. to the point that its currently sat on my Mums drive waiting to be brought back to life, it got too difficult to get the kids (3 and 1) in and out of at the time due to car seats and some serious DIYing, so I had to go slightly more sensible and larger loading area - XC70 sensible!. But its waiting there to be brought up and running again!

I sold my 94 indigo pearl one 7 odd years ago to move to NZ, it came up for sale a couple of years ago but the costs to get it here would have been awful for what it was actually worth.

I bought mine for £1100 and sold it about a year later for £1400.

Edited by Tony Starks on Sunday 25th October 09:49

[tobs 1]

This brings back some memories! Once my redundancy money came through I got rid of my rattly 306 dturbo, logged onto eBay, and started making bids on anything that looked fast. You can imagine my dismay when I did my research AFTER I won this car but with the manual box. Once I saw it in the flesh though I was smitten and driving it home was fantastic. The noise at 3500rpm was addictive and everything was great until it kept stalling in a city centre. The bloody thing needed a new thermostat. I really enjoyed taking it to a few cruises and even though it wasn't as quick as my friends remapped 1.8T golf/passat/leon etc it had really good mid range torque despite having 170k on the clock, and overtaking on B roads was a giggle. My only problem with it was the fuel economy. My daily 20mile commute was just under a tenner, and driving to bike races up and down the country every weekend drained my bank account. It didn't even have a decent sized boot because of the spare wheel location. But I was smitten and even my dad approved.
Unfortunately mine was killed off due to lots of small problems which I then couldn't afford to fix. Exhaust was a fortune, the engine had an oil leak and was just scraping through emissions at the MOT, it needed every bush and damper changed, and the body work was becoming tatty after a few prangs. Plus my then girlfriend threatened to dump me if I didn't get rid of the money pit (funnily enough I dumped her a month after the car went).
These things need an owner that won't thrash it and is willing to pay up for expensive spares, because they're already classics that are going up in value. Over here in Austria you're lucky to find a half decent one for less than €3000, which is annoying because I really want the 2.3 20v or 2.8v6 quattro.

[30v]

jontbone said:

Performance and niggling problems aside, it looked to be an absolute cracker.
Sat in a 2.6E at a car show as a nipper. I was smitten.

Cheers, it was! Took ages to find (don't think I've seen a single 2.3 20VQ for sale in years) and I just let its looks overrule my decision-making. If you're looking to buy one, have a look on www.audifans.net Plenty of coupé owners on there. It's a great place to start researching and what they don't know about these cars, isn't worth knowing.

The coupé made it across the pond, so there's a wealth of knowledge on them courtesy of our American cousins - who will mod the s*** out of anything. Some other good sites to check out:

http://www.20v.org/
http://www.rennlist.org/

Edited by 30v on Sunday 25th October 19:00

Edited by 30v on Sunday 25th October 19:01

[montyvr6]

Some interesting view points. I currently have an S2 Coupe and love it. Prefer it to my RS2 as its a coupe rather than an Avant.

I love mine despite it needing TLC and being a bit tatty, all work in progress. For me the coupe still looks good and it does put a smile on my face across the car park. Build quality is very good and even at 20 years old mine is mostly free from niggles.

I'm not sure why the heater matrix has come up so many times, I can't think of many that aren't a pia to change. Did mine and actually it's easier than some I've done. Engine is up front but it won't under steer for 99% of your driving but suspension and arb's can fix a lot of that. I've owned and driven a lot of things and tbh it's more than capable of going plenty quick enough. You might loose in the pub talk banter but if that's your game good luck to you. Windscreen only cost £70 on insurance too.

The brakes aren't great and yes the engine options are lower powered than todays motors but that is called progression. Most parts are cheap from euro.

I like them but they aren't everyone's cup of tea.