RE: Audi 80: Spotted

[davidc1]

Near me there is a 90 20v quattro on a h plate. Thats a cool car. Mhst be very rare now.

[blade7]

PunterCam said:

I'd be disappointed if there wasn't. It's a 30 year old car, of course there's rust!

The fuel lines rotted out on my 80 when it was around 12 years old. I was disappointed.

[Terzo123]

The first car I ever drove was my parents White D reg Audi 90 Quattro. I loved that car.

[djdest]

My Dad bought a brand new B2 80 CL in some sort of dark red in a B reg.
I seem to remember back then not many people had Audi's or even knew what they were.
It certainly didn't seem to be the choice of many back then.
I remember we went on holiday in it to Italy driving the whole way there with another family who had just got a brand new early Sierra. It was only a 2.0 Ghia, but was having to refuel a lot more often than we were!

He sold that and got D26 WBD, a brand new graphite grey B2 80 Sport which I LOVED.
I was 14 at the time, and that car made a big impression on me.

That was sold for V323 VEW, a brand new white B3 80 quattro which I loved too.
By now I was driving too (Nova 1.2 first car) and driving the 80 was always a rare treat I loved.

I vowed to have an Audi myself, and as soon as they were affordable I got an S2 Avant, followed by two B5 S4's, another S2 Avant and a B5 RS4.

I'm still waiting for a newer Audi than the B5 that I love enough to want to buy.
The B7 S4 is starting to appeal...

[TooMany2cvs]

djdest said:

My Dad bought a brand new B2 80 CL in some sort of dark red in a B reg.
I seem to remember back then not many people had Audi's or even knew what they were.
It certainly didn't seem to be the choice of many back then.

The brand had only existed for a decade and a half...

[howertings]

andy43 said:

Like that. I had a white 1986 80 Sport, with the 1.8 8v Golf Gti engine in it. Great cars.

Exactly the same as my second car (except in black). Agreed, a great car.

[Leins]

Nice, but the B3 Coupe was always the one I fancied more. Still think they're a good looking car

[CDP]

GranCab said:

Does "unrestored" exclude brush painting some non-matching silver over the rust bubbles ?

Classic - cable ties to stop your 80s o/e plastic wheel trims being nicked .....

Edited by GranCab on Sunday 18th February 12:48

Actually the unmatched silver looks more like it might be the shadow of the bumper to me. It looks like it will need a bit of money spending but it is 30 years.

As for the cable ties, it would be a shame to lose those wheel trims; they look pretty smart and original. It would be a shame to put alloys on this car.

[CDP]

soad said:

MalcolmSmith said:

The next generation 80 is the one for me, these always looked like a big 4 door Polo saloon.

Completely agree.

The Audi 50 looks like a small hatch version of the 80 - which was the intention. In the same way an A1 has quite a resemblance to the A3..A4 etc.

Call it a coordinated range or Russian Doll styling, neither of which is far from new.

Morris Minor, Oxford and Six anybody? I'm sure we can go a lot further back than that...

[Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah]

PunterCam said:

BFleming said:

I've seen this for sale elsewhere & there's rust on the lower edges.

I'd be disappointed if there wasn't. It's a 30 year old car, of course there's rust!

Oh god, you've just taken me back to nightmares of 30 years ago. When ever dads then Renault 21 got some rust on it out would come the Hammerite, to be far too liberally applied. And it wasn't a silver 21, it was doom blue. My mates thought it was hilarious. I didn't.

[skylarking808]

Under rated in my eyes - especially in sports trim. Sort of cult car forgotten slightly lost in the shadow of the Quattro coupe.

My 1984 Audi 80 Sport was one of the best front wheel drive cars I have owned. With a set of Yoko tyres on it would on occasion give my similar vintage Golf GTI a run for its money. It had good front traction and better brakes than the Golf although not quite as much raw fun. Really well built and as mentioned above, surprisingly light and tough. I loved the black boot panel too.


Apologies for quality of non digital photo

[CDP]

Fermit The Krog and Sexy Sarah said:

PunterCam said:

BFleming said:

I've seen this for sale elsewhere & there's rust on the lower edges.

I'd be disappointed if there wasn't. It's a 30 year old car, of course there's rust!

Oh god, you've just taken me back to nightmares of 30 years ago. When ever dads then Renault 21 got some rust on it out would come the Hammerite, to be far too liberally applied. And it wasn't a silver 21, it was doom blue. My mates thought it was hilarious. I didn't.

Sorry, looking again it is badly brushed on paint. They even managed to get the bumper.

[E30M3ZONE]

An Audi that's handling is poor!!!

[grumpy52]

skylarking808 said:

Under rated in my eyes - especially in sports trim. Sort of cult car forgotten slightly lost in the shadow of the Quattro coupe.

My 1984 Audi 80 Sport was one of the best front wheel drive cars I have owned. With a set of Yoko tyres on it would on occasion give my similar vintage Golf GTI a run for its money. It had good front traction and better brakes than the Golf although not quite as much raw fun. Really well built and as mentioned above, surprisingly light and tough. I loved the black boot panel too.


Apologies for quality of non digital photo

I also had an 80 sport in red ,
Mine had all the options on it and I was informed by an ex Audi salesman that it was a bit rare to have in the spec of mine . It was dirt cheap as the guy selling it was fed up of throwing money at it to cure a mystery knocking from the rear suspension . It had knackered shocker top bushes where some numpty hadn't used new ones when fitting new rear shocks .
You saying that the brakes were better than the Golf Gti is a bit strange as they were the same but it did make a big difference what make of pads were fitted .
I sold it to my brother in law who had it written off by an errant Ford Transit .

[s m]

skylarking808 said:

Under rated in my eyes - especially in sports trim. Sort of cult car forgotten slightly lost in the shadow of the Quattro coupe.

My 1984 Audi 80 Sport was one of the best front wheel drive cars I have owned. With a set of Yoko tyres on it would on occasion give my similar vintage Golf GTI a run for its money. It had good front traction and better brakes than the Golf although not quite as much raw fun. Really well built and as mentioned above, surprisingly light and tough. I loved the black boot panel too.


Apologies for quality of non digital photo

They were amazingly light really, for a sturdy four door saloon, same as a Saxo VTS or 106gti.
You paid a bit of a penalty weight wise for the 5-cylinder and trim but even with an average family of 4 on, lighter than a GT86. They were fairly well rust proofed especially the sills.
I'd echo the handling comments too - handled really well compared to a hot hatch of the time

[skylarking808]

[quote=grumpy52]


You saying that the brakes were better than the Golf Gti is a bit strange as they were the same but it did make a big difference what make of pads were fitted .

My Golf Mk 1s were wooden in feel and you had to stand on them before anything really happened.. Although the 1.8l engine and parts were similar to the Golfs the Audi brakes had a bit more feel and effect. It could have been better pads of course - c;ant really remember. I am also aware that the GTI was not designed for right hand drive and the brakes were compromised. Many Mk1 GTI owners fitted upgrade kits. Maybe the Audi 80 was designed from scratch with the British market in mind?

The Audi felt a bit more suited to motorways being slightly bigger, but was nimble enough when it needed to be. Would quite like another sorted if i needed a modern classic four door.

Had the next gen 80 but did not like the light steering and lack of fun.

[Black S2K]

skylarking808]rumpy52 said:

You saying that the brakes were better than the Golf Gti is a bit strange as they were the same but it did make a big difference what make of pads were fitted .

My Golf Mk 1s were wooden in feel and you had to stand on them before anything really happened.. Although the 1.8l engine and parts were similar to the Golfs the Audi brakes had a bit more feel and effect. It could have been better pads of course - c;ant really remember. I am also aware that the GTI was not designed for right hand drive and the brakes were compromised. Many Mk1 GTI owners fitted upgrade kits. Maybe the Audi 80 was designed from scratch with the British market in mind?

The Audi felt a bit more suited to motorways being slightly bigger, but was nimble enough when it needed to be. Would quite like another sorted if i needed a modern classic four door.

Had the next gen 80 but did not like the light steering and lack of fun.

IIRC, the MK1 Golf's transverse engine meant that the M/C was on the wrong side and had to be bell-cranked to the pedal for RHD.

The inline Audi layout probably meant that there was space on the bulkhead for the M/C to move across.

Maybe that's why?

[s m]

Black S2K said:

skylarking808]rumpy52 said:

You saying that the brakes were better than the Golf Gti is a bit strange as they were the same but it did make a big difference what make of pads were fitted .

My Golf Mk 1s were wooden in feel and you had to stand on them before anything really happened.. Although the 1.8l engine and parts were similar to the Golfs the Audi brakes had a bit more feel and effect. It could have been better pads of course - c;ant really remember. I am also aware that the GTI was not designed for right hand drive and the brakes were compromised. Many Mk1 GTI owners fitted upgrade kits. Maybe the Audi 80 was designed from scratch with the British market in mind?

The Audi felt a bit more suited to motorways being slightly bigger, but was nimble enough when it needed to be. Would quite like another sorted if i needed a modern classic four door.

Had the next gen 80 but did not like the light steering and lack of fun.

IIRC, the MK1 Golf's transverse engine meant that the M/C was on the wrong side and had to be bell-cranked to the pedal for RHD.

The inline Audi layout probably meant that there was space on the bulkhead for the M/C to move across.

Maybe that's why?

Brakes on the Mk1 Golf Gti really weren't great especially if the linkages had slop in them - one of the things I never liked was the brake 'will they, won't they' feel

80 Sport master cylinder was on the right sid

[deltashad]

My friend had a B2 pre facelift 80 quattro, identifiable by it's deeper rear bumper. It was a very cool car, not terribly quick though and very thirsty.

[Ahonen]

CDP said:

soad said:

MalcolmSmith said:

The next generation 80 is the one for me, these always looked like a big 4 door Polo saloon.

Completely agree.

The Audi 50 looks like a small hatch version of the 80 - which was the intention. In the same way an A1 has quite a resemblance to the A3..A4 etc.

Call it a coordinated range or Russian Doll styling, neither of which is far from new.

Morris Minor, Oxford and Six anybody? I'm sure we can go a lot further back than that...

The Audi 50 became the Polo, which is why the 80 is so reminiscent of the Polo (or maybe the other way around as the 80 predated the 50/Polo). The Audi version was launched before the Polo, but only by a few weeks.