RE: Audi 80: Spotted

[grumpy52]

Another one of my cars that I wish I still had , along with my Coupe , my 5 pot Santana , my 100 Quattro Avant . Who knew back then that they wouldn't go on for ever , they felt like they would .
My 80 sport certainly got attention and respect back then , just larey enough !

[s m]

deltashad said:

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.

Early 5-pot 2.2 engine or the later 1.8 Gti engined quattro?

The early 5-pot was on the cover of issue 1 of Performance Car mag - they were respectably quick for an 83 saloon - modern day Swift Sport performance

[golfer19]

Had the CD version with the 5 cyl engine.
If i remember correctly the door handles broke very easily.

[thebirdman]

Sometime mid 80s I was looking for a nice 80 sport as something a bit different to the Escort sports, sunbeam tii's etc that the rest of the gang all seemed to driving, untill one day I spotted a 80 Quattro for sale on a Landrover sales lot. Wow!, result!, it was bought, and I kept it a few years and I loved it. The car itself, I think I remember was an '83 or '84 model same colour as the one in the ad. The interior was much nicer than the 80 sports, 2.1 5 cyl n/a engine, manual diff locks, ( I remember feeling really smug once when we were the only ones to not need pulling by Landrover from a muddy field after spectating at an 80s RAC Rally!). The headlight arrangement was different too, I think the same as the coupe Quattro.

[Dapster]

thebirdman said:

Sometime mid 80s I was looking for a nice 80 sport as something a bit different to the Escort sports, sunbeam tii's etc that the rest of the gang all seemed to driving, untill one day I spotted a 80 Quattro for sale on a Landrover sales lot. Wow!, result!, it was bought, and I kept it a few years and I loved it. The car itself, I think I remember was an '83 or '84 model same colour as the one in the ad. The interior was much nicer than the 80 sports, 2.1 5 cyl n/a engine, manual diff locks, ( I remember feeling really smug once when we were the only ones to not need pulling by Landrover from a muddy field after spectating at an 80s RAC Rally!). The headlight arrangement was different too, I think the same as the coupe Quattro.

Sound like you had the pre facelift 80 Quattro with the 5cyl engine.




Post facelift you could only get the 80 Quattro with the 4 cyl engine.




If you wanted 5 cyl you'd need the 90 Quattro distinguished by the big headlights, separate fog/indicator units and full width tail light surrounds (and slanted towards "lux" rather than "sport").

[s m]

thebirdman said:

Sometime mid 80s I was looking for a nice 80 sport as something a bit different to the Escort sports, sunbeam tii's etc that the rest of the gang all seemed to driving, untill one day I spotted a 80 Quattro for sale on a Landrover sales lot. Wow!, result!, it was bought, and I kept it a few years and I loved it. The car itself, I think I remember was an '83 or '84 model same colour as the one in the ad. The interior was much nicer than the 80 sports, 2.1 5 cyl n/a engine, manual diff locks, ( I remember feeling really smug once when we were the only ones to not need pulling by Landrover from a muddy field after spectating at an 80s RAC Rally!). The headlight arrangement was different too, I think the same as the coupe Quattro.

Before EVO, there was PERFORMANCE CAR magazine........and on the first issue cover was an Audi 80 quattro!

[Stuart M 1976]

Ahhh. This article has bought back fond memories of my Red 80 Sport C916 RNP. It was a lovely sunny day back in 1994 when I part exchanged my Fiat Uno 1.0 at John Mawer Garage near Bognor Regis. I was pretty impressed with the acceleration which was verging on scary after the delights of Fiat power. Mine used to make a pop, pop, pop sound when lifting off the throttle. Not sure if that was meant to happen, but it sounded good to me. Sure I have some old photos somewhere.

[thebirdman]

s m said:

Before EVO, there was PERFORMANCE CAR magazine........and on the first issue cover was an Audi 80 quattro!

Just like this. Happy days!

[CDP]

grumpy52 said:

Another one of my cars that I wish I still had , along with my Coupe , my 5 pot Santana , my 100 Quattro Avant . Who knew back then that they wouldn't go on for ever , they felt like they would .
My 80 sport certainly got attention and respect back then , just larey enough !

My brother had a 5 pot Santana. I remember the cold weather starting routine:

Take spark plugs out of engine
Place plugs on baking tray and roast in oven for five to ten minutes.
Refit spark plugs
Remove oil filler cap
Spray Easistart into the air intake.
Turn key
Hope for the best...

Also the way oil vapour would come out of the filler cap when the engine was hot seemed a little odd. It eventually put a rod through the side of the block.

Ringing round I found an Audi Coupe engine in a really dodgy scrapyard; complete with large dog on weak chain.

The normal crane driver had lost his licence so one of the other guys had a go at shifting the engine. We watched them tangle the crane in the electrical supply cable running round the fence before they stuck the dog in a car to borrow it's chain. Said chain was used to lift the engine.

One of the muppets stood underneath to guide it and I was just about to say "don't stand there" when he got out the way just as the chain broke. Had he moved half a second latter he would have been dead or at least a very bad headache.

Engine landed upside down crushing the rocker cover but we halved the price and took the risk. Quite a few bits (like mounts) needed transferring from the VW engine anyway.

Needless to say the Coupe's 2.2 litre moved the car a lot better than the knackered 1.9 and made a lovely noise in the process

[s m]

golfer19 said:

Had the CD version with the 5 cyl engine.
If i remember correctly the door handles broke very easily.

Never remember that problem with them ...but then again they were still fairly new cars when we tooled about in them

The thing that surprised me about the lead article were the handling comments re the 80 in general. The writer has quite different experiences to me or is maybe judging them against a more modern era of car than the 80's contemporaries

article said:

Handling? Do you really care? If you do, you're probably going to be underwhelmed, if not entirely disappointed. The 80 was criticised in its day for quite a bit of body roll - even for the time - and overly heavy steering. Still, you do get plenty of grip - in other words, it'll corner tidily, even if it doesn't feel all that happy about it.

Pretty much every review I've seen, echoes personal experience and says the opposite. The handling was pretty good and confidence inspiring but the 80 wasn't over-endowed with road-holding/grip

Reviewed against the Peugeot 505Gti and Carlton
Audi was the handling choice






Reviewed against the Alfa Romeo Alfetta and Renault 18 Turbo
Audi was pretty highly rated








Did well against the much loved BMW 318i and R18 Turbo - got the nod for handling



Here's my friend's old 5-pot CD back in the mid 80s






The handling was very tidy, certainly no monster of grip on the 185s, but very predictable and you could definitely adjust the line on the throttle

[TooMany2cvs]

<does double-take>
FWD car "handling choice" against two RWD cars...?

[s m]

TooMany2cvs said:

<does double-take>
FWD car "handling choice" against two RWD cars...?

Maybe the fact they were very light ( an 80 Sport is the same weight as a 106gti ) helped with making them feel so nimble? Who knows

Even the five pot CD was lighter than a modern Suzuki Swift Sport

Either way, they handled very well in my opinion at that time - I'm thinking of hot hatches like Peugeots and Golfs, sports saloons like BMW 323i, RS Escorts, Opels etc etc.


Trouble is when 35 year old cars are reviewed now on here I think there's no compensation in the review as to how baggy the 35 year old suspension might be or what the reviewer is comparing it to

[TooMany2cvs]

s m said:

TooMany2cvs said:

<does double-take>
FWD car "handling choice" against two RWD cars...?

Maybe the fact they were very light ( an 80 Sport is the same weight as a 106gti ) helped with making them feel so nimble? Who knows

Or maybe, as I keep reminding the RWD fanbois, it's only recently that RWD has started to involve very complex rear suspension that overcomes the inherent problems that made the average RWD car a far worse handler than the average contemporary FWD car for... ooh... six or seven decades or so?

s m said:

Even the five pot CD was lighter than a modern Suzuki Swift Sport

That applied to everything, though.

That 505's a similar weight to a current 208. The Carlton's similar - much lighter than a current Corsa.

[Nors]

TooMany2cvs said:

Or maybe, as I keep reminding the RWD fanbois, it's only recently that RWD has started to involve very complex rear suspension that overcomes the inherent problems that made the average RWD car a far worse handler than the average contemporary FWD car for... ooh... six or seven decades or so?

Spot on!

Remember my E21 323i, in anything but bone dry it was a death trap!!

[blade7]

TooMany2cvs said:

Or maybe, as I keep reminding the RWD fanbois, it's only recently that RWD has started to involve very complex rear suspension that overcomes the inherent problems that made the average RWD car a far worse handler than the average contemporary FWD car for... ooh... six or seven decades or so?

Hmmmn, I've had several rwd RS Escorts followed by several mk1 Golf GTi's. Whether you'd call them contemporary and average is up to you, but at the limit of my talent I always preferred over steer to under steer.

[TooMany2cvs]

blade7 said:

Hmmmn, I've had several rwd RS Escorts followed by several mk1 Golf GTi's. Whether you'd call them contemporary and average is up to you, but at the limit of my talent I always preferred over steer to under steer.

Now think about cooking Escorts to cooking Golfs.

[s m]

TooMany2cvs said:

s m said:

Even the five pot CD was lighter than a modern Suzuki Swift Sport

That applied to everything, though.

That 505's a similar weight to a current 208. The Carlton's similar - much lighter than a current Corsa.

Oh yes, undoubtedly - however those fwd Audi 80s were light even compared to the similar cars of the time.

The 505 and Carlton were around 150 to 200kg heavier than the 5-pot Audi 80CD

For example a 4-door 318i was around 1100kg, an MG Montego was 1050kg, a Cavalier SRi was around 1050kg

An 80 Sport came at about 980kg

Edited by s m on Tuesday 20th February 11:03

[TooMany2cvs]

s m said:

Oh yes, undoubtedly - however those fwd Audi 80s were light even compared to the similar cars of the time.

The 505 and Carlton were around 150 to 200kg heavier than the 5-pot Audi 80CD

For example a 4-door 318i was around 1100kg, an MG Montego was 1050kg, a Cavalier SRi was around 1050kg

An 80 Sport came at about 980kg

Yes, the 3/Monte/Cav are probably more natural 80 rivals than the 505/Carlton. They're more 100 rivals, at least in terms of size. I guess the pricing is what pushed them up... Some things don't change.

[blade7]

TooMany2cvs said:

blade7 said:

Hmmmn, I've had several rwd RS Escorts followed by several mk1 Golf GTi's. Whether you'd call them contemporary and average is up to you, but at the limit of my talent I always preferred over steer to under steer.

Now think about cooking Escorts to cooking Golfs.

Aren't they a watered down version of the same thing?

[TooMany2cvs]

blade7 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

blade7 said:

Hmmmn, I've had several rwd RS Escorts followed by several mk1 Golf GTi's. Whether you'd call them contemporary and average is up to you, but at the limit of my talent I always preferred over steer to under steer.

Now think about cooking Escorts to cooking Golfs.

Aren't they a watered down version of the same thing?

I don't know enough about Scrotefettling, but assumed the RSs did something a bit less low-tech than a pair of cart springs, a live axle and crossplies.