1991 Audi 200 20v Quattro| Retro Review

Wow! Audi was just putting the final touches on the past before stunning us all with the A4.
Show 1010 | Originally Recorded 11-29-1990
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[@danmccarthy4700]

Those cross-lace BBS remain my favorite wheel design.

[@Jackmerius_Tacktheretrix]

Definitely timeless!

[@rockolutheran]

IKR. especially the slightly smaller size with the chunky tyres. that style needs a comeback

[@marcusjosefsson4998]

Gorgeous! But such a hassle to clean... Bring your toothbrush.

[@will7its]

Minilights for me......

[@klwthe3rd]

Absolutely. They were NOT standard even on the 200 model. You had to pay extra to get them and i believe they were a dealer installed option.

[@jaxandmore440]

I've always loved the mid-80s to mid 90s Audi designs. So handsome. The build quality was vault-like too.

[@wes.9353]

"Vault-like" is a good descriptor, I like that. It really does feel like opening a safe when I swing the door of my 92.

[@kenxiong6830]

A golden era for the German automakers

[@mediocreman2]

Especially the '90s. They were the dark horse but those of us that have owned one know how amazing they are.

[@kenxiong6830]

@@mediocreman2 I have to agree. German cars nowadays are made for mall goers

[@wes.9353]

@@mediocreman2 I never fully understood the general allure to older German sedans until I found a great deal on a relatively weird Audi. 1992 Audi 100 CS Quattro, one of only 22 built that year. I can't pass up something unique. After driving on the highway, rowing the gears, feeling the leather and wood trim, I get it now. They still have an air of luxury that I don't really feel in the new expensive stuff now.

[@atgn-0088]

I love this walk down memory lane. Used to watch this show on PBS when I was a little kid, didn't understand 98% of what John was saying but still liked to see the cars inside and out.

[@ImJustJoshingYa]

My youth every Saturday morning 😂

[@JDMHaze]

@@ImJustJoshingYa saturday mornings had the BEST car show lineup

[@blairwilliams136]

I used to watch it as a kid on Sunday mornings on PBS in Canada , the theme music the beginning brings back a flood of wonderful memories.

[@Porsche996driver]

2.2L and 220hp with AWD in 1990. The 5 cylinder almost feels like a straight 6. Funny Audi never suffered in Germany, that was a US phenomena.

[@marcusjosefsson4998]

That was mostly thanks to CBS 60 Minutes awfully biased hit on Audi about the claimed "unintended acceleration" crap.

[@Bartonovich52]

Audi had terrible reliability and depreciation with none of the prestige of BMW or Mercedes.

[@wolfsburvviann]

@@Bartonovich52 You're saying as if BMW and Mercedes never depreciates.

[@mediocreman2]

60 Minutes was a very popular show back then, and this is pre-internet days so people just bought into the staged TV show. As powerful as Mercedes was in the USA back then, some have speculated that they might have 'helped' 60 Minutes ruin Audi's reputation. Remember, this is the same time Mercedes single handedly got the government to ban imported cars that weren't 25 years old.

[@marcusjosefsson4998]

Considering the staggering number of Audis in Europe compared to the U.S. you'd think at least a couple of incidents would have happened there. But not a single case of "unintended acceleration" was ever reported in Europe.

[@matthewlockhart3226]

A friends dad had a 5000 back in the mid 80's. My buddy and I were able to take out fairly often. I was a huge car nut back then (still am) and I was in love driving that Audi! For a 17 year old driving a beat up Datsun, the 5000 was heaven!

[@lancairw867]

Had similar experience. My friends mom had one. This car made me become a German car fan till this day.

[@Cre8Lounge]

I saw one on the school bus and pointed it out to the boy next to me and he thought it was a Taurus!

[@MercOne]

I just loved this car back in the day. The design was everything inside and out.

[@JDMHaze]

60-0 in 112 ft!!!! BACK THENN??!! That was definitely super car territory I'm surprised Jon skipped right over that... such a humble man lol

[@NJRoadfan]

Yeah, from those funky inside out "UFO" brakes.

[@20vtechnik]

I’ve had 3 (still have one) of these. 2 sedans and an avant. All fantastic. The avant in particular has, an estimated, 400 to 500 thousand miles (odometer quit at 276k, 2 decades ago…classic 200 gauge cluster..).The engine and trans still strong as ever. In my sedan I consistently ran mid 6s in stock form with the exception of a custom cat back exhaust and air filter. Plenty of options for substantial power gains in the inline 5 too. With some straight forward modifications these 200s can be quite brutal. Thanks for posting the video. Great to see this piece of history.

[@anibalbabilonia1867]

Man those Audis where so desirable back in the day! Beautiful cars indeed!

[@tresgriffin8242]

Oh, now he's complaining about the *placement* of the oil pressure gauge. 🤣🤣🤣

[@nothanksguy]

I noticed that too😂 like damn dude lets see ur ideal interior, 10 pod gages on the cowl?

[@danmccarthy4700]

LMFAO!

[@frikdt]

There is just no satisfying some folk, lol.

[@mediocreman2]

I love him, but he is obsessed with oil pressure gauges.

[@arieljones4595]

@@mediocreman2 And volt meters!

[@compu85]

I came close to buying one of these... I probably should have. I still miss my 5000 Quattro.

[@DUNEATV]

These retro reviews are gold! 👍🏻

[@michaelroberti247]

Funny how his least favorite part of the interior is one of my favorite parts of my 1987 5000 quattro. I LOVE rowing through the long throw, notchy gearbox. It’s like fiddling with a great big wizard staff with its polished wood shift knob that makes you feel every gear click right into place without a doubt of what gear you’re in. Just mechanical goodness👌🏼

[@Christian-rj2yc]

I had first a sedan and then when my twins were born we upgraded to an Avant. Both these were Cayenne red metallic and beatiful! The interior design still feels fresh today many years later.

[@volkstouareg5620]

Great color!

[@themaritimegirl]

Neat seeing John on the tarmac performing measurement duty during the braking tests.

[@1vw4me]

LOL! That was NOT John.

[@SataniaMcDowel]

These old Audi styles never go out of style

[@alfamonk]

The amount of squat and dive is quite impressive

[@jamesharroun1568]

I loved this period of 5000 to 100/200 transition!

[@narinehakobyan2631]

You mean return, as 200 became 5000 in and only english north america, in early 80s.

[@thomasdollard7971]

And it still looks good today.

[@senyashchukin391]

I had one in pearl years ago. It supposedly belonged to Ned Ritchie, the Intended Acceleration guy. When I got it the engine was missing because the guy bought it for the engine to swap into his UR quattro. I had an engine and ecu from the junk yard. It made about 280hp with the chipped ecu and felt like a rocket. I had it at 160mph on i-84. It basically had a straight pipe so the combination of turbo noise, 5 cylinder, and drone, sounded like a glorious symphony. Driving at night in the big black leather sport seats with the red dial gauges felt like I was in some kind of German space ship. Im glad Audi didn't give up on the US market because the cars they make today are amazing.

[@Vazin]

They did it! They uploaded the review I've waited the longest for! The old 200 20V is still the best proportioned and designed car Audi made. What a looker! But how they managed to launch it 1 second slower to 62 than the claimed time seems weird.

[@alexlevy322]

the driver.... nuff said..

[@amdisthebest]

I love my 91 200 20v.

[@Planetary13]

Ya yours is dope! I still have my C4 S6. Long live the old turbo 5 quattros!

[@klwthe3rd]

Are you the original owner?

[@aronbennett4760]

I absolutely love my 200 20VT... I'm glad they made this video.

[@mrtyreus0]

I'll take one in the Avant body style please. Absolutely beautiful and timeless car.

[@bobjames8936]

I had this car between 2013 and 2015. Let me just tell you these things are fast as hell from the jump no joke

[@samodio586]

5 sp and clutch feel was so beautiful

[@COYGunners]

Funny how that interior lines and even some buttons remained in VW’s models well after mid 2000’s

[@thewiseguy3529]

Can you say rip off

[@compu85]

@@thewiseguy3529 Well, they are the same company.

[@thewiseguy3529]

@@compu85 Yea it's been like that since their inception. VAG sucks! Absolutely junk!!!!! Just run far away from them, if you know what's good for you.

[@LMacNeill]

$42,400 in 1991 is the equivalent of a bit over $87,000 today! So you still essentially pay about the same for a Quattro sedan today, give or take a couple thousand, but get a LOT more technology.

[@weedmastersr]

a LOT more useless crap.

[@weedmastersr]

@Liberal Patriot couldn't care if its 1000 hp in a numb and anesthetized modern car.

[@kenchristensen2861]

I have waited for this video for years even without knowin if it was a thing! Thanks for uploading this video!! 😍😍😍

[@TheRealSmithFamily]

My parents bought a new ‘84 5000 for my mom and it was nice, but we had stupid issues with it and it was gone in a couple of years. I remember thinking it was so cool that it has headphone jacks on the rear parcel shelf that riders could plug their headphones into.

[@hausmeisterengineering5952]

thats really cool. i cant think of other cars that have that feature

[@marcusjosefsson4998]

@@hausmeisterengineering5952 My dad's '91 Volvo 940 GLT wagon had that. Obviously not in the parcel shelf since it didn't have one, but in the back seat.

[@davidaubin3902]

4:17 John: BUT WE STILL WISH FOR A TILT WHEEL! LOL

[@joeseeking3572]

We had a succession of these, starting with the original 5000CS quattro, this one, and finally a V8. Even with the bump in hp, I always felt this one was a bit of a slug, and it bogged when shifting into 2nd and (less) 3rd. The interior was attractive, fitted above its price - and yet I could never find the right seat/wheel position. All in all, it was the car that could have been. The V8 on the other hand, even though an auto, was the car that lived up to its promise. However, at 50k+/- new it wasn't a bargain. What was, later, was a late 90s A6 4.2. That was a car. (Although I have fond memories of the last Audi, a 2004 A6 2.7t 6 speed as well)

[@jonhymarquez8166]

BBS wheels look amazing on almost every car

[@nighthawk0077]

Lol this car looks exactly like how I used to draw cars as a kid.

[@smartkid1201]

🤣🤣🤣

[@flashindapan7965]

And yet at the time it was still considered futuristic looking with composite headlights and flush mount glass regardless of all the 90° right angles.

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

If you could draw a car as handsome as this, you were a wonder kid.

[@mhl4573]

😂😂 good call

[@MrCarGuy]

@@kamrankhan-lj1ng Yeah, it's nonsense. These were some of the classiest designs ever penned

[@ryonbrand7885]

I have one of these, a gray one. I love that car, so nice to drive, a thing not mentioned here are the heated rear seats, which I only discovered after having a full car load of passengers, the front passenger heated seat was on, and the rear seats got very warm too, although they seem to have an occupancy detection system that triggers them when the front passenger heated seat is on and someone is sitting in the back. I’m guessing it wasn’t mentioned because there’s no switch or dial to control them, and they seem to only work when someone is sitting in the back. I guess I should’ve figured it out, considering the wires going to the underside of the rear seat that I discovered when I put a new battery in it, but I thought I was going crazy because rear heated seats weren’t mentioned in the brochure.

[@trucavalier]

I had a 1989 5000cs awesome highway car. Very fast for 1995 when I bought it at an auction for $2800. People were scared of the unitended excelleration so they were giving them away FTW!

[@bowie2004]

Love the 5 cylinder engines

[@applepoop10]

The Acura Vigor had a 5 cylinder engine,.

[@777jones]

Volvo built a ton of 5 cyl engines. That motor is legendary also.

[@hockeymann88]

I kind of miss the giant brake lights that many German cars had at the time.

[@baoquoc3710]

CBS: Aired the most disgraced episode that almost sank Audi PBS: Looking at the Audi's best characteristics of a car Take your side.

[@PTAldridge]

Nice classic interior

[@zillsburyy1]

the car that Ferris's dad had

[@klwthe3rd]

HIs was a base 5000s if i'm not mistaken.

[@Arnold_X3]

They were shooting in 60p in 1991!

[@LearnAboutFlow]

Wait, wait, did John say all the controls fall right at hand when you get inside? Ah, for those days long gone when cars weren't computers you needed a degree to operate.

[@Tuppoo94]

0:45 Whoa, 220 valves? A 55-cylinder Audi?

[@1vw4me]

I caught that too!! He meant to say 220 HP.

[@thatracinglife]

200 20v quattro..... Literally the name of the car. lol

[@johnhenrymcmahon6878]

I love this classically beautiful, conservatively upscale, vault -like Audi 200, man. And my tubesocked big bro is featured in this review, so aweosme all around ;) JV Johnny

[@vwestlife]

1010 Wins!

[@projectnewwave6859]

Yoo it's vwestlife the legend!!

[@projectnewwave6859]

You watch old motorweek vids, cool :D

[@robertsupercalifragilistic7404]

Loved this car, I had one. The interior was amazing

[@bluestonemetallic7]

….wow, over $42K in 1991. Which makes today’s vehicles affordable and good value in general.

[@AnontheGOAT]

Ya no kidding. That’s the equivalent of $85k today. Sad part is that wages haven’t kept up with inflation. 😞

[@Bjeezy92]

Worth every penny

[@davebasey9863]

Interest rate was around 13% 1991

[@weedmastersr]

no, it doesn't.

[@mediocreman2]

It has more to do with the value of the dollar versus other countries. Japanese luxury cars at this time were also becoming very expensive.

[@WhateverItTakesLIVE]

now thats a real CAR!!!

[@johnnydodge]

Janie's got a gun Aerosmith

[@GP1138]

Yes! I heard that too!

[@GALVIN_OFFICAL]

Great song in great car

[@rahimi4762]

I used to want one of these back in the 90s

[@shalahrahim4000]

Audi is absolutely 💯 KING'S

[@scottmitchell4311]

The barometer isn't in the ideal position .....never fail to find mw retro review and their obsession with gauges and lift over hillarious!

[@mikeyerke3920]

Hey, maybe he has a bad back. lol

[@nitroitis]

Oh how I miss my 200 TQ 20V!

[@johnmpifer]

Great-looking car, interesting powertrain, and the manual shifter is a plus, but get ready for some high maintenance costs!

[@davidg4026]

John said the interior of the Audi wasn't as nice as the Mercedes... I don't know what he was smoking, because the Audi's of the '80s and '90s had far better designed interiors than literally any other car on the market!! All Mercedes of that era had very dated and dull interiors that looked like they were designed by Jaguar in the '70s.

[@mediocreman2]

Exactly. Mercedes hadn't changed their interiors in 20 years. It wasn't until the new S class came out this same time that things looked different. But they were still behind.

[@bobd9868]

I agree and I've owned both ('90 300E and '90 200 quattro). The interior on the Audi was 100x better. The MB was boring and the steering wheel was way too big it looked stupid.

[@cowboybiff6628]

God, I had a 200 20v Avant in black with black interior and I have never regretted something as much as i regret selling that car.

[@d-d-i]

Now you couldn't complain about the missing oil pressure and voltage gauges haha. Been watching these videos in recent days and it definitely has been wondered me that why they always complained about the lack of those in some cars?

[@LoneWolf-dv7ul]

My very first car was an Audi 100LS. I bought it off of an insurance agent in Va. Beach. I remember it had inboard rotors???

[@mirotvorez1134]

Strange how they did not like the shifter. I love the shifter in the 200 and 5000, to me it is the best shifter I ever used. I really do not like the shifters from japanese manufactures of that era, way too wague and light.

[@doubleyewgee]

I agree. I had that same shifter for over 200,000 miles in my Coupe GT. Still my favorite car that I’ve ever owned.

[@mikeyerke3920]

I can’t remember the last time I saw one of these on the road. I’m pretty sure they’re extinct. lol

[@mediocreman2]

There weren't many sold in relation to other cars, thanks to 60Minutes, so you wouldn't have seen that many back in 1991 either.

[@mikeyerke3920]

@@mediocreman2 My friend had one. It had more miles on it going up and down on the lift than it did going straight down the road. Absolute junk.

[@wallacegrommet9343]

That 2.2 engine normally aspirated in the VW Quantum Syncro made 118 hp.

[@brainards11]

Still a great looking car!!!

[@JDMHaze]

I never cared for the styling, it looked too generic for my taste

[@roddydykes7053]

1:26 love how they’re revving the engine before it’s even fully turned over

[@Reefer-Rampage69]

Oh god 😂

[@youtoobe169]

They did that in pretty much all their older videos. Cringeworthy!

[@joshgrant7359]

I just wanna know the Vin for the t-red example used in this video. Not many were made with that exact color combo, and I have one!

[@klwthe3rd]

How do you know that many Red Audi 200 Turbo Quattros werent made in that color combination? Red was a popular color on these sports cars. I remember seeing them.

[@liebo76]

Easy thumbs up for a manual sedan.

[@douglasb.1203]

Fantastic design.

[@mediocreman2]

I love Motorweek, but did you ever consider your test driver didn't know how to launch or shift the car? Car magazines at the time got much better acceleration figures.

[@Mitchell527]

I still saw one on the road yesterday.

[@julianafurtado432]

60-0 in only 112ft? ..in 1991. Impressive

[@vwsaiphone]

I have a 1997 Audi cabriolet I love it

[@dakavanagh]

I owned one of these. < 1000 sedans in the US. (and even fewer wagons)

[@sannissansanjuan5074]

From 1990 It would have been 7 Years for AUDI make a Big Come Back in 1997

[@Mikes84Corvette]

I can't think of a situation where you would want to turn off anti-lock brakes.

[@wanderinggentile]

A loose surface will wedge under the tires and stop the car faster than ABS, per Audi's UK advertising in the 1980s.

[@Mikes84Corvette]

@@wanderinggentile Interesting. So in a situation like that you would be expected to brake, steer AND look for the button to turn off the ABS? Wow.

[@Ty4ons]

Various low grip situations, rally drivers iirc need to turn it off. I drove on snow once with one summer tire (due to a puncture) and braking distance was much longer since the one summer tire locked up and triggered ABS to cut braking for all tires, had I been able to turn it off I could’ve used all the grip from the other three winter tires at the cost of stability. It should be the same if you’ve got ice on one side and brake where ABS will keep the car going straight, but no ABS will cut the distance by giving more braking force to the tires with grip.

[@Ty4ons]

This might not be applicable here since I’m not sure if EBD was common back in 1991. If you’ve experienced ABS operation you’ll notice it’s quite rough and that can work against you when you need fine control. I can imagine it being a thing to turn off if you’re going down an icy driveway and not something you mess with while driving. Same as traction control when you’re climbing a slippery hill.

[@imnotusingmyrealname4566]

@@Mikes84Corvette It's only really for off-roading where a small hill of sand or dirt builds up in front of the wheels. You'd turn off ABS when you go off-road and then drive slowly. The G-Class had that feature ages ago. I have no idea why a car would need that.

[@Steve-lb2gm]

Great looking car.

[@fordmavericksosx3569]

Handsome car!

[@seinsmeld13]

Nice lid Ben!!!!!

[@youtoobe169]

I had one of these. Super fun car to drive, but wasn't very reliable.

[@Office97]

whys that?

[@youtoobe169]

@@Office97 Wow, it was years ago but I remember there was an issue with the fuse box that made the car cut out while driving. A bunch of other stuff I don't remember too.

[@klwthe3rd]

@@youtoobe169 You are correct. Audi's didn't have the best electrical systems back then compared to the American cars. I had an Audi 4000s and it had tons of electrical problems. I still loved it but it's electrics were terrible.

[@youtoobe169]

@@klwthe3rd It's always interesting to see someone reply to a comment I made years ago :)

[@SlaughterDog]

I’ve always loved clean design but 3:10 you have buttons for: rear defrost | fog lamp | anti lock | heated seat Wait what? Who the hell grouped these? That’s so not good.

[@PhillyDee215]

Throwback😎

[@henryovalles1163]

Yee oil pressure gauge......... but cant see it 🤣

[@GeeEm1313]

Top of the line. Vroom.

[@kingkat8080]

Nice ring and cowboy boots, no driving gloves though :( .

[@emeyer6963]

Looked like it was going to pop a wheelie when he took off

[@gulfstream7235]

I prefer the dash and interior of that car to a present day Audi...

[@compu85]

This car would have had the UFO brakes. You can see the rotor a bit in the wheel shot.

[@Audiohio]

... at 3:29

[@JDMHaze]

3:27

[@vitaliyavt6397]

Audi 200 the best sedan 80h! Super fast speed sedan!

[@twainjones]

AWESOME!!!

[@user-fq3uh7bt1t]

Its nice to see 75-80 Dragway in maintained condition back then. It's an abondoned mess now.

[@RaoulDuke-q5m]

R. I. P. Hartman Luggage

[@YOCOSMINMAX16]

Best car show.

[@vassa1972]

Love the oldies LoL

[@jamesrobinson9176]

Why upload at 60fps?

[@vwestlife]

Because NTSC video is 60 interlaced fields per second (well, 59.94 to be exact). With the correct deinterlacing technique, you can turn it into 60 frames per second.

[@mustafaunal4722]

Good car. I like it.

[@AllboroLCD]

Did these quattro's ever come with a diesel motor in the US? Have any AWD diesel Audi ever get sold here in America?

[@Shane-zx4ps]

2.2 5 cylinder turbo diesels in Europe..

[@mediocreman2]

We did get a diesel Audi, but I don't think it came in AWD. But you can get some more modern ones with AWD.

[@AllboroLCD]

@@mediocreman2 I want a euro diesel built in the 80's-90's that shares the same attitude on dying as the Terminator. Then I wanna rig it up to burn veggie oil and drive x-country paying almost nothing for fuel : D

[@GoldPhish]

We got the 3.0 tdi engines for the q5,q7, and a8 and we also got a a3 tdi

[@klwthe3rd]

We never got a diesel in the 1984-1993 Audi 5000/100/200 models. The earlier 5000s from 1983 and older had a diesel option.

[@mustafaunal4722]

Good car. I liked.

[@TimJoseph08031990]

From a faraway distance, it does look like a Lincoln Continental around the same year, especially the rims.

[@TemperTemper...]

I had an 86 Quattro that was a really nice car until it got older..Then it got expensive.

[@brettcannon74]

The Germans can do everything right!

[@kamrankhan-lj1ng]

Almost!

[@Brucebendavis]

Cool audi