Audi Sport Quattro | PH Heroes | PistonHeads

Automotive heroes aren't always easy to quantify. There are many for some. Few for others. But the short-wheelbase, Group B homologated Sport Quattro surely qualifies for a place on the universal shortlist.
What must the car have seemed like in 1985? A revolution is the short answer. What does it feel like almost four decades later, when virtually every other hot hatch is all-wheel drive and hugely powerful? We sent John to Wales to find out...
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[@alanbooth7280]

I’m 52 now, this car was the one that got me in To cars. I lusted after one of these when I was about 16 or 17. I’m a proper petrol head now

[@matthewhoey3058]

hah, well here i am, 17 years old, lusting over one once more. how its legacy continues xD

[@Pazaluz]

I fell in love with this car when I was 18. I'm 30 now, hoping I ever get the chance to drive one of these beautiful machines :D

[@grahamsmith5647]

Such an iconic car from the 80s… spawning a plethora of 4wd cars that we all have today… Total class & so cool… my dream car…😎😎

[@pme166]

I remember the sport quattro and long wheel based quattro's competing in the states in the 80's. I assisted (stage guards basically) on several road rally's like the POR (Press On Regardless) in Michigan where the sport quattro and long based quattro would come roaring by in the middle of the night. Their big triangular light package was distinctive at night and that unique 5 cylinder turbo sound was easy to pick up a long way off in the forest. They were hard to get good pictures at night for us because by the time the route was cleared and we could leave our assigned post, most of the cars were with mechanics or parked for the night. Fun memories from the early to mid 80's.

[@leontrainsandquattros275]

i just love that car. my dream car. thankyou leon.

[@timallsopp8656]

I remember Group B very well. Far more exciting than F1 in the day… and it was even more exciting to see these cars perform at the special stage in Sutton Park, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham.

[@FootToPedal]

Fantastic video this! Beautifully shot and presented too - no doubt this is one of the true icons of the 80's, got to love a turbocharged inline 5!

[@hristohristov8787]

If I say that this is a dream car will be an understatement! This is a legendary car done by engineering freedom and purely focused on rallying. To drive one of these even just for reviewing it must be an honour

[@pistonburner6448]

You're totally incorrect about everything you just wrote. The Audi Quattro was such a horribly unsuccessful car and a total embarrassment because it wasn't done my engineering freedom nor purely focused on rallying. It as some old volkswagen parts thrown together in the word possible way with the engine FAR ahead of the front axle tight up against the front bumper, and then the rest of the car itself was junk too as Audi just wasn't able to make good cars. They couldn't even beat 2WD cars in rallying except after many years of losing to 2WD cars, and they never ever beat a 4WD competitor in a single rally (except one rally which in which they cheated), were immediately easily beaten in the very first rally where any competitor came in with a novice 4WD car, despite Audi having so many years to gain experience with 4WD and perfect their car.

[@nickcook7408]

Often, when pioneering a new application for a new technology, mistakes are made. Mistakes are learned from. Improvement happens with time and progressive iterations. It’s called a learning curve.

[@user-pq3cc2ef4g]

Awesome machine ❤

[@markcarter9476]

"I'am not prince Andrew" Had me in stitches.

[@Tracertme]

What that left as with was todays C7 RS6 models… unbelievably fast and rock solid engineering

[@radioflyer985]

I bought the regular Urquattro back in the early 90's but always wanted the sport. Amazingly, one came up for sale in California for $100K in the late 90's. Unfortunately, that price was waaay out of my league but the astonishing thing is he was selling 1 of the 2 he owned...Sheesh!!

[@enwins]

I am working on a DVD about Group B cars. At 52 I was 16 when Group B was banned and rallying has never been the same since. The same reverence came across in your video and I hope mine will reach out to fellow fans of these cars

[@dgriffen1]

I have seriously loved this car since i was a kid. Its in my eyes just a beautiful thing. I don't care that others have called it boxy and I still remember arguing that to me it was better than an F40. It has a grace to it. Its not an out there car and never wanted to be, It always knew what it was and it didn't have to yell or scream about it. Looking at the brochure, it reads like a modern car. It was so far ahead of its time, and yet it perfectly suited its time and still to this day does. Ill never own one, ill never drive one and maybe thats they way it has to be, but damn im glad it exists..

[@danielsantiago8146]

I'd take this Audi over the f40 all day. It's an everyday sport car. You'd have more fun with it. Just think , you wake up and you know your going to take her out for a drive. 🤙🙌

[@dgriffen1]

@@danielsantiago8146 couldnt agree more!

[@NeoNeko99]

Simply epic 😍

[@benlowden5799]

That was superb thanks John and Harry, really enjoyed it!

[@randygodfrey7809]

Fantastic! Loved your review!

[@kenquattro6562]

I remember being at a car meet back in 1987 at Aintree Racecourse local to me in Liverpool. I arrived with my mate and his father in his father's then brand new Zermatt silver E Reg. Audi 100. Straight away we spotted two (of the six UK reg. cars) parked up in the paddock area. Both on C Reg. consecutive plates, one Tornado red and one in Malachite green.On the track was a W Reg. quattro in Helios blue. A day I will not forget.

[@flat6croc]

At last, PH is producing high quality content. It's taken aeons, but better late than never. Not sure where Howell has sprung from as I don't follow the automotive media as closely as once I did, but it's pretty clear he is one of the best auto hacks of the moment. He's up there with Prior on Autocar in terms of having a knack for presenting and also being capable of proper analysis. You also get the feeling with this guy and Prior that they aren't slaves to the narrative, nor are they overly reverential to icons or keen to score points by giving something a kicking. Nicely judged balance between giving an objective overview while adding the right amount of objective experience.

[@carlosmagnus717]

Those images of Stig Blomqvist in San Remo 84 on an asphalt stretch with dirt tires and suspension, sliding at the exit of a corner with a spectator throwing his hands to his head remind me that that rally was easily won by Vatanen's Peugeot who he won 31 of the 56 special stages, for Rohrl's 7 and Blomqvist's 3. Previously in Finland, Mikkola's Audi wasn't able to beat Vatanen's Peugeot, the same as in the RAC at the end of the year. The following year in Monte Carlo the same thing, Vatanen beating Rohrl overcoming an 8-minute penalty. In Sweden again, with Blomqvist at his doorstep. In Portugal Salonen took over from Vatanen and started his winning streak, then Acropolis, then New Zealand, then Argentina, then Finland again. Conclusion Audi wasn't competitive because the obsession of brand directors with which their cars had to be like those of the series meant that they were at a disadvantage with the "prototypes" of those allowed by the Gr. B regulations among the which was the Peugeot and the Lancia and Ford later, with the engine placed in a central rear position with a better weight distribution and a much more effective dynamic behavior.

[@Fouskotinis]

Awesome review m8, keep them coming!

[@Metal05]

I owned 2 10 valve UR quattro’s back in the 90’s. So wish I’d kept one of them. But hey, I now own an A6 C7 quattro Avant.

[@moereefer]

I think they should bring back group B by today’s standards the cars are much safer! I wish they do I wish I had that car or any homolog-ion car. Great video thanks 👍🏻

[@Ztandard32]

Awesome car.

[@HedgeCCL]

What a superb video. I was passenger'd in one in the early 90's by a good friend of mine round Brands (GP circuit). My abiding memory of it was the grip it had. It sinks & squats into corners & just catapults you through/ out of them. If you keep the turbo spinning, it's insanely quick. We lapped literally everyone that day. Good times.

[@LastOfGamers]

Legendary car

[@zaidm4590]

PistonHeads under-rated 😩

[@klomax7750]

A very enjoyable film about my ultimate car. I remember when the quattro first appeared and its impact on rallying which then developed into the sport quattro. John's interest and enthusiasm for all this is apparent. Where in Wales was this filmed?

[@baldyslapnut.]

The Blorenge

[@pistonburner6448]

The Audi Quattro couldn't even win against a 2WD Ford Escort RS1800 or a Talbot Sunbeam (= Chrysler Sunbeam) in 1981's drivers' championship, and came in fifth in the constructor's championship behind Talbot, Datsun, Ford and Opel. The Ford Escort was a privateer entry too, not even a factory team. Both the Ford and Talbot had a naturally aspirated 4-cylinder engine (2.0 for Ford and 2.1 for Talbot) with about 250 hp and had 2WD. Audi had a works entry car with a turbocharged 2.1 litre 5 cylinder engine with at least 300 horsepower, probably double the torque of the Ford, and AWD and they still came in 3rd in the drivers' and 5th in the constructors' championships!! And the Audi marketing machine has for decades now spewed marketing saying that the Quattro was an immediate success!! Audi, with their massive budget and AWD with turbo power lost the driver's championship to Walter Röhrl driving a 2WD Opel Ascona in 1982. Audi lost to the 2WD Lancia in the manufacturers' championship in 1983. 1984 was the only year that the massive-budget Audi Quattro AWD car won both championships against an all-2WD field. Already in the end of 1984 when Peugeot brought in their 4WD 205, in the very first rally they entered the Audis had no chance and the Peugeot beat the Audis. In the first race Audi had against a 4WD competitor they immediately lost. The first race. Audi never won against a 4wd car ever, except in one very questionable case, the 1985 Rallye Sanremo, which if someone wants I can give more info about. Then in the full 1985 season Audi had no chance and Peugeot took both championship titles, and Audi was never a title contender again. When it comes to titles, Audi is probably one of the least successful factory entries in World Rally history...despite competing for 4 years with 4WD against a field of 2WD cars! Only Opel I guess can be called less successful, but then again they had tough competition and a small budget, not sure how hard Opel ever pushed for rally success. In contrast to Audi there are so many manufacturers who didn't have a massive budget advantage and the advantage of 4WD vs. 2WD who won far more titles like: Fiat, Ford, Lancia, Peugeot, Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Citroen... So many with far more success against very equal and tough competition.

[@sandroaldibrandi9791]

Test VW Corrado VR6 VSR full Recaro also. Super unicorn car

[@danielsantiago8146]

It has a beautiful aggressive look to it.

[@JerGol]

I'd say that the wording for the ABS switch is closer to 'On' ABS 'Off' in an English car but the German words would be more closely translated as in and out.

[@R8andGT3Fan]

Waiting for more PH Heroes! Lovely video of an amazing car!

[@pistonburner6448]

Amazing? One of the biggest embarrassments and most unsuccessful factory entries in rally history. And the car itself was absolute junk, horrible to drive, unreliable, basically every single negative attribute one can attach to a car except for how it sounded.

[@R8andGT3Fan]

@@pistonburner6448 Everything is gonna be OK, man. You can relax and stop replying every comment here... 😊👍🏾

[@pistonburner6448]

@@R8andGT3Fan Thanks for the dishonest and spineless person's version of capitulating, and thanks for confirming that I'm right by not even trying to dispute it. You clearly have nothing of value to contribute, so no wonder you only left one unintelligent, empty fanboy comment. You can go back to chavving it up on PH now.

[@pigeonpoo1823]

So, this thing is 'naff all' or 'ludicrously quick'. Isn't that just 21c speak for eco or sport mode?

[@DragonAssassin77]

Love it💖🤩

[@markscenic8331]

Good presenter

[@MOSSFEEN]

£500K where did you get that Price from theres a few for sale in Europe at the moment from 175000 upwards

[@Mike-1000]

*One of my heroes too ..... and I don't mean the presenter :)*

[@clownworld-honk410]

He could open the windows! There is something he can do about the heat

[@kristofevo]

🤣 I know! What does he think we all did, before AC? One of my Evo’s had no AC, like you said, i just lower the front windows, with my wind up/down handles! No fancy electric windows here!

[@clownworld-honk410]

@@kristofevo 😁. I'm guessing he meant he couldn't film with the windows down! These car journalists are used to modern cars hermitically sealed from the outside

[@kristofevo]

Clown World - Honk! Ah, yes, thats possibly what he meant!

[@mosca3289]

Nice film. Great car from great days.

[@JerGol]

He wanted to but was not allowed to open the windows and said as much in the PH article he wrote about filming for this car.

[@nexusdog]

What's a modern spiritual successor to this amazing car?

[@andywright1634]

No, people died because they were f-ing stupid where they stood. I'm amazed more didn't die back in group b era.

[@rhannay39]

Michelle Mouton said the only way she could drive in Portugal was to think of the people lining the roads as trees.

[@alexander1485]

This car does NOT have 4WD, it has AWD. 4WD is a totally different system (think 4x4), basically RWD until its activated and turned on, hi or lo and power goes to each axle independently.

[@steverogers7473]

Not quite correct. It has a torsen diff and is mechanical 4wd which cannot send less than 25% forwards or backwards... 👍

[@andyjohnson4767]

Fantastic cars, some of your facts are incorrect however, Henri did not plunge down a mountain for example, he went off the road and the car burst into flames killing both the driver and co driver, how Lancia we’re not charged is still a mystery

[@boogboog8097]

They will eventually legislate these off the road entirely, first cities next greater urban areas like we see in Londonistan eventually everywhere, its how politicians do things inch by creeping inch.

[@Ole.Ingmar_Hvrensson]

that’s the only good looking Car that Audi ever made

[@pistonburner6448]

Audi Quattro, one of the worst cars and most embarrassing failures in the history of motorsport: One of the only manufacturer teams in history to only get the manufacturer's and drivers' title one time, and that was after trying for 4 years (first losing to Opel Ascona etc.!! Haha!), with a budget many times higher than anyone else, and WITH THE ADVANTAGE OF 4WD !! I mean what kind of a works team can fail to get the rally double title all that time with 4wd vs. everyone else having only 2wd!!? Then even though Audi had about 5 years to develop their 4wd rally car IMMEDIATELY when competitors came to rallying with a 4wd car Audi had no chance whatsoever and never won a rally again...never ever won against a 4WD competitor...except for one rally, which if you read the background of you'll understand why it's quite an outlier (horrendous cheating just to get that one win for the books). Audi Quattro: - Can't win with 4wd against 2wd cars without many times the budget until after 4 years of trying - Can't win with 4wd against 4wd cars period. With equal 4wd equipment had absolutely no chance at all and left with their tail between their legs. Meanwhile there are a LONG list of manufacturers who have won more double titles than Audi has...without any advantage of 4wd vs. 2wd like Audi had. And not having the massive budget advantage against everyone else. I think it's even worse that Audi/Volkswagen has such a diabolical, twisted marketing machine with such conniving psychologists and the will to bombard the world for decades with propaganda that they managed to turn that failure of a rally effort into an amazing legend of success!

[@pistonburner6448]

Why is the Audi Quattro so bad? The short story is that the car had the most horrible layout possible, the opposite of what you want for good dynamics in a car. There is a reason why sports cars do the OPPOSITE of what Audi does (and still does in most of their cars to this day): the Audi Quattro has its engine in front of its front axle , and not just in front of the axle but the situation is comically bad with them even taking the radiator out of the way and placing it next to the engine as the engine goes waayyyyy up front right up against the front bumper!! Look up a side profile technical picture or cutaway picture of an Audi Quattro... All that weight all the way up front means the mass is not only mostly in the front, but it's also really far from the centroid which means that there is massive moment of inertia working against the car's front end's turning. So the car is an understeering pig. It just wants to understeer, it does not want to turn. That's why the rally drivers had to try to throw it so incredibly aggressively into corners just to get it in there. That causes their driving to need all kinds of extra manoeuvres and is very imprecise. That's why the car looks so ugly, and why in later versions they shortened the wheelbase and the car further to try to get it to turn. The front being so heavy they need to design the suspension around that, compromising the suspension too. Them needing to use all kinds of tricks to help the car handle that awkward, opposite-to-optimal layout meant even more drawbacks and distance to a pure driving machine. It was like band-aids over band-aids and then pretty soon you're so far from a pure thing you forget how you even got there in the first place, and trying to make adjustments to help one thing will cause all kinds of unintended consequences as it removes another band-aid effect. Then luckily they had that horsepower advantage from their pig of an engine...which they needed to mask the absolute failure of a car they had. And the engine itself was a pig: it was crude, heavy, imprecise, had horrendous lag. Without the car being 4WD it wouldn't have been manageable at all. It was driven like the most crude, horrible thing ever: thrown into the corner just to get it to turn, wait with the throttle already down for the massive turbo lag, and then the turbo hits all that clumsy power at a time the driver isn't exactly sure about and can't control with any precision whatsoever but thanks to the technique of having already thrown the car into the corner it already points in the right general direction and since it has 4WD it can put that completely uncontrolled power sort of into use. They throw the car sideways into the corner, get it turned all the way towards the exit while the lag is happening, then the engine just lights its fuse and the driver holds on as it shoots forward with only very little they can do to adjust its trajectory. Look at the lines they use: they don't have precise placement of the car to optimise the corners, they don't fine-tune the power to get a perfect trajectory... Competitors had beautifully handling, precise machines, with wonderfully behaving, precise engines. They danced through the corners placing the car exactly where the driver wanted it, maintaining momentum perfectly, measuring exactly the amount of power they wanted in their ballet around the corners. Then comes the Audi that is clumsily thrown into the corner crudely, mashing the pedal down and waiting for the uncontrolled surge of power after which they just try to sort of guide that thing out of the corner only half in control. The car was a tall brick, with crude shapes and design, not the most optimally calculated and engineered structure at all... You have to remember that at the time Audi didn't even have the experience, hadn't been able to attract and pay for the most talented engineers, and overall just did not make good cars whatsoever. They were of very poor design and quality. They still aren't of good design today, but even us who know how horribly they're designed because the engineers are forced to use the horrible opposite-of-good layout, we still know that their engineers are very talented and they throw a massive amount of man-hours into them so they do attempt to polish those undynamical t**ds with a lot of engineering talent. Thanks to their massive corruption and being a financial powerhouse they have also built up an incredibly manufacturing volume powerhouse, so they can churn out a lot of that junk making them pretty competitive in price. But they're still up to that same philosophy. I know for a fact, having knowledge of inside sources, that Audi engineers for decades have asked to be able to design their cars with the opposite philosophy, with the engine not in front of the front axle, but the marketing executives won't let them. They need to share that layout and parts with the Volkswagens, it's cheaper, and the customers are used to it. The customers are so used to it that for some 'sporty' Audi models when the engineers changed the gearbox design so that they managed to move the engine back a few centimetres and it helped reduce the understeer and unwillingness to turn a tiny bit, the marketing department told them to tune the suspension so that the amount of understeer and unwillingness to turn is put back because the customer focus group they had tested the car with didn't think it felt like an Audi should feel! The customers thing that unwillingness to turn and horrible understeery character is "stability"! Audi continues the same philosophy today with the horrible Audis and Bentleys with their engines waayyyy in the front ahead of the front axle and them being pigs of horribly handling cars. So much so that when they entered the Bentley into GT3 racing they knew they had to take the car apart and re-build the car in the exact opposite as Audi and (fake) Volks-Bentley cars are designed: they put in a completely new driveline with the engine behind the front axle and far lower in the car, had pure RWD layout like their competitors have in their road cars. And they modified the body by taking more than A TON of weight out!! They also moved the driver way back in the car. The changes were so drastic that they even changed the engine block into another type! They have to do the exact opposite to make a well handling, dynamic, actually sporty car!!

[@friggintv9902]

Get back in your box!

[@pjay3028]

​@@friggintv9902 to be fair, he's absolutely right though!

[@bunnydog8436]

Sorry, one of the oddest looking cars ever