Rendered Speculation: Audi to resurrect Ur-Quattro with lightweight twin-turbo A5?
As far as classic Audi models go, nothing is as iconic as the legendary "Ur-Quattro". The 1985 Audi Quattro was a beast of a car in its day, even if it only had 160 horsepower. When the new Audi S5 hit the roads, the Ingolstadt fanatics over at Fourtitude stacked the two of them up against each other, but if the latest products of the ever-churning rumormill are to be believed, Audi may be cooking one up a successor of their own.
A report from German car magazine Autobild suggests that the lightweight sport-coupe could carry the "A5 quattro sport" designation and pack a 425-horsepower V6, placing it in between the current S5 and the upcoming RS5. Sounds enticing, if a bit far-fetched. But if Audi wants to build another monster coupe, who are we to complain? Sources peg the revival to take to the streets by 2012.
[Source: Autobild via German Car Scene]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Rob 2:46PM (4/20/2009)
Call me old, but I miss the chunky slab sided styling of older audis/vws. They just look so clean and pure. Today's cars just look... I don't know. I just don't dig them as hard.
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Parkerman 3:04PM (4/20/2009)
Yea.. You're old.. =P
Al 3:38PM (4/20/2009)
If Audi released such a model, I would BE ALL OVER IT!
I love the S5 and the RS5 has me checking the forums for sneak pics of the latest news almost on a daily basis. I believe that the RS5 should have went with some sort of forced induction instead of the evolution of the RS4 high rev-ing 4.2 V8. I wouldn't hesitate a single second to get my deposit in at the dealer for this car. I guess we'll know in about a weeks time when this car is shown next Monday in Germany.
CarbonBlack 3:16PM (4/20/2009)
I will agree that those older Audis are really cool, and have a great design.
One area where I might disagree is regarding the new cars.
There are lots of cars currently being produced, that are amazingly designed.
I suppose it comes down to personal preference, and I can't really argue with that.
RemusRM 4:00PM (4/20/2009)
I agree with the top poster. new car look like Chinese eggs, no mechanical look to them... I like square cars and still would want a wrangler, since is so simple and love the bolts and all that showing.
JZeke 4:43PM (4/20/2009)
My mom is in that camp.
I can't get her to even look at a new car, she prefers the design of her 1996 Volvo 850 turbo... she loves boxy cars.
Personally, as hot as the old wedges were... I think the latest crop is just that much hotter. Now a Ur Quattro remake in the mold of an RS5? Thats drool worthy in my eyes.
zamafir 5:09PM (4/20/2009)
Audi's not going to build this car. They already resurrected the Ur-Quattro, it's called a TT-RS. Like the UR-Quattro, it has a short wheelbase (shorter than the A5 platform certainly), it's light (much lighter than anything on the A5 platform could be) and has, just like the Ur-Quattro, a blown 5 cylinder engined motivating it with a fair share of power and torque. In short, Audi's not stupid, their profits are up, their staff are getting bonuses, their market share is increasing. There's no tangible link between the A5 chassis and cars based on it and the Ur-Quattro, and audi simply doesn't do things without real, valid marketing links. IE: deliberately waiting to release the R8 until after they dominated Le Mans with a similarly named car.
No, this is utter BS, don't hold ur breaths.
triturbo 5:49PM (4/20/2009)
@zamafir - You forgot one thing - TT-RS is NOT quattro. So how do you dare to call it an Ur-[b]Quattro[/b] successor?
Looking forward for this thing from the picture above. I hope that they'll reduce the weight a little and put a twin-turbo version of their current (TT only) 5 banger and let the story repeats :D
Alex 12:03AM (4/21/2009)
@ triturbo
What have you been smoking this 4/20? I don't know where you get your info, but accourding to the official press release that i linked below, the tt-rs will have quattro permanent all wheel drive, just like all other RS audis. Power might be rear biased for a more sport oriented feel, but rest assured that this car will feature quattro.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/03/03/geneva-2009-2010-audi-tt-rs/
triturbo 10:34AM (4/21/2009)
@Alex - It's just the badge not the technology ;) It's borrowed from their VW cousins. The real quattros are the ones with longitudinally mounted engines. This is the reason why I don't like the TT and A3, because the real Audi for me should be paired with quattro, but those two are paired with 4motion.
tmulcahy365 2:59PM (4/20/2009)
The logical successor would have a 5 cylinder engine, perhaps the one from the TT-RS..
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Mr stol 5:18PM (4/20/2009)
Agreed, that engine is going to be a joy. I can't wait to see what MTM will chip it to. I'm currently raising some cash for a S1 replica, based on a shortened Sport Quattro chassis and i hope it can have the TT-RS engine and drive train once available.
I do think that the ur-quattro spirit lives on in cars like the RS4 and RS6, cars with balls.
BigMcLargeHuge 2:56PM (4/20/2009)
I know its just rumor, but I hope they do whore the A5 into more variations. That's a car worth whoring.
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aj121489 2:53PM (4/20/2009)
I'm diggin those Z LEDs on the headlights
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nzo 8:26PM (4/20/2009)
Yea that whole thing is just hot. DO WANT!
Affalterbach 3:05PM (4/20/2009)
I think that the UrQuattro could be revived int he form of the next gen S5/RS5.
Or maybe a limited-edition, low volume in this generation.
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swatch600 2:57PM (4/20/2009)
Great idea, though I hope the actual car looks nothing like that rendering if they decide to produce it. Another thought occurs - can Audi's lineup really support three high performance variants of the same car? That's really splitting hairs if you ask me.
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Steve 2:58PM (4/20/2009)
Wow, so when did 3 year olds start photochopping? I love the "patched on" look of the rings on the side of the car.
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Taglane 3:47PM (4/20/2009)
I hope you're saying that because you can do a better job.
Steve 3:53PM (4/20/2009)
I am (Or at least forgive me if I'm not):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/stealth01/AudiR8Redo-1.jpg