40+ years: 1980 – today
Audi’s history of innovating in motorsport dates back to March 1934 when the first Auto Union Type A grand prix race car debuted at the fearsome AVUS track in Germany. With Hans Stuck the advanced mid-engined grand prix racer had been designed by Ferdinand Porsche.
Audi hasn’t launched new generations of the quattro system as standalone technology. Instead the German automaker will include revisions and updates as part of a new model launch, or mid-cycle upgrade.
Following the quattro’s domination of the WRC the pace of car development in rallying world shot up. However, following horrific fatal crashes and drivers speaking out against how fast the cars had become, the Group B era was brought to a close at the end of the 1986 WRC season.
Audi forever changed rallying and street performance cars in 1980 when it debuted an all-new car called the Audi Quattro. The boxy two-door looked like a contemporary European performance car, but the key differences lay under the skin and helped the German brand win two World Rally Championship manufacturer titles, and two Driver’s titles.
Audi began development of an all-wheel-drive performance car as far back as 1977, as the brainchild of engineer Jorg Bensinger. The model, which was named Quattro due to it driving all four wheels, was based on the existing Audi 80 and Audi Coupe platform, and this gave it the advanced (for the time) five-speed manual, plus independent front and rear suspension for great handling.
Using a mechanical coupling to drive both front and rear wheels, the original Audi Quattro also used a longitudinally-mounted turbocharged EFI-equipped in-line five-cylinder engine. This engine, which would go on to become a signature of fast Audis, began as a single overhead-cam 2.1-litre, but grew to a 2.2-litre in 1987 before getting a DOHC cylinder head in 1989.
With 197hp the first Quattros could do 0-100km/h in 7.1-seconds, while the later DOHC 2.2-litre engines produced 217hp. The limited-edition short-wheelbase 1985 Sport Quattro homologation model produced 302hp, which was similar to supercars of the time.
All up only 11,452 UR Quattros were built in an 11-year period ending in 1991. Interestingly, the car was never officially called the UR, as that is a German prefix for something which is the first of its kind.
Having seen the devastating effectiveness of the quattro all-wheel-drive set-up in rallying, Audi wasted no time in trying it in other racing disciplines. The 1988 Trans-Am Championship was steam-rolled by Hurley Haywood driving an Audi 200 with a 510hp 2.1-litre turbo five-cylinder, with the quattro-equipped vehicle winning eight of the 13 rounds.
Such was the dominance of the Audi team that the governing body, the Sports Car Club of America, changed the rules. For the 1989 season entrants were limited to only enter two-wheel-drive cars, and cars which used American-made engines.
By this time Audi had moved to the IMSA GT Championship series. Racing tube-frame quattro-all-wheel-drive-equipped Audi 90 sedans, the turbocharged 20-valve DOHC five-cylinder engines produced over 700hp and took seven of the 13 races in the ’89 season.
Audi pulled out of IMSA for 1990 choosing to focus on the local DTM series, where they entered the heavyweight Audi V8 model against lightweight E30 M3 BMWs and Mercedes-Benz 190E Evolution cars in Group A formats. The 414hp (later 456hp) all-wheel-drive quattro Audi V8 took out the DTM championship on debut in 1990, and then again in 1991 before Audi were not allowed to homologate a flat-plane crankshaft and therefore withdrew in 1993.
Audi brought quattro back to international motorsport with the two-litre A4 in 2-litre Touring Car Racing Formula. In 1996 the A4 quattro won touring car championships in seven countries around the world, including Britain, Australia, Italy and Germany, leading all-wheel-drive systems being banned in that racing series globally.
Between March 1994 and July 1995, Audi forever changed modern street cars by creating an understated station wagon hiding supercar performance. Built on the B4-generation Audi 80 platform the RS 2 Avant was a joint venture between Porsche and Audi to build a limited-edition, high-performance station wagon that could drop kids at school, before setting lap times at the track.
Powered by Audi’s signature 2.2-litre DOHC turbocharged in-line five-cylinder engine making 311hp and driving all four wheels through the legendary quattro all-wheel-drive drivetrain, the RS 2 was built by Porsche and could demolish the 0-100km/h sprint in just 4.8-seconds. The RS 2 was so fast off the line it was tested by Autocar and found to be quicker to 50km/h than a McLaren F1, which was the fastest car in the world at the time.
Porsche significantly upgraded the handling and braking, using large Brembo disc brakes from their lightning-fast 964 Turbo, while the mirrors and Cup alloy wheels were also directly from Porsche cars. Inside looked like a normal, high-end Audi prestige car but featured a leather-wrapped three-spoke steering wheel, Recaro seats, and optional carbon-fibre trim (which was ahead of the time in the mid-1990s).
Fewer than 3000 were built and today they command strong prices thanks to their heritage as one of the 1990’s best sleepers and the first Audi RS model. The RS 2’s success led to legendary Audi street cars like the RS 4 and RS 6 wagons, and paved the way for the modern era of turbocharged all-wheel-drive luxury vehicles.
Until 2002 Audi hadn’t ever had a direct competitor for the BMW M5 or AMG E55, but the RS 6 brought Audi’s legendary Vorsprung durch Technik to the super-saloon market. This class of refined 300km/h grand tourers capable of blowing supercars into the weeds holds a special place in the hearts of car enthusiasts, as most people outside the car world wouldn’t believe a station wagon could out-pace an arrow-shaped mid-engined exotic supercar.
The first-generation RS 6 fitted a 444hp twin-turbocharged 4.2-litre V8, five-speed automatic and quattro all-wheel-drive to the A6 wagon (Avant) and later sedan, creating a monster which could blast the 0-100km/h sprint in just 4.6-seconds, passing 200km/h in 22.8-seconds, before hitting an electronically-limited top speed of 250km/h. The next-generation debuted in 2007 and rewrote the rules for fast sedans and wagons with a 580hp five-litre V10 making it Audi’s most powerful road car at that time.
Despite its 2025kg mass, the C6-generation RS 6 could still do 0-100km/h in 4.6-seconds and pass 200km/h in just 12.7-seconds, making it one of the fastest cars to 200km/h on the market. Despite the following C7 RS 6, which debuted as a wagon only in 2013, having less power from its twin-turbo V8, the lighter weight and 553hp (an optional Performance Pack gave it 597hp) meant it was faster all ‘round, taking 3.9-seconds to do 0-100km/h before hitting an electronically-limited 305km/h top speed.
The latest RS 6, launched in 2020, retains the 4-litre twin-turbo V8, 8-speed automatic, and quattro all-wheel-drive but now includes a mild hybrid system to help it make 600hp. The 2150kg heavyweight does 0-100km/h in 3.6-seconds, 0-200km/h in 12-seconds, and is electronically limited to 305km/h.
While the RS 6 transported wealthy executives at private jet speeds across continents in cosseting luxury, Audi recognised their A3 small family car could be built into a ferocious performance car. The RS 3 has rewritten how fast we think hot hatches can be, and has spearheaded a tuning revolution where mildly modified street cars run quarter-mile times faster than all-out drag cars with engines many times larger.
Launched 2011 with a transverse-mounted 335hp 2.5-litre DOHC turbocharged five-cylinder and seven-speed S Tronic dual-clutch automatic driving all four wheels with quattro, the first RS 3 gave us a glimpse at what has become known as the “Ultra Hot Hatch”. In 2015 Audi debuted a new RS 3, based on the new 8V model A3 platform, and this was when the model truly redefined hot hatches.
Initially offered as a hatch using an updated 362hp 2.5-litre turbocharged five-cylinder, dual-clutch S Tronic transmission, and quattro all-wheel-drive, it was joined by an RS 3 sedan in 2017 as part of a minor mid-cycle update. This 8V model was soon being built up by tuners to run quarter-mile times as fast as 8-seconds, and produce over 1500hp.
The third-generation RS 3 now produces between 397hp and 401hp (Performance Edition), can run 0-100km/h in just 3.8-seconds, and with no speed limiter will now hit a top speed of 300km/h (Performance Edition). Available as a sedan and hatch, the legacy of the original Audi Quattro is alive and well with these lightning-fast turbocharged, all-wheel-drive five-cylinder monsters.