I got a '74 100LS when I was 17 in 1984.
The bad:
That particular car was the most expensive POS I've ever owned. The head warped twice and blew the gasket. The front inboard brakes fell apart 3 times, the last time a rotor and CV joint bearings came rolling out from under the car. The Zenith carb died, replaced with a nice Weber. Numerous Electrical issues. It was just too expensive for a 17yo to keep.
The good:
After 25 years of driver a number of VW's, and currently owning a '01 BMW 325i, I swear to God, *when* the car was running, that 100LS was the nicest driving car I've ever owned...
I have a 1972 Audi 100LS. It needs a right side engine mount (the old one split in 2). Anyone have any suggestions?
Roy
roylung@hotmail.com
I have to agree with many of the other comments to the effect that it was a love/hate relationship. I bought a 1974 100LS that was in cherry condition in 1976. The car had 20K on it and looked like it just rolled out of the showroom.
Had never before, or since, owned a car with such incredible handling and ride! The fit and finish were beautiful, equal to cars costing 3x as much.
The problem with the car was the complete lack of reliability. At least every three months, I would end up being towed to the dealership for expensive repairs, often on the same systems. In three years of driving, the car required several transmission rebuilds, carbs, front brake jobs and thousands of $ of misc. electrical repairs. Not long ago, I was cleaning out old drawers and I found my Audi file with all of the repair slips. I spent over $6500. in three short years just keeping that car on the road. The service manager at the dealer used to laugh and say, "the 100LS is an engineers dream and a mechanics nightmare". He was spot on. I baby cars and in 35 car owning years, have never had another car that even came close to the problems that the Audi had.
That there aren't any on the road today really says a lot. My neighbor has a 1967 Lincoln with 300K that he still uses as a daily driver. There are lots of these on the road and parts are plentiful. Good quality is enduring.
I bought a used 1973 Audi 100ls in 1978, it had 59k when I got it from the used car dealer. It was the beautiful dark brown with beige seats. I loved the car, it looked better than the Mercedes or BMW of the same era.
The car run and handled like a dream. The only problem that I had with the car were the motor mounts and the head gaskets.
I was pretty handy and when something went wrong, I fixed it myself. We did not have A Audi in rural Alabama.
I put 145k on the car before I hit a tree dodging a reindeer on Christmas Eve, and literally walked seven miles without a scratch.
My Audi was actually very reliable. Even today, I still have wonderful memories of the car. I call it the car that stole Christmas.
My 2nd car at the age of 20 was a 1973 Audi 100 LS back in the late 70s. I drove it from Ohio back to Florida to live, following my father.
I loved this car with its sunroof and Blaupunkt radio. It drove very well, and the chrome gleamed. It was a beautiful dolphin gray color. I paid 1800 used for it, and struggled to pay the 67.00 a month payment, LOL.
This was one of the coolest cars I have ever owned, even with the ups and downs of its unreliability and high cost to maintain, much less finding a competent mechanic! Owdi? awedi, they never heard of one before LOL. The guy I bought it from had a brown 74 just like it, but with a vinyl roof. The sunroof broke, never did fix it, the floor rusted thru, talk about Fred Flinstone stopping the car, the drivers seat kept going lower and lower thru the floorboard! LOL.
It looked great in the driveway! With all that said, and the fact that I had to sell it to a junk yard for 125 dollars, I was in love with this car. Wish I had another one!
It drove beautifully when everything was going well. You never see any of them driving on the road, not one, at least not in SW Florida. I think my 1985 Volvo DL, 1972 and 1974 VW Super Beetles, 1976 VW bug convertible and the Audi were my favorite all time cars that I owned, the Audi being the most unreliable, but the prettiest, the Volvo and all the Toyotas and Hondas being the most reliable.
My dream is to find another Audi LS. I can't think of a car with its personality today other than Saabs, VW Beetles and Volvos of the past. The newer ones don't have the personality as the old German and Swedish cars.
I bought a 1974 Audi 100LS, used, 2 year old, with low mileage. It was very pretty and rode like a dream. Unfortunately pretty and cushy ride doesn't get you there if mechanically it doesn't work well. 8 months after buying it I was driving down Main St. at 30 miles an hour and the motor blew!!! $900 worth of parts and 2 mechanics later the car was rendered worthless and was auctioned off for $250.00. Sadly it was the sweetest riding piece of junk I hope to ever own. I really hope they are making a better car than the old Audi was.
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