1987 Audi ur Quattro Turbo from UK and Ireland - Comments

Exhaust split and needed replacing.

Oil temp gauge only works intermittently.

ABS sensor failed.

Rattling from the intercooler (broken mount).

As soon as circumstances dictated I could have a second car for pure fun use, I went straight out and found my Quattro. I haven't looked back since.

Modern cars, even quick ones, now feel sanitised and dull. An Impreza or Evo would leave this standing off the lights, but you can hear and feel everything working in the Quattro. The impression of speed is huge, the feel from all the controls (particularly the steering) is deliciously mechanical, the noise fantastic and the fuel consumption terrifying. It's the original old school rally rep from an era where power sapping emissions gear and lardy crash bars weren't even considerations, and hence it's got more character and attitude in one column stalk than the modern Japanese stuff has on the whole production line.

ur Quattro's are thought to number less than 1,000 in the UK now, so it's a rare sight indeed. What I love though is that to most people it is simply "an old Audi" and therefore invisible. And yes, this works for police as well. I've been pulled over more in my company Mondeo than in this. Enthusiasts recognise it of course, and morons in Novas try to race it, but either of those are fine by me.

The astonishing thing about the Quattro is just how sharp it still feels to drive. The suspension is quite soft which gives a bit of body roll, but it turns in sharply, is adjustable on the throttle, and the change in weighting and feedback on the steering as the road surface and grip levels change is pure delight. It's still a devastatingly quick cross country machine, but it involves you as a driver in the way that few new cars do. No nannying driver aids either - you can even turn off the ABS!

Running costs are pretty steep, largely because of terrifying fuel consumption. It will happily slurp a gallon of treated Super Unleaded in 9 miles if you're giving it some welly, although to be fair, it averages about 18. Not particularly cheap then. The car has so far been very reliable, but the ongoing list of niggling faults betray its 17 years. The bodywork however still looks like new. One bonus is insurance. It now qualifies for classic status and hence F/C cover is available for less than £300 (I'm 30 and it's a group 20 car!!)

I will never sell this beast, and if you go out and find a good one, I suspect you will be exactly the same. Gorgeous bit of kit.

Hi There,

what insurance company are you able to get classic cover for a Ur with?

Great review!

Hi there,

For classic cover on a ur, try Carole Nash. I think Adrian Flux will do it as well.

Hi there I feel I must point out that the UR Quattro should average a far higher mpg than 18 it should at least be into the high 20's or low 30's,unless you are doing some hard driving.

May I suggest that you have it looked at.

Even the latest generation 200 bhp turbocharged petrol engines would struggle to average the kind of figures you are talking about. The Golf GTI FSI can just about crack 30 mpg by all accounts, and that's smaller, lighter (just), uses the latest electronics, an extremely advanced fuel injection system and only has 2wd.

The Quattro's fuelling technology is 20 years behind, it's a less efficient two valve engine design, and a bigger, heavier (just) car with the added drag and frictional losses of 4wd. Speaking to owners club members I can tell you 30 mpg is a pipe dream unless you're doing a lot of gentle constant speed motorway cruising where the car will scrape into the low 30's if you're careful. This is hardly your typical everyday average drive though. A mixture of town, motorway and A-road with any kind of enthusiasm (what else is the car for?) gives high teens, and that seems about average for other owners too.

My TT V6 gives 32 mpg regularly on a 70-80 mph cruise, and while the engine may be a more modern, more efficient design, I bet it's a lot heavier than a UR quattro coupe.

I reckon you should be getting better than low 20s.

Most sub 3.5 litre naturally aspirated modern cars will do 30 mpg. Trust me, that's a very recent thing.

Look at the Impreza Turbo, probably the TT's closest (conceputally) modern equivalent. Mid 20's is the accepted average with these cars according to any magazine test you read. The ur can't even get close to this level of sophistication, so it can never be more economical.

I have just done 1,106 miles in 4 days in my 1987 ur. This included four mountain passes on the South Island of New Zealand and visits to two ski fields (and not at the speed limit!!).

According to the trip computer and my fuel bill calculations I was averaging 26.5 miles per gallon.

These are fantastic cars and agree with your comments on the quattro being for life. Good uprated springs and dampers sort the body roll nicely. Mine gets 30mpg easily and around 20mpg in the city. Try adjusting fuel mixture to 1% or 2%.

If I can just chip in to the fuel consumption debate, high teens sounds perfectly reasonable to me for this car. I owned a Couple Quattro about 8-9 years ago, the 'real' Quattro's considerably less powerful relative (i.e. no turbo!). By driving it pretty carefully most of the time I returned just the right side of 30mpg, but this could and would have been much lower had I been more cavalier with my right foot. A friend of mine currently owns an 8-year old BMW 728i, from which he is currently returning about 18mpg. True, it's a heavy machine, and driven fairly hard on generally short runs, but there's no 4-wheel drive to damage the consumption, and the engine is obviously much more modern (and one therefore assumes efficient) than that in a 1980s turbo-charged sports car.

I am about to become the proud owner of quattro turbo.

The car sustained damage to drivers side rear and needs

tail light unit which I thought could be easily bought.

Unfortunately not; after trying local dealers, scrap yards, etc,

still no joy. Does anyone have any tips out there?

I now own one and it's a Super Car not a sports car, My quattro is tweeeked to around 300 horsepower and I get about 20 to 30 miles per gallon in the city, but that's shifting aroud 3-3500 rpm.