1983 was the first year that Audi was able to meet the tight emissions standards in all fifty US states for its diesel engine but, sadly, it only came with an automatic transmission here. The seller has this solid California survivor 1983 Audi 5000 Turbo Diesel listed here on eBay in the great city of Cleveland, Ohio and the bids are at $1,026.99 but the reserve isn’t met.
First things first, because it’ll come up in the comments – the “unintended acceleration” debacle has to be at least mentioned. It’s like exploding Pintos, flux capacitors on every Delorean, or Seinfeld references on Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country convertibles, any time that folks from a certain age group think about an Audi 5000 they think about them taking off on their own as if they had some sort of voodoo curse or Tesla-like auto-pilot system gone awry.
It’s a bummer because these were really nice cars and they still are, despite any floormat issues and/or accidentally-hitting-the-gas-rather-than-the-brake incidents. The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) found that Audi’s idle-stabilization system may have caused surging and then the ensuing panic by the drivers caused them to accidentally hit the accelerator pedal rather than the brake pedal. My BMW 318i had a surging issue which was eventually tracked down and fixed and many vehicles had that issue.
Audi adjusted the distance between the accelerator and brake pedals and took other measures but sales dropped like a rock for several years. Back to this good-looking 5000 TD. You can see that there are a few issues with the paint in the photo of the hood above. I don’t know if the next buyer will spring for a new $5,000 paint job for this car or not, would you? The seller has uploaded dozens of great photos to the listing so please check those out on the eBay link. They included many underside photos.
The interior looks great with some normal wear and wrinkles on the leather seats, the back seat is positively luxurious and it looks perfect. The dash looks fantastic as does the steering wheel with no cracking or wear that I can see. Without a 5-speed option – considered a hindrance for the US market which is sad – this one has Volkswagen-Audi’s three-speed automatic transmission. I was under the impression that all of the 1983 Turbo Diesel 5000s had the new “3+E” automatic transmission, where putting it into the E position where neutral normally is, at highways speeds when you lift off of the accelerator pedal it acts like a free-wheeling feature to save gas. I don’t see an “E” on the console selector, it has the normal N for neutral. Alfasud or another Audi expert may know about this. A 1982 Audi advertisement touts this new transmission on the 1983 Audi 5000 Turbo Diesel models but maybe it was an option?
The engine is VW/Audi’s 2.0L inline-five cylinder direct-injection turbo-diesel which had a whopping 84 horsepower and 127 lb-ft of torque. This one runs like a top and has recently had the valve cover gasket replaced by the seller to stop an oil leak. Have any of you owned an Audi 5000? Any thoughts on the “unintended acceleration” issues or the 3+E transmission? We’re all here to learn and more often than not, we learn from the Barn Finds family of experienced readers.
Great car! I owned one for many years and I am now the high bidder on this one. Wish me luck!
HEY! That’s fantastic, Bluetec320! I hope that you can snag it, it looks like a winner!
Thanks, Scotty! If you enlarge this picture, you can see that it does have the “E” mode transmission. The letter is green instead of white, which makes it harder to see. My 83 TD had it also, but I never used it.
Thanks for that info, Bluetec320. I added an enlargement of that in red letters in the 5th paragraph – “console selector” but now that you mention it being in green that makes sense. That’s good info!
Good luck on your bidding. I think most people didn’t use the E mode however one benefit was I remember it cut vibration at idle because the engine wasn’t drug down by the torque converter. If you get this car based on the oil leaks in the front first order of business would be to replace the timing belt, cam and crank seals, and water pump. The water pump also tensions the timing belt. The injection pump belt isn’t as critical but why not. You need to remove the rear pulley to properly time the engine and go through pump timing after engine timing. I also remember the engines would wear out with 100K plus miles due to injection pump over fueling so check for excessive black smoke from the exhaust and check for blow-by. Other issues were the VIR assembly for the A/C, vacuum pump for power locks gets flooded in the spare tire area. Oh, and check the differential. There is no drain plug and they hold less than 1 quart. Seals can also fail and fluids mix.
This was bid to $3800 with the reserve not met. I was done at 3k, mainly for the reasons you mentioned above. My 83 had the transaxle/transmission issue, along with the oil seals, but I didn’t have any issues with the pump. With that being said, I would still buy another one if the right one comes along. They are wonderful driving cars. Maybe next time!
Sure, I had one. Same year and color but gas, non turbo and auto. Very solid car. Was a teenager so all the acceleration I did was intended
I had the 100s gas version. Beautiful car to drive until it had power steering problems. Traded it on a MB 300E.
Something I always admired about the Turbo versions (both diesel and gas) of this C2 generation: the bright trim around the windows has a grainy matte finish with a slightly warm cast similar to titanium, rather than the usual polished chrome. They also offered a sort of blued-steel metallic paint color that looked especially striking with this Turbo-only trim.
Mid 80’s Volkswagen Audi….some of the worst cars made. I spent more on repairs per month than on payments.
Beautiful looking car! It’s a damn shame that it wasn’t a huge seller with the turbo diesel engine. I would’ve bought one in a heartbeat. Given the cost of fuel these days, you want a car that gets better fuel economy and can go farther on a tank of fuel.
Drove a friend’s a lot, 5000 gas, automatic. What I experienced was when cresting a hill, in cruise control, it would accelerate a bit, all by itself, but just a bit. But otherwse it behaved well. A glitch no worse than my current Audi’s automatic stop and start which I turned off, since it starts in gear, at a traffic light, or in traffic, with more umph than I want, with the possiblity of rear ending the car in front. I assume this feature enhances gas milage, but it is a little scary. It requries two footed contols (right on gas, left on brake) to be sure the car does what you want it to and not what it wants to. But then, see the commercials (at least in CA) by this anti-Tesla guy with clips of Teslas doing things you don’t want them to.
What I was told by a small used Audi dealer from whom I bought my 1987 Audi 5000 cs turbo (automatic, and non-quattro), was that ’84 and ’85 years had problems with the sun roof leaking, but that they were fixed by ’86, but that it was best to “skip a year” (I bought used) – great car, at that time many were corporate company cars and lease turn-ins, so, well maintained – mine was owned by a regional sales exec type, so, highway miles – my dealer bought his Audis from Audi America HQ back east, and he also had for sale an Audi wagon quattro (turbo) with standard transmission – I bought the sedan instead – in So. Cal. you don’t really need the quattro, which was full-time in ’87 model year, and the tires wear more quickly, so, I didn’t buy the wagon, which was kind-of a slant-back, and good looking, to my eye, but I was young then and wagons held little appeal, but I would definitely own it today – oh, and one reason you see so few Audis from this era in the U.S.? There was at least one guy buying them (like my dealer) from Audi America, but then shipping them to Germany, turning the odos back and reselling them – they were such a good car, and with good body integrity, fit and finish, etc., and with no track record in the German system, “Nun, dieses Auto verkauft sich buchstäblich von selbst.” That’s German for “Well, this car literally sells itself.” – Auf vedersehen on the autobahn, baby!
The diesel is not with direct but indirect injection. The C3 model had direct injection.
How much unintended acceleration would be possible with the diesel engine / automatic combination?
I have to question the idea of “Unintended Acceleration”. I’ve been driving cars with automatic gearbox since the early 1990s, and I’ve *never* had a car fly off uncontrollably in any direction.
Ferris Buellers dad’s car!
I drove a mid-eighties Audi 5000S company car when was new. (Twice) Company owner was friends with the owner of the local dealership. When it developed electrical Gremlins early on, the dealer “repaired it”, sent it to auction, and replaced it with an identical vehicle- claiming that they had never been successful exorcising said Gremlns. It was a nice car, but the hvac controls, etc. were odd. (Pun not intended)
A few years ago I ran across a diesel offered for sale by a retired Doctor. It was inoperable, with fairly low miles. Upon doing some research, I found that it is a conversion diesel, with an anticipated 80k lifespan. Can you say Shoddy Audi? I know you can. Hard pass.
5k paint job? Sign me up. Where do I take mine for that. Shops around here are ridiculous expensive for repaints
I remember when these were regular used cars and could be had very cheap at 5 years old. They were very expensive to maintain and required a lot of maintenance. I had an old rabbit in the early 2000’s and took it a VW – Audi specialists. I remember seeing 5000’s with their guts pulled out all over work tables and shuddering at how much it must cost to keep one on the road.
Auction update: this one ended at $3,850 and no sale.
Further update — I now own this car!
Lovely looking car. I would’ve bought an Audi with Turbo Diesel if there was a way to service the car. For some reason, since diesel powered cars never sold well, many dealers never had an incentive to have a service network for them, which is (to me) unforgivable.