I didn’t know anyone who would have even considered an Audi back in 1981 but I did see a few of them around in our “small” town (100,000 population). This 1981 Audi 5000S diesel 5-speed would have stood out and being an Audi fan and long time owner I would not mind a big sedan like this. It’s listed on eBay with an unmet opening bid of $3,500 and even at that the reserve won’t be met. It’s located in Becker, Minnesota. For the record, all regular diesels received a 5-speed manual.
We had free-thinking people in our city of around 100,000 people and we even had Subaru, Volvo, and Saab dealers. Being a university town I’m assuming that a lot of the owners of those cars were professors. I worked at an indoor parking garage where doctors and dentists parked and there were a couple of Audi 5000s there, even as the dreaded unintended acceleration “crisis” was going on.
This particular example looks great from the slim selection of photos that are provided – this is it, four photos. The seller says that there is “Minimal Rust Behind Front Tires” and that it’s “Probably One Of The Last Around, Easy Restoration”. There are no engine photos, of course, but this is a diesel model. They were known for being grudgingly slow and they all came with 5-speed manual transmissions. An automatic was available in the gas and turbo model but not the standard diesel. With 67 hp it isn’t going to win any 0-60 contests and in fact it took almost 19-seconds to reach 60 mph. The turbo had 130 hp which was much better but it only had an automatic, at least in the US.
This is it for interior photos but I always get excited when I see a manual transmission. They say that it has an “excellent interior” but it’s hard to really tell much from one sort of blurry, grainy photo. Hopefully the owner would send a few photos to any serious bidders. This car is about 45-50 minutes from me and I’d check it out for any serious buyers. It’s always disappointing to have such a small number of photos but these four photos show a nice looking example. Have any of you owned an Audi 5000 (or, 100/200) diesel?
Deep clean the carpets and it should be good to go.
Junkyard doesn’t care if the carpets are clean (or smell like diesel fuel).
The carpets are clean in it it’s just a bad quality photo it was taken on a phone that has been scratched up from working
I had a teacher who’s family owned the Ford Porsche Audi dealership in town. I used to see many of these but they were rather fragile. The Diesel engine cars seemed to last longer. I had a ’80 Dasher gas that burned up on the back of a wrecker at 26,000 miles. I replaced it with an ’82 Quantum which was better. Both those VW cars were similar to the Audi 4000/5000.
100 plus thousand miles, and rust! No way this car is worth $3500. It would be a good winter beater for about $1500.
I owned one back in the late 80’s, got about 40mpg and it was surprisingly quiet for being a diesel. You just had to plan a day in advance if you were trying to pull out in traffic. But a very comfortable car.
This guy originally had it listed for $8000! Here is the link to the ended auction:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F263526521747
I added it to my watch list a while back. Glad to see they have brought the price down significantly.
A 1981 Diesel Audi? What could go wrong?
No, thanks.
Slow, smelly, a chore to drive, I would not accept it as a gift.
I had a early eighties VW quantum turbo diesel. I rather enjoyed it for the limited time I had it. I think it made close to 80hp with the turbo.
I had one of these 81 diesel 5000s series twenty years ago. Mine was well optioned with leather, power seats & windows & moon roof. It would travel 900+ miles on a tank of fuel.
Named it Diesel Debbie, that dirty, cranky smoking b**ch that wouldn’t die.
Ha ha, someone did give it to me for free, bought a pickup load of parts for $75 and drove Debbie for three years before selling.
I remember when the Audi looked like this. I regret that although I’ve heard about the Audi Diesel, and I’ve read magazine articles about it, I’ve never seen one, nor have I driven one. I consider it damn unforgivable that it was discontinued when it was.
Does anybody know if the diesel suffered the same phantom acceleration that the gas engines did?
LOL. Doubtful since this thing doesn’t know the definition of acceleration, never mind the unintended kind.
Of course, it was no fault of Audi that dentist’s wives were not used to the gas and brake pedal being so close together.
I would like to buy it for $2000 , but i live in The Netherlands , near Amsterdam . That means i need help from someone over there in the US. I am also trying to buy a 505 Wagon Turbo petrol , but i was the 3d who is interrested . I continue with the 505 in April if it is not sold for $5400 .
it did not/however the color is ? diaper-not what i’d call added value,except north of the border
didn’t they have problems with the camshaft breaking ?
The unintended acceleration issue concerned the 5000 that followed the 100, and it was tragic fake news: pedals were closer than usual and people floored the wrong one. This diesel doesn’t even have intended acceleration;)
@Blueprint: Great minds think alike – LOL!
Not long after I got my license, a slightly older buddy was tasked to care for a charcoal gray version of this car while his brother was abroad. You could lose a drag race to a glacier and waiting on glow plugs in -20 degree weather sucked, but I still loved the character, ride and handling compared to Mom’s ‘76 Cutlass.
I was privileged to have bought a ‘81 VW Dasher diesel wagon, 4-speed for $215 back in 2002.. great car averaging 46mpg on the road.. perfect body and interior bought from a tow auction in Oceanside, CA. It was a great car until gasoline was accidentally pumped into it during a cross-country trip.. the engine developed a horrible knock and was doomed from there. I sold the car for $800 two years later after sitting with the cylinder head removed. I’d buy another in a second-just not at these crazy prices.
Had a gas 5000, ever try to install a P/S rack in one? I had this exact model, but in black loaded with everything. New off the lot. Swore I would never own another. Had the opportunity recently to drive a friend’s new turbo gas with the stop/start feature. Let’s just say, each one was a disappointment in its own unique way. Admittedly the brand new one, managed to have the most disappointments wrapped up into one vehicle!!!! Unless one was free, I would run. If it was free, I would take it and flip it as fast as I could……………then run!
I bought a new VW Quantum wagon in 1986 (gas). Drove it over 200,000 miles with no problems. Got rid of it when the brake line rusted through after 25 Ohio winters. Even after all those miles and years the cloth seats still looked great…even the driver side bolsters. Seats look similar in this Audi. Not sure what VW/Audi was using for seat material back then but they wore like iron. Can’t say that for my 14 Lexus where the leather seats are already showing significant wear after just 75,000 miles.
My first car was a 1981 Quantum Hatchback.
I’ve only seen one other hatchback on the roads before or since.
Had a 1979 Audi 5002 gas automatic, nice car ran great, but expensive to fix, then bought a burgundy 1981 Audi 5000s diesel stick, needed fuel pump guy said, gave him 400.00 , it only needed a fuel pump, drove for a year, I thought fuel pump was going again , it had no balls, could not believe it, it was a slug, but sold it for 2000.00 to a diesel German car but, let him drive it slow, I bought a type lt camaro with a built lt-1 engine, fast, drove it into a telephone pole, fire hydrant and stone wall. Uphill, never got hurt. Should have kept the slug Audi!.