Too Nice For Winter? 1987 Audi 4000CS Quattro

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As an Audi owner for almost two decades and a fan for much longer than that, a car like this 1987 Audi 4000CS Quattro is something that I would love to have as a winter vehicle. The legendary Quattro AWD system and a 5-speed manual would make it much more fun to drive in the snow than a lot of cars are, although I’d be worried about road salt, as usual. This Tornado Red example can be found here on eBay in New York, New York, and the current bid price is $5,000 but the reserve isn’t met.

The 4000CS was an upgraded version of the 4000S, although the upgrade wasn’t much more than a name change as little was different between the previous models. All four wheels clawed onto the US market 40 years ago, in 1980, as a replacement for the Audi Fox, and they were known as the Audi 80 in other markets. This would be the last year for the 4000 Series as Audi moved to the Audi 80 nomenclature in 1988.

This particular Audi 4000CS looks almost like new inside and out, but the seller does mention a small rust spot just starting to take hold on the right rear wheel well but it shouldn’t be hard to repair. This was a one-owner car before the seller bought it from the original owner a year ago and subsequently had all of the fluids changed, installed a new thermostat, fan switch, and spark plugs and it’s their 4th car, so that’s the only reason they’re selling it. As a business owner I get it, things are incredibly tight right now.

The printed fabric seats look pretty much like brand new but we don’t get a glimpse of the rear seat or the trunk, unfortunately. They do show us an underside photo and it looks rock solid. The 4000CS has a lockable center differential and Audi’s Quattro system has proven itself in brutal use as rally cars over the decades.

The engine could use a good detailing to bring it up to the appearance of the rest of the car, but that’s usually the case. And, that isn’t to say that every single component of every single vehicle has to look like new. The engine is a Volkswagen Group 2.2L inline-five which according to AudiWorld had 115 net horsepower. It runs a little rough until it warms up and they suspect a vacuum leak, but otherwise, it’s smooth and everything works as it should. Are there any Audi fans out there?

Auctions Ending Soon

Comments

  1. 8thNote 8thNote

    Beautiful car. I would be all over this in a second if it were closer to TN. It would be a fun and unique ride. I gaurantee no one else in town has one like it.

    Like 4
  2. dale W

    these are costly to fix and break often I had the 2 door version of this and it was great when it ran well. If you get lucky and can run 10- 20 thousand miles with minimal issues that’s great BUT these require attention and are costly to fix.

    Like 7
  3. Wolfgang Gullich

    Volkswagen has an ‘e’ in it, not an ‘o’ 😉

    Like 3
    • Scotty GilbertsonAuthor

      You are correct, sir, my apologies for the typo.

      Like 1
  4. Christopher Gentry

    We had a 86 4000. Loved it. But ultimately had to sale it. As Dale said. Very costly to fix. Mostly electrical gremlins in our 86. But one of the nicest cars we’ve ever owned , at least till it broke. No idea what the reserve is set at but 5 grand so far seems pretty good if you got the pockets for the maintenance. Not too hard to find. There is a similar vintage 5000 around the corner from my house.

    Like 0
  5. Paul

    I owned the same year and model. Same color too. Drove it from Minnesota to Alaska twice and all over the west. At the time Montana had no speed limit. Sold it to a friend with 299,000 miles on it. Original clutch and alternator. Soooo fun.

    Like 0
  6. Sandy McInnes

    I’m lucky to have a 1980 Audi 5000S 5 speed fully loaded. Early 1980’s Audi’s, especially Type 43’s are few and far between. I’d post some pics and write about it if I could.

    Like 0
    • Jim

      I brought a federalized 80 5000 Turbo back from Germany in 1990. Was retro’d to euro specs by the Captain I bought it from.Great car that succumbed to the island rust…

      Like 0
  7. Terry

    I had an exact duplicate of this car, except it had leather interior. Same color, same engine and transmission. I bought in new, it was a left over model, and paid about 22k for it. It was a fun car and it handles beautiful. Pretty fast accelerating. But they are incredibly expensive to fix and in typical Audi fashion at about 100k miles things break and the repair bills were huge. Fun to own but expensive to repair.

    Like 2
  8. PRA4SNW

    SOLD for $8,500.

    Like 0
  9. Claudio

    These cars had so many ground problems , i mean so many of them , you cant count them
    They had common grounding with a scew on a little saucer and this created havoc
    Volks had the same shiiiit

    No parts at pepboys or napa for these things
    I love driving but cant say as much about fiddling to repair a car that has no parts availability
    Junk yard bound

    Like 0

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