Learn me: Coupe Quattro

I’ve always wanted a Coupe Quattro, but have never seriously looked for one. You almost never see them listed locally, and if you do it’s a parts car. 

This was listed a few hours from me, so I drove down the next day and bought it. Mechanically it’s almost 100%. Lots of work done over the years by the previous owner, granted it still needs a few minor things. Paint, and interior leave lots to be desired. I would like to turn this into a track car, but not spend a fortune. 

It has new Bilstein B8, with period lowering springs by who knows. I don’t find the car to handle well at all.... Feels very heavy, sloppy, and it’s painfully slow! Granted the period aftermarket exhaust sounds lovely! Debating if it’s worth even trying to make this a track rat... Does anyone here have any first hand experience with these? 

There’s a turbo kit on the market for $3,500, which required you to change the headgasket and doesn’t even include an intercooler. Not ideal for track use... Any budget engine swaps that easily fit into these things? 

They're cool cars but heavy and underpowered.  They'll definitely suffer from electrical issues as all the Audi's of that era did.

The easy button for power on them is to swap in the 3B or AAN motor from the 20 valve turbo 200 or UrS4.  Not cheap tho...

I used to own one. Definitely more of a grand tourer than a sports car. Major electrical problems were the norm and there are a few parts made really cheaply that should not be (distributor drive is plastic, gear can shatter and leave you stranded). Not only that but replacement parts were $$$$$ in 2008 dollars, I hate to imagine what they cost now.

It was comfortable and sounded great with the Supersprint exhaust, but was also heavy, slow, and got abysmal gas mileage.

Unless you are swapping in a turbo engine as docwyte mentions or otherwise adding a lot of power and basically gutting the thing, not a great choice for a track day car. Probably the best thing you could do for it is eliminate as much weight as possible.

Make sure you convert to the LS1 injectors as is common now and exchange the distributor gear for an aftermarket metal one. You will be solving two major CQ problems that can leave you stranded (third is timing belt, do it if you don't know when it was last one).

https://store.034motorsport.com/audi-7a-efi-injector-adapter-kit-for-b3-audi-80-90-coupe-quattro-i5-20v-improved.html

https://store.034motorsport.com/distributor-gear-brass-audi-i5-20v.html

Have a friend who autocrossed one in dsp trim, power was the great weakness. Fun on stickies, he slotted the struts for camber.

Don’t know anything about them but it sure as hell looks cool! Always thought Audi should have followed through on the Quattro concept they had awhile back.

Anyways good luck and I look forward to seeing where you take it!

One other thing I just remembered is that you have to convert to 5-lug hubs to access the really good brake and wheel options, the stock 4x108 setup sucks.

pointofdeparture said:

One other thing I just remembered is that you have to convert to 5-lug hubs to access the really good brake and wheel options, the stock 4x108 setup sucks.

Just realizing this, although I love the stock speedlines. 

Someone reached out who went down this same road, and advised against it. 

I always loved the S2 and Audi GT, I periodically drive by a GT quattro rotting in someones driveway, weird rare cars.

A coworker had one for a while, and I will echo thats its a bit heavy and more of a GT. Neat car though.

Had a buddy that 20v turbo swapped one back in the day.  It was fun at that point.

I had one many years ago. The windows didnt work and the abs went nuts and would kick in anytime you touched the brakes. Luckily it had a button to turn the abs off.

The bumpers were fragile and would crack at the ends.

It was slow but looked cool. 

Thanks guys! 

This wouldn’t really end up meeting any of my goals, without a very large sack of cash. Listed for sale!