Does Audi Recognize the 5000?

[Brett Dikeman]

At 9:18 PM -0800 12/13/01, George Harris wrote:
>I was just scanning the official history of Audi put out by Audi, and I
>found 80's, 90's, 100's, and 200's, but no 4000's nor 5000's. What
>gives? Are the 4000's and 5000's just rebadged 100's or something?

Audi would, in a way, love to forget the 5000.  The name became
associated with "charging killer cars" etc.


>In the same book there was a write up about the TDI. It started out in
>an '88 with 80 hp, and was listed last in an A8 ('94 I think) with 140
>hp.

Audi, in all markets safe NA, offers an extensive lineup of diesel
engines and always will.  There will be VERY little chance of a
diesel Audi in North America(I'm not saying its impossible, because
Merc has demonstrated with the e320 turbodiesel that you can do a
diesel in a luxury car and not hurt its class.)


>  I would love to have the economy of the diesel but can't live
>without the get up and go of the gas Turbo in the 5000. Anyone who
>commutes on high speed highways knows what a life saver the ability to
>get up to highway speed is when merging.

Forget it.  The early Audi and VW diesels were rare, parts are even
rarer, and the audi injection pump which had crappy reliability
probably costs more than 3x the car's total value.

>Has anyone seen the higher horsepower TDI's available on the used
>market? Can they be fit into the 5000 Quattro retaining the running
>gear? Can the older TDI's be upgraded to the higher power?

Look into a Jetta or Passat TDI.  With a chip, 100-110hp but amazing
amounts of torque, and excellent reliability.  Parts availability is
much better, and they're overall might nicer cars.  No AWD, but
sometimes in life you just can't have your cake+eat it too.

B
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