[V8] Major differences between 90, 91, 92 & 93 Model Years of the V8Q?

[William Gutierrez]

Jeremy,

Is that right that the Nader report came out in 90?  My recollection was 
that it was in the late 80s, around '88, which is when AUDI north america 
was giving prior owners a $5,000 check to apply toward the purchase of a new 
audi to spur sales.  We received one and used it to buy an 88 5000CS turbo 
quattro.  With the depressed sales, we got nearly $8,000 off sticker, plus 
the $5,000, which brought the purchase price down to $26,000.  Thought it 
was a steal back then--in any event, I digress.  My recollection back then 
was that the discount on the 5000CS was a joke, as the Nader problem only 
focused on automatics, not manuals, and so it was irrelevant regardless of 
the merits.  The smear of Audi was so complete, however, that the damage to 
the marque was done.

Cheers.

Bill

>From: "Jeremy Ward" <jward at mti-interactive.com>
>To: <daves745t at optonline.net>, <V8 at audifans.com>
>Subject: RE: [V8] Major differences between 90, 91,92 & 93 Model Years of 
>the V8Q?
>Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 07:55:27 -0800
>
>1989 was the first year the V8Q was available in Europe.  We started
>getting them as 1990 models, however some of the first ones we received
>had 1989 build dates.  We received 18 1990 5-Spds and 53 1991 5-Spds,
>the other 3,797 were Automatics, of which approx 550 had the larger 4.2L
>motor.
>
>(Looks like Mike just beet me to sending this email, so I won't include
>sales figures by year)
>
>No year is anymore problematic than another.  Try to find one with low
>miles, few owners, and with excellent service records from a reputable
>shop.
>
>Timing belts MUST be changed every 60k (original Audi recommendation was
>90k, until they had to start replacing engines on their dime).
>Automatic transmissions have been known to fail to the tune of $4k (mine
>died at 146k), however some have made it to 200k w/o issue.  I think
>flushing the tranny fluid occasionally with new fluid along with NO
>abuse is the key.
>
>You will find the majority of V8Qs for sale are 1990 models; that was
>Audi's big sales year before the Nader report almost forced Audi of
>America into bankruptcy and sales figures started to decline.
>
>The US cars had a standard package of options (which was pretty
>luxurious) and left the buyer with few additional choices.  The only
>upgrade I can think of is Sport Seats (separate lower side bolsters) and
>Connolly Leather, however I think Connolly became the norm on the 4.2L
>cars of 1992-1994.
>
>A full list of colors and options can be seen on my website.
>
>Regards,
>
>- Jeremy
>http://198.107.18.114/v8q/
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: v8-bounces at audifans.com [mailto:v8-bounces at audifans.com] On Behalf
>Of daves745t at optonline.net
>Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 7:30 AM
>To: V8 at audifans.com
>Subject: [V8] Major differences between 90, 91,92 & 93 Model Years of
>the V8Q?
>
>Is any particular year considered more reliable than another? Did
>subsequent generations have options that the 1990 did not? Did they work
>out any bugs associated with the first (1990) model in subsequent models
>that would make the 1990 more problematic? Thanks.
>
>
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