Re: What is a UR-Q? Kinda long...

[EICHSTEV@aol.com]

Ralph asked:
> Hi guys:
> I've been on the list for a few weeks now.  I thought I knew most of the
> Audis produced in the '80s, but I'm really stumped.  What is a UR-Q?
> 
> I'm really sorry for the dumb question.  I won't bore you with some of my
> discarded guesses ('Un-Reliable Quattro' and the like), but it sounds like
> lots of you really enjoy this car and I would like to know what it is.

My turn! 
Well, "ur" is simply the German word for original, hence original quattro.
 Yup, it only means that this is the original car Walter Treser, et al
cobbled together from an Audi Coupe, 5kt, and the Iltis 4wd vehicle with a
modified transmission using a VW Polo differential.  Audi dumped a whole lot
of money on racing to prove the advantages of 4wd in rallying and succeeded
to a great degree until other manufacturers produced cars specifically to
race, such as the Ford RS200 and Lancia Delta S4.  The Sport quattro was the
"ultimate" ur q derivative being a shortened ur q with an all-aluminum 20
valve turbo engie and kelvar body panels homologated for Group B racing.

Not surprisingly, not a whole lot of people in the U.S. wanted to shell out
the $35k+ (Ferrari 308 territory) for a car that looked like a Coupe GT with
a body kit, even if it was very technically advanced for its time.
 Therefore, only about 600 of the cars were sold in the U.S. between '82 and
'86, with '83 being the highest sales year.  Over 11 thousand were sold in
the rest of the world between '81 and '91 with numerous improvements over the
U.S. spec cars being added over the years.

Surprisingly, the ur q was produced in its final years along side what should
have been its successor, the S2, due to customer demand. In its final form
the ur q was given Audi's most advanced 20 valve, turbocharged, five cylinder
engine identical to that of the '91 200q, along with the best suspension
available in that chassis.  One of our lucky listers, Dave Eaton, happens to
own of these rare beasts and a few of us are busy duplicating them. 

No, reliability is not a strong point of the early ur qs, with many problems
arising from the first generation componentry of the cars.  Luckily, almost
all of the later improvements such as brakes can be added as bolt-on
replacements and are often available at a fraction of the cost of the
original parts.  Most all parts are shared with other models from the Audi
line, i.e. 5kt/200 engines and transmissions, 4kq/80q/90q suspensions, 200q
brakes, etc.   Its kind of scary when you buy parts for your car from BMW or
Porsche dealers because they are cheaper than the same ones from Audi!

Well, I've gone on too long.  HTH!

Steve Eiche
Englewood, CO
'82 Not So Ur q, 3B to be (20V turbo)
Certified Audiholic