RE: Why Was That?!

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> And speaking of 4000 turbo quattros... Why didn't they make one, from the
> company, that is?  And why not a turbo Coupe?  I would have thought this
> would have been a evolutionary necessity for the CGT line.  Was it
> because of the 60 Minutes fall out, and the resulting monetary losses
> Audi incurred?  It's not like they'd have to drastically change the
> tooling to fit a turbo motor they already have into a frame that could
> obviously hold it.  All the Japanese GT cars had turbo powerplants at the
> time, and so did a bunch of American "wanna-be" GT's.  For God's sake,
> they gave the Colt a Turbo!  Does anybody know why?  
> 
I can remember back when people really appreciated the Audi 4000 5+5 ... I
don't think that ever had a turbo.  IMO the reason Audi never went for a
turbo motor in those cars was that it already had a fairly large
displacement 5-cylinder (most all of those Japanese GT cars only had 4's).
In peak form the NA-I5 was up around 130HP ... with a reasonable amount of
low end grunt.  I can't say that I see too many of those "Japanese GT cars"
with turbo motors on the road any more ... but I can tell you that the '85
4kSQ that I drove to work this morning still does pretty well off the line
... even surprising some drivers of newer cars.  Not too bad for 210K miles
I must say ...

You really need to think back to those times to answer the question ... the
4kq was available in the US from 1984-1987.  The 4000/Coupe were the lowest
priced models in Audi's inventory.  For most of the years of its life the
QTC was also in the line.  There really was neither the need or the desire
for the factory to produce a turbocharged 4kQ.  I'm pretty sure that we got
the more powerful engines that were available for the line in the rest of
the world (perhaps detuned slightly for emissions); I don't think there was
ever an Audi 80 Turbo Quattro offered anywhere else ... why would Audi even
want to go through the expense of developing and getting approvals for a new
powerplant?  The 4k model was soon to be replaced ...

While I will certainly acknowledge that the Audi turbo has a lot of
potential for upgrades, I continue to be a bit mystified by the fact that
people don't seem to think twice about the later N/A engines.  Audi did put
a lot of work into the N/A version of the I5 ... given the fact that the
NF/NG engine was rated at 130-135HP while the MC was only rated at 160, the
advantages of superior off the line acceleration along with the relative
simplicity of installation as compared to a MC should make it worthy of
consideration.  If for some reason the engine in my old 4k goes out before I
get rid of it that is more likely where I would look for a new engine ...

Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)

P.S. - In reference to the Chrysler Turbo Minivans ... it sure seems to me
that I see a lot of those things blowing blue smoke when I see them on the
road ...