Re: 4K coupe?

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@cisco.com>]

Brandon Hull asks:

> A nearby garage had a car out front I've never seen before:  
> An early 80's model 4000 with badges, but a 2-door coupe, not 
> a 4 door sedan.  Now I know I'm a junior Audi enthusiast 
> compared with many on the list, but I'm pretty observant 
> and this was a first.  Did they make many of these?  Any 
> come as quattros?  How about in Europe?  I kept thinking 
> what a neat track car it would make with quattro and ur flares...

I had one such, a 1980 model with the 1588cc 4cyl and 4spd gearbox.  I'd
call it a 2-door sedan, rather than a coupe, as Audi later introduced
their own coupe and retired the 2-door sedan body style.

Here's some history from one who was there (dates and models apply in
the U.S., ROW may vary):

Audi introduced the 4000 for the 1980 model year as a somewhat larger
replacement to the Fox (the Audi Fox, not the VW of the same name).  It
was their small sedan, styled with a family resemblance to the 5000
series introduced a couple of years earlier.  The 4000 was available in
two body styles in 1980: a 2-door and the more familiar 4-door.  I liked
the looks of the 2-door immensely (still do), thinking it a lighter and
more graceful (and at the time, cheaper) alternative to, say, the WMB
320i.  In its first years, Audi seemed not to know whether they wanted
to position the 4000 as an upmarket alternative to the Dasher or as a
lower-priced competitor for the 320i; the early 1588cc model was a
little bit of both.

Performance wasn't that far behind the Munchner, either, with 0-60 in
11.5 seconds to the Bimmer's 10.5.  (Ah, those were the days, when
10-second 0-60 times were hot stuff. :-) I was also very disappointed in
the 320i that I drove after owning the Audi for some time, thinking it
stupid to create a "driving machine" whose inboard rear wheel, when
lifted off the ground, spun ineffectually in the air rather than putting
power to the ground.  (I amazed the folks at an autocross clinic by
driving my 4000 2-door around a skidpad for three full laps with the
inside rear wheel about a foot off the ground.)

The following year, 1981, Audi split the 4000 lineup into two variants,
essentially one for economy (the upmarket Dasher) and one for
performance (the lower-priced 320i).  The economy variant was the 4+E,
which used the corporate 1718cc engine also added to the Rabbit/Scirocco
lineup and mated it with a 5-spd gearbox (the +E in the name meaning
Economy).  The 1718cc engine actually produced slightly slower 0-60
times; I believe it had a lower compression ratio than the 1588cc
engine, which was typical Audi of the day -- not much off the line but
60 to 80 came up smoothly and quickly, and the car's stability in rough,
high-speed corners was exemplary.

The other variant on the 4000 was the 5+5, which used the familiar
2144cc 5-cylinder engine and a 5-speed gearbox of unknown ratios.  This
was to be the "performance" version of the small Audi, though it was
somewhat rushed and reviewers of the day didn't like the nose-heavy
handling.  (And the 4-cyl 1588cc 4000 *was* a very sweet car in the
corners.)  

The whole situation was made moot when Audi's permanent 2-door coupe,
the Coupe (or GT or Coupe GT, depending on year and badging) was
introduced in late 1981.  The CGT used the 2144cc engine and 5-speed
gearbox, but it had several modifications to the suspension that
improved the handling over the 5+5.  The key differences were an
improved upper strut bushing at the front (which overcame the sluggish
response of steering with the 5-cylinder over the nose of the 5+5) and
relocated rear suspension components, moving the leading ends of the
torsion beam axle 21mm upwards to provide less roll understeer at the
rear.  (If you don't understand *why* this works, write me.)  The
Coupe's acceleration was only marginally better than the 1588cc 4000,
but top speed was higher and cruising was at lower RPM -- the nationally
mandated (and universally ignored) 55 mph limit came up at about 3300 on
the 1588cc 4-speed and 2700 on the 5-speed.

The introduction of the CGT pretty well killed off demand for Audi's
2-door 4000 sedan, which in many ways is a pity as it's a handsome
little car, clean and graceful looking.  I loved mine, drove it up and
down California for 3 years or so till I fell under the spell of low-end
torque and gearing and traded it on a first-generation (U.S.) VW GTI. 
The GTI never *drove* as well as the 4000 in any way, except
acceleration and braking.  

Finally, to get to some of your questions: with 2-door 4000 production
only taking place in 1980 and 1981, I think numbers were very small but
I don't know them offhand.  As for quattro models, the 4000 2-doors all
predate the ur-Quattro, which was based on the Coupe of course.  I
remember seeing the first articles about the quattro, as it was then
known, and in fact I took masking tape and matte-black spray paint and
sprayed my headlight bezels black to look like the quattro, at least
from the front.  I don't know when Quattro technology was added to the
4000 line, but I believe it was well after the 2-door sedan had ceased
production.

Data, in addition to my own memory of having owned an early 4000 2-door
sedan for three years, comes from the October 1981 issue of Road and
Track, which includes a full road test of the then-new Audi Coupe
(chosen as Best Sports Coupe for their Ten Best Cars for the Eighties
article, in the same issue).  If there's sufficient demand, I'll copy
that up to my Web site.

--Scott Fisher
  Sunnyvale, CA