Audi Quattro Concept - Auto Shows
A lightweight, retro-futuristic nod to the Ur-Quattro.
BY DAVID GLUCKMAN
September 2010
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Audi Quattro. To celebrate, the car that started it all—now known as the Ur-Quattro, or “original Quattro”—has received a futuristic second coming. This concept throws modern tech and styling at the all-wheel-drive rally-weapon idea and hints at weight-saving innovations to come from the four-ringed brand.
The car’s overall stance and proportions are closer to that of the Sport Quattro, the super-limited-production homologation special Audi built to compete in Group B rally beginning in 1984. This new effort, however, is wider, longer, and rides on a longer wheelbase than the Sport Quattro. It’s actually based on the RS5 coupe’s platform, which has been shortened and chopped for use here. The Neu-Quattro trades the RS5’S 4.2-liter V-8 for a more historically correct turbocharged five-cylinder engine. The 2.5-liter TFSI engine is a modified version of the TT RS powerplant, here generating 408 hp.
But Weight, There’s Less
Most of the Quattro concept’s body panels are rendered in aluminum; the hood and hatch are made of carbon fiber, and as a subtle reminder, the four-ring logos found on each are actually exposed carbon-fiber weave. Audi claims the Quattro concept weighs about 2900 pounds, which it says is near the weight of the carbon-and-Kevlar-bodied Sport Quattro. The combination of low weight and high horsepower supposedly enables a 3.9-second 0-to-62-mph run.
Of course, it couldn’t wear the Quattro name without all-wheel drive. Audi has fitted its latest-gen system, which uses a crown-gear center differential to apportion the 354 lb-ft of available torque. The normal torque split sends 60 percent to the back, but that amount can vary between 85 percent and 30 percent. Audi’s torque-vectoring Sport differential is found out back, and the driver selects gears via a six-speed manual transmission. (We applaud the company for not going full-future-tech and fitting an S tronic or R tronic automated manual.)
Audi Styling, Past and Present
Obvious styling links to the past include the diagonal slats and mail-slot intake as seen on the Sport Quattro’s hood, the low rear spoiler (which is now adjustable), the sail-shaped C-pillar, and the overall hatchback profile. The front end is dominated by a gaping, blacked-out grille that, to our eye, looks out of place on a car that otherwise holds fairly faithful to the original’s form. In true modern Audi fashion, the lighting elements are all LED. Twenty-inch center-lock wheels give a visual update, but don’t appear quite as rally-ready as the smaller rims of classic Quattros.
Inside are just two lightweight bucket seats, as in the short-wheelbase Sport Quattro, clad with toffee-colored leather that contrasts the swaths of carbon fiber found throughout the cabin. The Spartan interior is driver-focused, with only a few simple controls surrounding the shifter and all of the MMI info displaying on the high-res gauge cluster. One more Ur ode: Four big, square buttons line either side of the binnacle, controlling a stopwatch function on the left and MMI on the right.
Will the Quattro return in production form? That’s not known, but Audi does say that this concept showcases future lightweight body-construction principles, which it eventually will apply to its entire lineup. If the new definition of “light” means cars that weigh as little as 26-year-old, homologation-special rally classics, that’s okay by us.
A lightweight, retro-futuristic nod to the Ur-Quattro.
BY DAVID GLUCKMAN
September 2010
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Audi Quattro. To celebrate, the car that started it all—now known as the Ur-Quattro, or “original Quattro”—has received a futuristic second coming. This concept throws modern tech and styling at the all-wheel-drive rally-weapon idea and hints at weight-saving innovations to come from the four-ringed brand.
The car’s overall stance and proportions are closer to that of the Sport Quattro, the super-limited-production homologation special Audi built to compete in Group B rally beginning in 1984. This new effort, however, is wider, longer, and rides on a longer wheelbase than the Sport Quattro. It’s actually based on the RS5 coupe’s platform, which has been shortened and chopped for use here. The Neu-Quattro trades the RS5’S 4.2-liter V-8 for a more historically correct turbocharged five-cylinder engine. The 2.5-liter TFSI engine is a modified version of the TT RS powerplant, here generating 408 hp.
But Weight, There’s Less
Most of the Quattro concept’s body panels are rendered in aluminum; the hood and hatch are made of carbon fiber, and as a subtle reminder, the four-ring logos found on each are actually exposed carbon-fiber weave. Audi claims the Quattro concept weighs about 2900 pounds, which it says is near the weight of the carbon-and-Kevlar-bodied Sport Quattro. The combination of low weight and high horsepower supposedly enables a 3.9-second 0-to-62-mph run.
Of course, it couldn’t wear the Quattro name without all-wheel drive. Audi has fitted its latest-gen system, which uses a crown-gear center differential to apportion the 354 lb-ft of available torque. The normal torque split sends 60 percent to the back, but that amount can vary between 85 percent and 30 percent. Audi’s torque-vectoring Sport differential is found out back, and the driver selects gears via a six-speed manual transmission. (We applaud the company for not going full-future-tech and fitting an S tronic or R tronic automated manual.)
Audi Styling, Past and Present
Obvious styling links to the past include the diagonal slats and mail-slot intake as seen on the Sport Quattro’s hood, the low rear spoiler (which is now adjustable), the sail-shaped C-pillar, and the overall hatchback profile. The front end is dominated by a gaping, blacked-out grille that, to our eye, looks out of place on a car that otherwise holds fairly faithful to the original’s form. In true modern Audi fashion, the lighting elements are all LED. Twenty-inch center-lock wheels give a visual update, but don’t appear quite as rally-ready as the smaller rims of classic Quattros.
Inside are just two lightweight bucket seats, as in the short-wheelbase Sport Quattro, clad with toffee-colored leather that contrasts the swaths of carbon fiber found throughout the cabin. The Spartan interior is driver-focused, with only a few simple controls surrounding the shifter and all of the MMI info displaying on the high-res gauge cluster. One more Ur ode: Four big, square buttons line either side of the binnacle, controlling a stopwatch function on the left and MMI on the right.
Will the Quattro return in production form? That’s not known, but Audi does say that this concept showcases future lightweight body-construction principles, which it eventually will apply to its entire lineup. If the new definition of “light” means cars that weigh as little as 26-year-old, homologation-special rally classics, that’s okay by us.
