Ode To The Avant: '95 2.8 Quattro

"Andrew T. Maness" (theroadlessdriven)
08/27/2014 at 21:38 • Filed to: Used Cars, Car Buying, Ebay, Audi, Audi Avant, Quattro, Audi 2.8. Audi Wagon, Ford Taurus, Ford Windstar

Just look at that thing. Sitting out there in the driveway all non chalant, waiting to take the family into town for errands. Maybe it's not errand time though, maybe it's just you and the dog going up to the cabin for a coupe nights. Or maybe it's just you, an I-pod and a tape adapter going for an evening cruise. Any of the those scenarios are perfectly plausible and the modern classic you see above is more than capable of executing all of them with style and efficiency.

Disclosure: I don't know the guy selling this car, not trying to help him with the sale, I just saw it via GCFSB and it brought up fond memories of a friend's 2.8 Avant.

(images courtesy of ebay member !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

Growing up in Southern Vermont a lot of people had wagons. My parents first shared vehicle was a beige '84 Subaru GL, my grandmother had an '90 Legacy and my aunt/uncle had an '89 Loyale . There have been a number of Subaru's owned in my family since and I'm actually the first of the clan to go for something German(B7 S4 Avant). Point is there was no history Quattro love in my family. No reason that I should feel such a strong connection to these vehicles. But as is often the case in the automotive community, there is no rhyme or reason for feeling a certain way about a certain car. When a car works for you, it just works for you and for me such is the case with the C4 A6 Avant.

I'd stare at various mysterious Bavarian works of automotive art from the rear facing 3rd row seat of my parents '92 Ford Taurus. Even at a very young age I was quite taken with the brand with the 4 interlocking rings logo. One of my favorite Matchbox cars was a coupe Quattro that looked exactly like the one you see below. It was my favorite because once I saw an ad at our local mountain with an Audi plowing through snow. I thought they were the coolest thing in the world, my parents did not.

The year that the C4 A6 debuted it was time for them to trade in the Taurus. Obviously as a 9 year old obsessed with cars I let my imagination run wild with possibilities and hoped they'd get something really cool. I had no concept of what cars cost to maintain or what kind of financial situation my parents were in. My youngest sister was born and my parents did what a-lot of parents did in the mid nineties, they got Ford fucking Windstar. No more rear facing third row seat, no more stash spot for my toys, no more making faces at the car behind us. Minivan's, oh how I hate thee.

Fast forward to my junior year of high school. I'm proud second owner of a 1994 Subaru Legacy LSi wagon. Closest thing I could come to owning an Audi being that my parents were paying my insurance and my dad had a strict no German car policy. In hindsight I understand he was looking out for my own best interests, at the time I thought he was being a dick. Lucky for me I had friends whose parents didn't really give a shit so I was overjoyed when one of them showed up at school driving a Casa Blanca white '96 2.8 Avant. Said friend wasn't particularly a car guy nor was he a great driver. In fact he'd only gotten the Audi because he totaled the '91 Explorer he'd had previously, but he got a new lens prescription and was on his way.

First time I ever rode in the car I was nerding out on just about everything and it's still just as impressive now as it was then. Look how cool that dashboard is, nobody was brave enough to extend the dash into the damn center stack, except Audi. We all know that your copilot needs to be aware of the oil temp, battery voltage and time so the brainiacs at Audi went ahead and made that information easily available to them. It's just one of many design details that makes me think of logging many highway hours in this vehicle with a family and a ton of gear.

The 2.8 V6 eeks out 172hp which considering it's curb weight is 3,847 may not seem like a lot, certainly not by today's standards. However it does sport a whopping 184 lb-ft of torque which comes on whenever it damn well feels like it. Honestly I remember it feeling very quick, loads quicker than my Legacy LSi anyway. Sure it had it's quirks, radio would go in and out, dashboard would occasionally light up like a christmas tree, fuel gauge stopped working in it's later years. But for all it's minor issues, that car served my friend well and it gave me a much needed dose of Quattro during my formative automotive years.

When he first got the car, my friend didn't think much of it. By the time it finally went to the parking lot in the sky he'd become as enamored with it as I was. During it's 4 year model run, the C4 A6 Avant set the tone for Audi's future in the USA. The C5 A6 went on to become a smash hit, especially in Allroad guise, beloved by cross country skiiers and mechanics alike. Yes, I'm aware that the UrS6 Avant had the looks as well as the power but that's a different car for a different post. I haven't had any wheel time with one and it wouldn't be proper to write a story about a car with which I have no personal experience or connection. That's slippery slope I tell ya, slippery slope indeed.

Andrew Maness writes about cars because the POG industry isn't currently drawing much of a crowd. Sometimes he tweets @thisnicelife & posts photos with his IPod Phone @theroadlessdriven

DISCUSSION (25)

STREPITUS > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 09:04

My first car was a '97 A6 Avant 2.8 quattro. Fond memories indeed.

505Turbeaux > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 09:04

I wrote a bit of an ode to an older Audi some time ago. I love the 100 body a6. Great cars if you can keep a transmission in them (done a number of those!)

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/my-ode-to-the-…

twochevrons > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 09:15

Kinja'd!!!

I'm another one with fond memories of Audi station wagons. When I was a kid, my parents had a C3 Avant like this one. It was white, with the third row of seats and a velour-tastic blue interior. I thought that it looked so cool, and loved the distinctive five-cylinder thrum, even then. My parents both really liked it (except when my father was cursing iffy Bosch electrics and K-Jetronic), but the back seat was remarkably narrow, and with three growing kids, they sold it and bought a Renault Espace minivan. It wasn't a bad car (at least so long as you weren't the one driving it), but I always resented it slightly as the car that pushed the Audi out of our family.

I looked around for a nice turbo Avant when I moved to the US (I just love that fastback-wagon shape, even if it is entirely impractical for load hauling), but ended up with a Volvo 850R wagon instead. Not a bad substitute, and I still get that fantastic turbo-five sound, but I still think that the Audi looks better.

jkm7680 > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 09:27

The 12V 2.8 was a fairly reliable engine as far as VAG products went, it was carried from the Audi 80, and made it to my 2.8 B5 A4 as well as the A6.

Klaus Schmoll > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 10:42

My dad had one of those for a year or two. Great car, and a great engine! You could break the wheels loose in 2nd gear. Unfortunately we were the only ones to think that it was a great car. It was stolen from his driveway, never to be seen again.

Andrew T. Maness > jkm7680
08/27/2014 at 12:09

Ah yes, a friend's mom had a B4 90 with the 2.8 that his older brother would often borrow to shuttle us around when she couldn't. I remember that car very well because when she drove it seemed perfectly normal and when he drove it, well he drove it like any teenager would I suppose.

Hat tip to that woman for buying the manual and keeping it real clean. In the end it wound up buried in a snowbank kissing a telephone pole courtesy of the brother, he was fine, car was not.

Andrew T. Maness > STREPITUS
08/27/2014 at 12:10

What color was yours?

Andrew T. Maness > Klaus Schmoll
08/27/2014 at 12:10

Damn, that's rough! What'd he replace it with?

Andrew T. Maness > 505Turbeaux
08/27/2014 at 12:18

Ah yes, the car that nearly killed Audi in America. While I deeply appreciate it's place in the lineage, I was never all that interested in the C3 vehicles. They did however make the big contribution to society with the alternative to saying "I'm leaving" with "I'm outie 5000" so there's that.

Andrew T. Maness > twochevrons
08/27/2014 at 12:20

Ah see, you parents were cool! At least until that third kid came along, just like mine they caved and got a goddamn minivan.

What became of you 850R?

505Turbeaux > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 12:22

this actually was the car before the car that almost killed Audi in the Americas. C3 was the wedgemobile, which I am also fond of. I like the sharp lines of the C2

Klaus Schmoll > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 12:40

Some used Passat. At least the car was gone for good, and insurance paid for it. What's worse is when it's not professionals who take it across the border the same night, but some kiddies who just hoon it death and leave it somewhere to be found. Having a car stolen is unfortunate, but having to drive a car that was stolen, hooned, "repaired" and given back is even worse.

Andrew T. Maness > 505Turbeaux
08/27/2014 at 12:42

Yes, indeed I got my years mixed up there, which will happen as I wasn't born til nearly the end of the "out of control" era. Love this ad, vents on vents on vents!

505Turbeaux > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 12:45

it is true. Man were there alot of them on those cars. The crotch heater was the best!

twochevrons > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 12:55

At least the Espace is pretty cool as far as minivans go, being French and made of plastic. It was a pig to drive, but it was actually pretty good in other respects, and had some very neat features – I believe that it was the first minivan to offer individually removable and foldable seats, and the front seats could be rotated to face the back, making a nice 'picnic table' arrangement with the middle row folded down. Still not as cool as the Audi, though.

The 850R came into my life pretty recently. I posted about it a few months back , and it's been fantastic since – with a bit of elbow grease, and after a few initial hiccups, it's been perfectly reliable and even looks halfway decent now.

There's a lot to be said in favor of the 850R – they're simple enough that DIY repairs are remarkably easy, and although they don't have the cockroach-like indestructibility of their predecessors, they're still remarkably tough and long-lasting. Mine has 213,000 miles on the clock, and still drives like a much younger car.

Andrew T. Maness > Klaus Schmoll
08/27/2014 at 12:58

Agreed. Moment of silence for going from 2.8 Quattro to a Passat.

Klaus Schmoll > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 13:02

Well, given what his cars look like after he's had them for a while, he shouldn't be driving (formerly) nice cars anyway.

Andrew T. Maness > twochevrons
08/27/2014 at 13:06

I remember a family friend having a Eurovan with the rotating seats and picnic table, thought it was the coolest thing in the world compared to the Windstar. probably because anything was cool compared to the Windstar.

The Dodge Grand Caravan that my parents got after the Windstar met it's end with a good size buck is another story completely. My dad still drive the damn thing, the 3.8 V6 has retained all it's go power. I'm still as surprised with it's ability to pull as I was the day I got my license and hit 120 going down the valley.

$850 for the 850, nice!

Andrew T. Maness > Klaus Schmoll
08/27/2014 at 13:07

Haha, fair enough, sounds like my grandfather.

Chris Clarke > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 13:50

I first found Audi love with my '94 90 12V 5mt and quickly turned a new leaf with a '98 30V Avant and have since added an '01 S4. All based off similar V6 engines.

STREPITUS > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 15:29

Black on black with the 5 spoke wheels.

twochevrons > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 22:29

Thankfully, my parents snapped out of their minivan phase once the Espace's transmission grenaded itself for the second time in 3 years, and went back to station wagons. First a Citroën Xantia that was so good that I bought one, too, and now they've got an Alfa Romeo 156 wagon.

I got to borrow the 156 when I visited them last, and if I could get one here in the US, I'd be all over it. It's useless as a load hauler, but I seriously doubt that a better-looking station wagon exists, and it's great to drive. It doesn't feel as fast in a straight line as my 850R, but with a lovely manual transmission and nimble handling, it's much more fun.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Andrew T. Maness
08/27/2014 at 23:11

My first memories of a car were my mom's old 1997 Audi A6 2.8 Quattro Avant. It was our little red wagon, and those rear-facing jumpseats were awesome. Plus, we never met a snowdrift that thing couldn't go through.

Andrew T. Maness > twochevrons
08/28/2014 at 11:34

The 156 sport wagon is a good looking car for sure, love the retro individual tach/speedometer.

Andrew T. Maness > sm70- why not Duesenberg?
08/28/2014 at 11:37

Oh yeah, red Audi wagon, you mom was cool! I love to give my mom a hard time about her affinity for the 'ol warhorse minivan.