How the Audi Quattro changed the way we drive – both on- and off-road.

It’s no understatement to say the 1980s was a decade of big ideas. Whether it was the oversized power clothing on offer from the likes of Messrs Giorgio Armani and Gianni Versace or the slew of new gadgets (from microwaves to brick-sized mobile phones) that became the new, state-of-the-art status symbols of boom-time existence, popular culture was fully absorbed in the idea of a bold, bright, neon-hued future and the new technologies that would be driving it. Not all these innovations proved to have lasting power – as anyone who bought a Sinclair C5 can testify. But some have endured, a case in point being Audi’s quattro four-wheel drive system, first launched in 1980, which paved the way for models including the new Audi A7 Sportback.

Though Audi is well known these days as a purveyor of sporty and luxury vehicles, at this point in history, while The Blues Brothers played out in the cinemas and Joy Division’s Closer blared on the radio, it had something of a more traditional image. It was the company’s first quattro car, often referred to as the “Ur-Quattro” that would change all that. Inspired by late 1970s testing in Sweden with the Volkswagen Iltis (a truck-like off-roader that was unbeatable in snowy conditions), the Ur-Quattro was created to pack the power of that era’s relatively clunky four-wheel drive vehicles into a light, road-ready and thoroughly sporty coupé. And the way that it did this was ingenious: by introducing a hollow shaft-within-a-shaft in the transmission, it allowed the engine’s power to be evenly split across the front and rear axles without the need for a bulky transfer cases (of the type then typically used in military vehicles) or an additional drive shaft. The resulting drive was light efficient and, most importantly, far more zippy than its indefatigable (but rather slow) four-by-forebears. (What’s more, in a very 1980s touch, the mid-decade models incorporated voice synthesizers in its green digital dashboard – eat your heart out, Knight Rider).

The Ur-Quattro made its debut in 1980 at that year’s International Geneva Motor Show. The next year, it wowed during its debut at the Monte Carlo Rally, when, after the first 10km of the first stage, the Audi Quattro’s driver, Finn Mr Hannu Mikkola, overtook a Lancia Stratos that had started one minute before him. That was just the beginning: through the early 1980s, the Audi Quattro continued to scoop titles at rally events, with the quattro A1 and A2 evolutions in response to changing Group B rally rules. (The A2 alone won three world rallies in 1983 and five in 1984.) Meanwhile, consumer demand for the car, originally intended to be a low volume model, was at fever pitch, leading Audi to put it into large-scale production.

Of course, though the 1980s proved to be a game-changing period for Audi, in which the brand also became the first European car maker to introduce catalytic converters in 1983. But it hasn’t rested on its laurels since. On the contrary, such technological innovation has remained at the core of Audi’s cars right through to the present day, its latest high-tech gran turismo, the new Audi A7 Sportback, being a case in point. A supercharged descendent of the quattro with a streamlined, ultra-sporty aesthetic, it naturally, offers dynamic all-wheel steering (now with the ability for the front and back wheels to steer in opposite directions at lower speeds for exceptional control) in a mild-hybrid system (another Audi innovation, which allows silent coasting up to speeds of 99mph). But, as this is 2018, it also boasts a host of smart and connected features – 39 driver assistance systems will be available, and there’s a new touchscreen control interface with haptic feedback. Still, it hasn’t forgotten where it came from – as part of the digitised lighting design, the tail light features an LED light strip – a homage to the original quattro.

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