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After the luxurious "Cream Cheese" (cream colored) and 5000S Wagon
(Avant for those outside the U.S.), I didn't think I could go back
to the relatively raw and unrefined feel of the 4000-series cars.
But after owning and driving so many Audis over the years, I became
more and more aware that I was only driving the "average" Audis.
No turbo cars, no coupes, and certainly no quattros.
What I was looking for was a 1985 or newer Audi 4000cs quattro
turbo. Needless to say, they don't exist--not from the manufacturer,
at least. But still, I wanted the low-profile shape of the new 4000-series
with as many words on the rear fascia as I could get.
I had always been enamoured by the quattro system. I wanted so badly
to own a quattro, but a lot of the 5000S-quattro models beyond my
grad-student budget. Even when I was driving the other Audis, I
secretly craved one Audi in particular--the 4000CS quattro. One
of my neighbors had a beautiful white one with a red leather interior
(probably the 1986 Commemorative Edition version), so I knew exactly
what I was looking for.
That was 1991. Fast forward to November, 1997. After moving to Chicago
for graduate school, I was driving my parent's 1989 Taurus sedan.
It had boring written all over it. I renewed my efforts to search
for my car in the greater Chicagoland area. After three months of
searching the papers and the internet, I stumbled across an ad placed
in the EPage Classifieds (a fine place to search for your choice
automobile). The ad was for a 1987 Audi 4000CS quattro. I had to
go see.
Apparently, Princeton, IL is not close to Chicago. Still, I
still drove the 200 round-trip miles to see the car, amidst calls
that I was crazy and insane from family and friends. After my first
drive, i was hooked. The car handled amazingly well on the twisting
farm roads, given its four bald M+S rated tires, and power was quite
plentiful from the 2.22l 5-cylinder transplanted from the 5000-series.
This was not the same car that came off the line in 1980, that much
was for certain. I was hooked.
I didn't want to jump into a purchase, so I checked out several
more cars. An '88 5000CS Turbo quattro that turned out to have had
non-turbo engine transplant and sketchy paint; an '88 5000CS turbo
that had an automatic transmission that was going quickly; an '86
Coupe GT that was almost immaculate but too pricey; and another
'87 4000CS quattro, complete with more rust and less maintenance
than the first one I saw.
After deliberating for weeks, and another visit to see the car
in Princeton, I made the purchase. $2700, 101,000 miles, and it
had been well-maintained by a knowledgeable Audi mechanic--the owner.
From the fist drive home, I knew it was the right move. After upgrading
the stereo system and driving in 6" of fresh snow in Chicago, I
was, without a doubt satisfied.
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