Customer Reviews

Audi Quattro: The Development & Competition History (A Foulis motoring book)

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Some 15 years after its publication this title fetches premium secondhand prices, which is just as the same author's Unbeatable BMW achieved.

As for Unbeatable, a new American edition is to become a reality, but that's not scheduled to appear until 2003. So what's so good about the original? And what should be improved?

The plus points of quattro in the Haynes 1984 edition [or the German-only 1985 mild uprate from Mototbuch Verlag] are its immense depth, born of direct factory cooperation and first hand experience. It covers both motorsports [mainly World Championship rallying] and the street development of the unique 4x4 turbo quattro, a coupe that set technical standards for 20 years. It talks directly to the engineers who made it happen, many of whom are retired today.

The snags to the original are poor presentation [the grainiest black and white you'll see outside WW11 battle footage] and an illogical running order, characteristic of this author.

If you need a genuine quattro fix before 2003 hunt one of these collectibles down. If not, the American edition will likely overcome the original minus points. As a bonis it will offer many US motor racing tales [Audi won the 1988 Trans Am title], the story of quattro's 600 bhp Pikes Peak monsters and 15 years of Audi's legendary Vortsprung durch technik [Progress through Technology.