Color? Check. Smelly? Check. Solid and slow to move? Check. Alright, yes, the late 70’s and early 80’s were Diesel’s first time to shine in the United States passenger car market and various attempts were made with various degrees of success. From several Mercedes models to a few domestics to probably the most successful, that being the VW Rabbit, Volvo, Peugeot, and a few others gave it a shot as well, and Audi was not to be left out either with its newly introduced 5000 sedan.
Audi was in the midst of a total makeover over here after the original (C1) 100 and the Audi Fox; in Europe the C2 generation had been introduced in 1976 and the Audi 80 (B2 generation, our 4000) in 1978. Both models came to the US with the new C2 (100 in Europe) being badged as 5000 over here for the 1978 model year and the 4000 a couple of years later.
Carrying undeniably modern and stately styling, the 5000 was a larger car than the older 100 it replaced and in Europe at least had some big shoes to fill, over here it was more of a do-over operation. In Europe the C2 100 also effectively replaced the NSU Ro80 after the NSU name ceased to exist as a standalone marque and NSU’s Neckarsulm factory was tasked to produce the C2 (100/5000), which it effectively still does to this day with the current generation Audi A6 and A8 models.
After the first two years in which the 5000 had a fairly ugly set of round headlights with a clear filler panel between and around them (similar but somehow much uglier than on the Mercedes W123) the front was updated with a quartet of rectangular headlights that, while not as attractive as its European one-piece combination headlights, were certainly more attractive than the stopgap measure they replaced. The family resemblance to the smaller, new 4000 was obvious as with the Coupe that debuted the following year.
The non-diesel version was equipped with a 5-cylinder gasoline engine, eventually there was also a turbocharged gasoline version and a turbocharged diesel version in later model years. Considered very well driving cars, this generation of 5000 did develop a loyal following and helped set the stage for Audi’s next steps including all-wheel-drive and high performance machinery as well as achieving an extremely high design standard.
While all three cars (5000, 4000, Coupe) would share engine families in various markets over the years in various guises, the first Audi diesel engine to make it to the US was offered in the 5000, a 2.0l 5-cylinder unit producing a decidedly underwhelming 69hp. Due to the meager power output it was only offered with a 5-speed manual transmission and on top of that wasn’t offered in California as the diesel did not meet that state’s emissions requirements of the time.
While an Audi 5000 weighs well under 3000 pounds due in part to its FWD architecture, I still suspect that driving this car at a mile high elevation would be a severe exercise in patience and the 55mph speed limit in effect must have seemed a blessing in disguise. As a side note, the only rarer version is likely the 1983-only 5000 turbodiesel, with an engine only offered for one year (but available in all 50 states) and only in the US market.
The diesel’s fuel economy of 27/41 in conjunction with the 19.8 gallon fuel tank let Audi advertise a range of 811 miles. That’s serious bladder busting stuff right there and likely appealed to some people although the lack of an automatic option for the diesel probably turned even more people away.
This one’s engine was already in a state of disassembly and it didn’t look like it had been worked on in the yard, I suspect it came in this way. The top end is gone but the bottom was missing as well, just pretty much a bare block with a clear view down through the bores. Something obviously went wrong in a big way and while Robert Bentley’s shop manuals will tell you that reassembly is the reverse of disassembly, sometimes it just doesn’t seem to work out that way.
While I don’t consider the 5000 of this generation a rare sight at all back then, Audi only sold just over 133,000 of them over six model years. I assume the reliability reputation of the prior 100 model such as the one we saw in this series last week was partly to blame but in most respects the 5000 was a thoroughly modern offering for the time. Non-diesel versions were even product-placed in some TV shows and movies; Higgins drove a 1980 one in Magnum P.I. (and actually had several over the subsequent years) and Elliott’s mom in 1982’s E.T. drove a 1980 model as well.
I suspect that the same owner that provided the Audi 100 to this yard also owned this 5000 as well as a husk of VW Rabbit Diesels that were all within a row of each other in this yard. They all had the aura of cars that had been sitting around for some time and for some reason this particular yard gets a lot of two-sies of very similar older cars at the same time, with this batch of six or seven somewhat related cars merely looking like an expanded collection.
The second car I ever owned happened to also be a 1980 Audi in this exact same brown color (non-metallic btw) but it was the smaller 4000 with a 4cylinder and a 4-speed (hey, that’s weird!). This 5000 (with a 5cylinder and a 5-speed) is the first time I can recall having seen another Audi of the same year in the same color. When properly washed and waxed it’s not an ugly color but I can appreciate that it wasn’t particularly popular either.
Most 5000s sold over here were “S” models, supposedly around 90%. Nowadays the “S” designation denotes Audi’s sportier offerings (S4, S6 etc) but back then the S was merely a trim level, in this case (and particular year) the top one. This car was originally sold by Bob Hagestad Porsche/Audi in Lakewood which is now (and has been since at least the mid-’80s) Prestige Porsche/Audi at the same location.
Then it looks like it moved to Wyoming and was sold as a used car by Bill Anselmi Olds/GMC/Mercedes in Casper. Bill Anselmi passed away in the late 1980s and by 1990 the dealership became Anselmi Pontiac/Buick/GMC and eventually became Casper Buick/GMC/Cadillac (as it stands today) so I’m guessing this may have been traded in on either a Mercedes Diesel or perhaps even an Olds with a Diesel sometime in the ’80s. Or something else entirely of course.
Since there isn’t another dealer sticker on it and virtually every dealer in these parts isn’t shy about affixing such to their cars that may have been it for this one and stayed in the next owner’s fleet for thirty-odd years before coming here.
Taking our little tour inside shows an attractive color combination of butterscotch leather and dark brown and black trim. That same leather seat pattern was also used for the Audi Quattro, albeit in a more bolstered form and Audi often used diagonal stitching or patterns back then on the seating surfaces.
The dashboard itself is of a similar motif as the older 100 dash, however instead of wood all the way across it now the vents look like they go all the way across. While they don’t actually go all the way across (some portions are dummied), if you look you will see vastly more adjustable sections than dummy sections, clearly Audi was trying to provide lots of ventilation. There are two vents right above the center stack, two more right in front of the passenger and then at least another on each corner. The power window switches are in the center console and HVAC controls in the middle, easily accessible. The steering wheel is a somewhat odd-looking “safety” design with a thick non-airbag padded section. This style reminds me of orthopaedic shoes for some reason or another, it’s not one of Audi’s better offerings.
While I can accept that this car only traveled 101,000 miles at a leisurely pace before succumbing, it could just as well be otherwise, as for example the same VDO odometer in the 4000 I owned back in 1988 (so at eight years of age) had developed a maddening inconsistency in operation where it would frequently stop working and some miles later start recording mileage again, so the actual mileage was unknowable. This was not an isolated or uncommon occurrence in these cars, there is a whole industry devoted to replacing gears and rebuilding VDO odometer and speedometer units. As an aside, the speedo worked, just not the odo so it wasn’t ever that imperative to fix it.
This is upper class Germany’s idea of stripper instrumentation with a large clock instead of an RPM gauge, and water temp and fuel gauges. At least there are no painfully obvious blanks but at least they could have put upshift indicators on the speedo but perhaps when you’re moving that slowly, what does it matter. Perhaps one of the row of indicator lights underneath fulfills that function.
The back seat space is roomy with more of the diagonal leatherwork. Note the VW holdover door latches as well as the individual ash tray and lighter for each outboard position high up on the window ledge. Just above are the door lock plungers, vacuum operated, wherein when you push one down, the others after a short pause would suck on down as well and when lifted would follow as well. Well, in theory at least, any vacuum issues and this “power” aspect went away. At least it was quiet without the loud thunk afflicting GM’s offerings of the day.
This sort of shows the richness of the brown paint better without any fading or flattening, and the VIN tag (just like the older 100’s) shows Audi’s old full name from this era. Built in very early 1980 this car was shaking off the excesses of the 1970’s and breaking new ground. Slowly. I don’t often see 5000s this old anymore, almost never in the junkyard and never on the street, so finding one and a diesel version at that was satisfying.
I know I was being a little facetious (fecetious?) with the title and this one obviously didn’t seem to go the distance but conceptually this generation of Audis were very attractive (to me). Since you know that I very much like the mid-80’s Toyota Cressida as well as the Euro Ford Granada, well, this may be the car that had a big influence in that respect as it’s hewn from a very similar aesthetic mindset. Sure, the next generation would spark a design revolution at Audi and around the world but at its peak this design was deeply impressive as well and while likely not the success that Audi was hoping for in the US, got it closer to its goal. I’d happily drive a vintage 5000 (just not a naturally aspirated diesel one).
Related Reading:
Vintage Review: Audi 5000 Extended-Use Report by Yohai Rodin
Cohort Sighting: Audi 5000 (100-C2) – The Anti W123 by Paul Niedermeyer
Another car I have failed to find on the streets, and long overdue here.
Yes, it wasn’t the big success of the C3, but then the C3’s sudden popularity among former American car owners is precisely what likely led to the “sudden acceleration” issue, as the pedal placement in the Audi was decidedly different than in the typical American car.
As to its 69hp, that was still more than the Mercedes 240D’s 67hp, and the 5000 undoubtedly weighed less. But yes, these normally aspirated diesels required quite a bit of patience.
In 1980, I thought these cars had the coolest dashboards and instrument panels, and the nicest interiors.
And four decades later, they still look great!
A clock instead of a tachometer seems …. appropriate.
It does seem a bit cheap not to include one. But that was very common then, and tachs were generally seen as appropriate for high performance and sporty cars. People learned to shift by the sound of the engine.
And in the case of a diesel, it’s even less necessary. A diesel simply stops revving higher when it hits its peak, which is of course very low, around 4,000 rpm. It’s impossible to over-rev. So there’s really not much need for one, eh?
A calendar would be even more appropriate. Especially for timing acceleration.
It’s popular (in today’s meme culture at least) to comment on the fact that we’re raising a generation of kids who can’t drive stick shift, but both our kids do so it’s not universal. However, I do think it’s a undeniable fact that modern young people may never have a car that sprouts dashboard cracks after just a few years. I think I’d take a dead touchscreen any day, over those once-ubiquitous faultlines.
I find these attractive, and there is something kind of appealing to me about the slow diesel with its stick shift. Says the guy who has never had to drive one.
I will be “that guy” and say that I like the looks of these better than those of the next generation that was such a revolution.
If only it had been a wagon, it would be lovingly stored in some enthusiast’s garage. 🙂
Great find! You’ve been digging up a bunch of interesting Audis. What’s next, a 5+5?
I also had an odometer malfunction with my (’81) Audi — the odometer stopped at about 75,000 miles.
I had forgotten about this oddly out-of-place steering wheel. I guess it is safety-inspired, but to me it looked like it was lifted out of a GM product or something.
Some Audi of this vintage had alternative to airbag [Bomb]. Cables pulled steering wheel/assy away from driver in frontal collision.
I’ve often wondered if the front door is shared with the Audi 80/4000 and Passat/Dasher of the same generation. Looks very similar.
it’s not.
I’ve always liked the C3 too. In 1998 or thereabouts I was looking to replace a C4 – I loved the way it drove but everything else about it was horrible – the electric windows broke, the automatic climate control never blew hot or cold, and the auto tranny was no fun.
I was at a dealer in New Mexico and saw a pristine C3 at the back of the lot. It was 20 years old and had belonged to the dealer’s wife, and despite my experience with the next generation l took a chance on it. 5 speed, manual windows, simple A/C controls, etc. Best $1,500 I ever spent and I daily drove it for 8 years with zero issues. Dead ringer for this image I picked off the web. I actually like the round headlights better. Miss that car!
Oops, make that a C2 that I had!
I have always wondered something, and I bet someone here knows the answer. Why five cylinders? I know Volvo and VW also use use them, but an inline-5 is a relatively uncommon configuration. If they wanted to offer a larger engine, why not just go with the much more common V6 or I6? What was the advantage of an I5?
For both Audi and Mercedes, it was by far the most expedient solution to make a 25% larger engine. Mostly it just involved a block and head with an extra cylinder; most other components could be reused.
A six cylinder using the same basic engine architecture would have resulted in an engine 50% larger in displacement, and respectively heavier and more costly.
Audi eventually did just that, but back then 2.2 liters was just the right size for them, and a lot cheaper too. An inline six would have been too long for Audi’s engine location.
Mercedes didn’t want a 3.6L diesel six; it would have been too large also.
It was a very pragmatic and practical solution, and the VAG 5 cylinder diesel was built for a number of decades; until quite recently, actually, for use in their vans.
The common joke was that the 5 had the power of a 4 and the fuel economy of a 6… 🙂
In gasoline form, the 5, especially in turbo form, has a history of being extremely tunable, powerful, and long-lasting, it was a fundamentally excellent engine. Note that the quite recent Audi TTRS and I believe the RS3 also used an inline 5 but transversely mounted.
VW also had (for a while) a VR5. Yes, one bank of two and one bank of three with a narrow angle V and a common cylinder head.
The diesel 5 is one of the most reliable powerplants VW has ever manufactured.
Brother has a Volvo s80 with it, and is knocking on a million kilometres
5-cylinder engine too long for this location, resulting in the side radiator position. Audi liked putting radiator beside engine in earlier models.
An i6 would not fit the engine bay. And in Europe there was a tax advantage on cars of 2.0 and under. This engine was based on the vw 1.6 diesel found in various golfs/rabbits over the years, just with an extra pot added to give you 2.0. There was also a six cylinder 2.4l version used in vw LT vans and diesel Volvo 240/740/940.
Interesting, yet useless, fact: The I-5 in this Audi was effectively 83% of the same engine used in the USA-spec Volvo 200- and 700-series Diesels. And my 245 Diesel was screaming its fool head off in 3rd gear trying to climb the mountains on I-40 west of Amarillo.
When looking at US sales numbers for this model, remember that sports/luxury car sales went into the tank from about 1980 til 83. Cadillac sales were down by about 40 percent from 1979 to 1980, and stayed there, and it wasn’t just the fault of the product.
Selling an old product in a down market at unfavorable exchange rates isn’t an easy task.
They should have just shipped it directly there from the factory, thus eliminating the middleman!
Motor Trend did one of their coast to coast drive tests on one of these and a 1980 25th anniversary Thunderbird. They were the first long distance driving tests I remember reading and found the concept an interesting way to learn about the cars and the United States.
Almost 40 years later an Audi is still basically an Audi but the Thunderbird and American cars in general are a much different story.
The title of the post made me laugh out loud.
I think that engine may have a compression problem in that condition.
Higgins on Magnum had the later Audi as well. Higgy-Baby had class.
I just think of these as a four-door Scirocco, with the best door handles ever made.
Audi of this era noted for worst door handles, as far as functioning.
Yeah, I must have been thinking of something else. Memory’s the first thing to go…😶
Very cool find Jim! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these 5000s in the metal, but I certainly do recognize it from ET. Overall it’s a very clean and attractive design for the era, and one pleasantly less “iconic” than similar-vintage BMWs and Mercedes-Benzes. Now forgive me with my rambling, but just a couple further unrelated thoughts:
The diagonal sew pattern on the leather is certainly distinctive and upsetting to my OCD. Chrysler used a similar diagonal pattern on its upper-level cloth upholstery in its Chrysler-Dodge-Plymouth minivans for 1996-97 and it’s always bothered me 🙂
Brown will never be an attractive nor appealing exterior color in car for me, and its recent resurgence (in availability; actual take-rate and popularity doesn’t seem to be very much) is puzzling to me. On the flip-side, I love brown interiors!
And I thought the full-width vent with several fakes effect was something new to Audi with the current B9 A4 😉
I recall the 2nd gen Honda Accord from 1982 having a full-witch vent that actually was functional for the full width.
It did not. It only had four normal sized and placed vents. We had one in this series a few months ago.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/junkyard/junkyard-classic-1982-honda-accord-lx-i-may-be-the-only-person-who-ever-got-stung-by-an-accord/
Well, at least with this one, there is no unintended acceleration issues.
When I first saw this post, I thought this was the brown diesel 5000 I owned about five years ago. It was a quite comfortable and I enjoyed it’s looks and the noises it made, but man, was it slow. It was also one of the most unreliable classic cars I’ve owned. It seemed like once a month something would break on it (admittedly, it did have an indicated 260k miles, so it should be expected to break a bit).
The video you posted is of my car from my YouTube channel. Are you the person who bought it from me?
These were lovely, lovely cars when they weren’t at the dealer’s repair station.
Which was every other week, usually.
In the US, the final year for this generation of 5000 was 1983. That year, the 5000 diesel became the 5000 Turbodiesel(sic), giving it 84 hp. I recall reading a review with the headline, “Downhill Racer, Somewhat Mightier Than Before.”
Audi really used to have pretty exciting styling. The 80/4000 and 100/5000 of this era were extremely clean and advanced looking cars, and then the next 100/5000 just moved the bar for everyone. Now it feels like we’re 25 years into the glacial evolution of the first A4. When the big news about Audi styling for the past decade has been feigned interest in lighting shapes, you know they’ve given up. Fortunately for Audi, the rest of the German manufacturers have made them look tasteful and restrained.
Take a look at a jet airliner from the 1960s compared to one today.
Other than readily visible tip winglets and larger engine nacelles to accommodate
high-bypass turbofans, there is not a lot of difference. And the latter can be, and often is, retrofitted to earlier airframes.
When function trumps form, there is a limited number of outcomes in how something looks. The A4 reached that point 25 years ago. Hence, the gaping maw grills and tortuously shaped LED lighting, to maintain consumer interest.
IMHO, the original Taurus didn’t ever have to be changed. It was because of the fickleness of retail consumers. The Chrysler LX was also retrograde to the LH, going back to the 50s for design language.
In a sense, CUVs are also retrograde. A simple return to the basic proportions of the late ’30s – early ’40s.
Fair point! I suppose they could go further in the direction of low drag, but only at the cost of usability and utility. Cars like the Citroen DS and CX with modern surface detail solutions could have had lower drag than Audis, but their from factors never worked that well in the real world, which is why they were almost never seen without body damage.
Well I have to ask, how does low drag contribute to body damage?
Most DSs and IDs I saw when I was in Europe in 1974 had crushed front valence panels, probably from excessive front overhang combined with low ride height and horrible driver visibility of its droopy extremes. The tadpole CXs that I saw when I lived in Europe a decade later were just too big and oddly shaped for European parking spaces, leading to the sort of damage once seen in the US on 1975 Buick Electra 225s driven by elderly women. Even the SMs that turn up once in a while in the US always bear marks of low speed impacts that have resulted from their impractical design.
I am looking for USA audi 5000 parts to send to Europe. Can someone help me ?
thank you
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l2632.R2.TR12.TRC2.A0.H0.Xaudi+5.TRS0&_nkw=audi+5000&_sacat=6028
I drive a 1980 Audi 100 GL 5S over here in Germany. Great car with a great engine – especially the sound. The vents do actually go all the way across the complete dashboard – functioning. Audi was trying to provide lots of ventilation because the creator of this car was Ferdinand Piech (who was also responsible for the Audi quattro). Ferdinand Piech really hated draughts caused by air-conditioning and that is why he created so many vents. Lots of vents caused less draughts than air-condition with only a few vents. The peak of engineering against draughts is the creation of the air-condition-system for the VW Phaeton. The air is basically streaming mildly through every opening of the dashboard. Ferdinand Piëch wanted a completely draft-free air conditioning and the legend goes its development was personally supervised by Piech himself. The Audi C2 was the first step in that direction.
This is my Audi……….
I’ll gladly trade a few drafts for an AC system that actually produces cold air and actually works for more than 4 or 5 years, then basically totals the car because the repair cost approaches the mind-bendingly depreciated value of the car.
And don’t get me started about the C2s heating system in prairie winters.
When Audi launched the 200 turbo (yes, a c2 “5000” with higher compression, no catalyst, more horsepower and a great engine sound) it took not more than a day that it was clear to me I badly needed such a car. I was 18 years old then and a year later I took all my money and bought one. Sold it two years later to buy the later model. and so on.
At last it took me more than 10 years to build another c2 200 turbo from three junk yard cars: One was badly rusty, one rear end crashed and the last one had an engine fire.
Here it comes with a/c, p/w, green glass, cruise, heated seats, power mirrors and the Sao Paolo sound system:
This is it:
Yep–that’s exactly where that turd belongs. It does my heart good to see one of these piles rotting away like this. Pure automotive garbage.
It would be boring if everyone had the same favourite cars. When I see some British cars I wonder how anyone would spend money on such engineers’ nightmares.