Audi 4000s Quattro
This was M's Audi 4000 Quattro beater that we picked up in late spring of 2004 in Rhode Island. It was his daily driver for several years and received zero maintenance aside from oil changes. I drove it often to get parts when my Accord project was in pieces.
The shifter felt like the other end was in beach full of wet sand. You could pull the shift knob clean off because it didn't have any threads. It looked lowered not because of a shorter springs but because every piece of the suspension was shot. The pneumatically actuated differentials had long since ceased working before we even got it. The wheel bolts wouldn't come off and M broke an extension in half trying.
The exhaust mid pipe broke off of the first muffler of its own accord while M was on his way to work one night necessitating a full evening of hack saw delightfulness! We had to cut a massive trailer hitch off that a previous owner had welded to the rear subframe - effectively trapping the muffler assembly permanently. That was about 45 minutes of three of us taking turns on our face on the ground with the hacksaw. Then the rest of the stock exhaust would not come out over the axle so the hacksaw again saved the day. We love you hacksaw (*said in GIR voice)
What went in the broken exhausts place? The Helios urQ stock exhaust system for a grand total of 0$!! We all agree that the exhaust sound has improved 10 fold with the adjective "barky" being used on several occasions. It didn't fit but who cares.
After the slow and screeching death of the alternator bearing over a period of months M had had enough of it and it was promptly given to another local Audi buff who probably didn't know what he was getting into.
The final tale from this car was that the next owner had the window regulator go out. This left the interior exposed to the elements for several months i believe. He sold it to someone with a good interior to put in it. Amazing!
