Four Rings To Rule Them All

The lineup Audi has currently unleashed upon the earth could very nearly be argued as the best the world has ever seen. Top of their class in every category (overall) — appearance, ergonomics, exterior/interior design, build quality, power, handling, driving enjoyment . . . the list goes on.

Think about it (and also see post below): only Mercedes offers a range with more power (the S/SL65 AMG models top the current RS6 by about 40hp), the exterior and interior design are more striking than almost every BMW, and Audi offer a much more expansive lineup than Aston Martin, Jaguar, or Maserati — which, when compared on an individual-model basis might trump an Audi one-on-one.  Audi has, in the last 10 years, become a major market dominating force.

Ignoring the older and more obvious historical highlights (such as the runaway success of the Quattro in rally competition), we jump to 1989, and the first step into the upmarket arena Audi occupies today — the Audi V8.  Although we have mentioned it in a preview post, it absolutely warrants another look, if for no other reason than the fact that it was overlooked by so many.  Competitors in the full-size luxury market may have outflashed and outsold it, but it was — and remains — a diamond in the rough.

Today a 1992-1994 Audi V8 will run you from $3,000 up for an example in good shape.  What that will get you is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  You absolutely want the larger 4.2L V8 engine for a car this size, especially to push it off the line in city driving.  And while you can’t get one with a manual, as you can with the earlier 3.6L V8, the shove from all 275hp will make up the difference.  To make the power of every horse count, Audi shod its hooves with All-Wheel-Drive for grip.  Take that, rivals!

Power-wise, it took a V12 to best the Audi (that of the BMW 750iL and the new-for-91 Mercedes S-Class), and other V8 competitors such as the Lexus LS400 didn’t surpass it until the late 90s — several years after the Audi V8 was replaced with the A8.  None of its peers, however, possessed the innate sporting-ness of the Audi, as evidenced particularly with a pair of  back-to-back DTM Championships in ‘90 and ‘91.  You can’t get a manual transmission in virtually any flagship of this era except a BMW 7-Series or Acura Legend, and then you’re into a front-wheel-drive car.

The interior is every bit as luxurious as its contemporaries, and while it may not glaze your eyes over with things like chilled champagne flutes or rocket launchers, it came very well optioned to begin with.  Leather was standard, as were dual airbags, ABS, a premium Bose sound system, and — irrelevantly today — a cellular car phone.

Our approach?  Take a 1992-94 model, swap in the European-exclusive 6-speed manual transmission, and if your thirst for power is unquenched, throw on a supercharger, which will take you up over 400hp.  Swapping in a later 40v V8 will add another 50hp on top.  Obviously, brakes and chassis components will need to be upgraded to match.

With the V8, Audi had created a brand-defining supersedan, and a new prestige image to boot.  The original Quattro may have sparked the racing pedigree of Audi, but it was the V8 that laid the groundwork for the striking models you see today.

Audi Insomnia

Some say that most Audis are only driven by German cement salesmen.  Very sorry, but have you seen the last several years of Audi design?  The manager of a local business brought her A5 by earlier today for us to see what we could do with it.  We requested pics for inspiration from a friend on the West Coast, and received this mind-blowing collection of lust-worthy images.

We’ve been a fan of Audis for quite some time, tracing back to the introduction of the Audi V8 and the RS models in the early ’90s.  For a span of time, they were the underdog to BMW and Mercedes, who always seemed to have that bit of panache or driving feel as an edge.  No longer.

In the coming week, we will examine a wide range of the quad-ringed cars over the last couple decades, including models that should have made it to the US and never did.  Currently a large part of our work is done with Honda/Acura V6 platforms (mostly Legends, as it turns out), but it would seem that the natural progression would be into the realm of Audis, and from there to more exotic material.  Although . . . Audis are getting rather exotic themselves these days.  Have you seen?

The Ultimate 21

One of our all-time favorite magazines to drool over is Robb Report.  Pure and simple, this is reading material for the daydreamer in you . . . or, if you’re like us, it is inspiration of the highest order.

Without getting too in-depth, every December for the last decade or so has been their 21 Ultimate Gifts issue, which features some of the most exotic and pricy items and packages ever seen in print.  Things like a trip to the space station, custom one-of-a-kind art or desirables from some of the world’s great artists/builders, uber-cars and many others have been described in great detail, with the purchase cost ranging from $50K on up to over $20M.

We admire this idea for several reasons.  First off, they are gifts, meant to be given to others.  Also, quite frequently they involve several people, not just one person.  An exclusive golf outing on some of the most famous courses in the world with you, 6 guests, and a PGA star was mentioned one year.  Now that’s a group trip worth writing home about, even if like us, you couldn’t care less about golf.

It’s the extras included in these gift packages that really reel you in though.  Often included is a meeting with the builder/designer/artist that created your gift, along with some sort of extra-personal touch.  Purchase the Bugatti Veyron gift, tour the factory, meet the person who assembled the engine in your car, have dinner at a posh eatery, repose in a world-class hotel, and spend some track time with your new car before having it shipped home — that sort of thing.  And since these ideas are put together with the deep-pocketed Robb Report reader in mind, you can be assured you have the only one of its kind in the world.

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we decided to adopt this idea for the coming years, albeit on a scale much more close to home.  We don’t have any ties with world chocolate connoisseurs or European clothing tailors, but we do enjoy designing and building cars.  Therein lies the concept.

During the course of 2009, we will hunt down a 1991-1995 Acura Legend (since we happen to know these cars quite well), strip it down to the shell, repaint the body, replace all moving/worn components, redo the interior in a spectacular way, build up the engine, and finish it off with the finest personal touches we can lay our hands on.  Obviously, we will need a budget ceiling – $10K or $15K should do it – to keep the gift attainable for as many as possible.

What the recipient will be receiving, then, will essentially be a brand new car.  All replaced parts will be OEM, and the paint will be a factory color, albeit polished, waxed and buffed to a much more lustrous shine.  Naturally, should anything related to the rebuild fail within a specified time, we will repair as needed.  And for the generous gift donor, they will be able to present that lucky individual with a work of art for much less than the original sales price  (plus the upgrades) would have been for such a car.

Each year, we will choose a different car to build.  Whether or not we will stick with Legends in general remains to be seen.  Of course, other additional extras will be included in the gift package itself — we tossed around ideas such as track time with your new car, a flight for two to Japan to tour the Honda factory, and others.  The key is not to add so much to the overall experience that we bump ourselves right out of our audience’s price range, but still make sure that the purchaser is buying an amazing experience.

Something to keep us even busier!  There are a lot of other gift ideas for us to hash out, and even then we might not end up with 21 of them.  One of these days we’ll actually find the time to keep everything we started up-to-date.  Until then . . . drive safely!

~ The ZF Clubsport Team

Ultimate March Madness!

We are hosting a cars & coffee get-together here at Ultimate Performance in Oak Ridge, TN. Come on out on 3/14 at 2pm to talk cars and take a look at some of the machinery here! Our local group of Acura Legends will be in attendance, as well as more exotic cars, so feel free to drop in and wander around. Hope to see you here!

Revival Hour (Featuring The Taurus SHO)

Once again, it seems actual work precludes writing, although both are enjoyable.  When push comes to shove, however, building in real life will unfortunately always beat typing on a keyboard.  Things are still a bit of a madhouse, but this blog is entirely too cool to be ignored, so . . . onward!

Recently Ford announced the development of a new Taurus SHO model, based upon the 2010 Taurus, which seems at first glance to have a bright future.  Come to think of it, if you take a close look at the thought put into the design of the Taurus and the facelift on the Fusion (which is more like a redesign rather than just a new grille), Ford seems to be actually considering the fact that cars should be more than just a metal box to sit in.

In the ’90s, we think Ford actually was trying to make exciting cars.  Heck, they were trying period.  Build quality wasn’t exactly consistent across the model lineup, but there were flashes of brilliance.  SVT made some rather good products (the SVT Focus and Contour are a couple of great and relatively unheralded cars), and for the money, the Explorer with a few options was a great buy if you needed an SUV.  We still miss our old 1998 XLT, with the trusty, torque-monstery 5.0 and leather/sunroof/premium sound/AWD combo.  What did we pay for it?  Maybe $4K?  That body style was about right, too — later Exploders became boxy all over again, and less interesting overall.  Were we to get another one, it would get something like a supercharged stroker engine with performance suspension and grippy rubber.  Budget Cayenne, anyone?

One of the all-time best cheap, fun-to-drive sedans (our weakness, remember) was the 1989-1995 Ford Taurus SHO.  Thumbing its nose in the face of all current fast four-doors, Ford had Yamaha design an all-aluminum 3-Liter DOHC V6 and dropped it into its mundane family-hauler, providing an instant transformation.  Four disc brakes and a 5-speed later, with subtle ground effects and bucket seats, out came a sedan that could stomp a Legend or Maxima SE with ease, for considerably less money.  Mind you, the interior quality was, um, early ’90s Ford, but you have to overlook such things as you would with an Alfa Romeo in order to focus on pure driving fun.

Our favorite is the facelifted SHO from 1992 on.  Somehow the first iteration just looks too heavy or chunky on the outside.  A popular swap is the 3.2L engine from the SHO automatic.  The bigger engine gets you increased torque, which we all love.  Find a clean, cared-for, unmolested model, add an intake and a free flowing catback exhaust, and go 5-series hunting.  Not M5s, they will still eat you for breakfast.  Remember what you’re driving here.

With the all-new SHO model, Ford was looking for V8 power without V8 fuel consumption and came up with a twin-turbo version of their venerable Duratec 3.5-Liter V6 engine.  God bless Ford!  What is it we tuners absolutely love?  That’s right — factory engines with forced induction (especially turbochargers) already installed!  The hard work is literally done for us and handed over on a platter.  You better believe there will be those who jump on this opportunity the moment this car is released.

So — improved build quality, quite good to look at, a fairly well-designed interior (we feel there could be an “SHO” put somewhere, maybe the guages or steering wheel, just to make the owner feel that extra bit special), all-wheel-drive, and a twin-turbo V6.  Provided Ford doesn’t muck up the paddle-shifted automatic (anyone with a DB9 knows exactly what we mean here) with sloppiness . . . dare we say it . . . we could have ourselves another era of stylish, fun-to-drive Ford sedans.  What a concept.