MB Quattro- My story

By the late 1980s, most of the major car manufacturers were offering a high- performance saloon to the mass market. audi had now been building its ground- breaking quattro for nearly seven years and came to realise that there were now some serious shortcomings when compared to the latest high-performance saloons on  the market. Most notable of all its rivals was the Sierra Cosworth which was generally deemed to be better than the quattro in most respects, especially on tarmac. after all, the quattro had made its name on the rally stages and few owners drove regularly on those sort of roads, if at all… audi therefore decided, if it was to remain at the top of the pack, that it would need to improve the quattro and this time it would have to go even further than just improving the appearance of the car. Driveability was number one on the list and so the chassis and engine departments were given instructions to tackle the rather inconvenient turbo lag and undesirable understeer when cornering hard. and so was born the quattro MB. Built from august 1987, it upped the stakes in the high-performance saloon market and lobbed the ball firmly back in Ford’s court. The tried and tested 5-cylinder engine was always a reliable unit, although some- what unrefined, so audi improved it by  changing the engine management system and fitting a knock sensor. engine displacement was enlarged to 2226 cc and the compression ratio slightly increased to give better torque and throttle response. The power output was unchanged, at 200 PS, but peak torque was produced lower down in the rev range. A new water-cooled turbocharger was fitted and the air intake temperature sensor  was moved from the redesigned inlet mani- fold and now fitted to the intercooler, giving the eCU a more accurate reading of the compressed air being forced into the cylinders. The turbocharger also benefitted from having  its own mini water pump, which continued to cool the turbo, even after the engine had stopped. low rpm idling was improved by  fitting an idle stabilisation valve on the back of the inlet manifold and fuel consumption was improved with the new engine management system and, certainly, the turbo lag was greatly reduced.

The MB engine is instantly recognisable, as soon as you lift the bonnet. The intake plenum chamber has the very distinctive audi four rings cast into the top of it and the engine bay is very much more cluttered due to the increased pipework and other engine modifications. From the chassis point of view, the main improvement was the application by audi of a ‘torque sensing’ (torsen) centre differential. It had been under development for a number of years and was now ready to fit to the new quattro. Not just a simple 50:50 distribution of torque front to rear as with the previous centre diff, it could automatically vary the proportion of torque between the front and rear axles up to 75:25, depending on the requirement for traction. It actually weighed less than the original item and was positioned at the
back of the gearbox. From this moment on, quattros would only have a one-stage diff lock button on the dashboard, to lock the rear diff, as the centre diff was now essentially automatic in its operation. Inside, the car saw several changes over the previous model. The green digital dash pod that was introduced in 1984 was now replaced with a striking new orange display. The odometer had always been mechanical but, on this new unit, it was now electronically displayed. The displayed units for speed and fuel could still be
swapped between metric and imperial. Due to the fitting of the torque sensing differential, the diff lock button was revised. It was now a push-button device, replacing the rotary knob used on the previous model. available trim was the same and most cars were trimmed in the hard-wearing Graphite flannel.

On the outside, there were some minor cosmetic improvements. The plastic threedimensional badges on the boot lid were now replaced with some very smart chrome badges. There was also the inclusion of mini chrome audi rings, fitted on the centre line of the boot lid. This was obviously very popular, as many owners have since done this themselves on all variants of the quattro. another minor change to the appearance was that the side rear quarter window were now minus the ‘quattro’ decals. Sadly, these iconic decals would never be seen again on a Ur quattro. On its launch in august 1987, the ‘MB’ as it has become known, was priced at £28,655. It was a significant improvement over the previous version and brought the model right up to date in the market. More powerful, faster and easier to drive,
this model was built for two years and remained virtually unchanged throughout its production. In my view, the definitive colour for the MB is Pearl white, although there are also plenty of other exotic colours available for this model, especially when compared to early versions of the Ur quattro. I’ve driven a few MB quattros and I would recommend this version above all
of the others, especially if it is driveability that you are after. a word of caution, though, as the MB can be hard to source parts for – especially the engine – as it uses many components that aren’t fitted to any other quattro. This model brings to a close the 10-valve chapter of Ur quattro production. Next would come even more refinement and a great deal of power…