In the present day’s Good Value or No Cube Audi 5000 hails from a quick interval within the early Eighties when automakers embraced diesel engines to make vehicles extra fuel-efficient in response to the fuel crunch of the Nineteen Seventies. Let’s examine how bank-efficient this survivor proves to be within the current day.
Based on the Motley Idiot Cash website, the median value of a house within the U.S. after the primary half of this 12 months was $410,800. Whereas a very good chunk of change, that is solely about half the $819,800 requested for the 2025 Rolls-Royce Phantom VIII with Mansory mods we checked out final Friday. Positive, the Curler was about as swank a trip as one may probably discover, however the truth that there’s a viable selection between shopping for it and the acquisition of a very nice home would naturally trigger a very good little bit of consternation. Within the feedback, that proved much less of a priority than did the automotive’s total grotesque exhibition of wanton wealth. In the end, that is what damned the Rolls to an enormous 90% ‘No Cube’ loss in our voting.
The white whale
Let’s harken again to the early Eighties, lets? The U.S. had simply ended a decade categorized by political scandal, twin fuel crises, and the beginning of disco music. By the point this 1983 Audi 5000 turbo diesel hit the scene, issues have been beginning to get again to regular, at the least on the automotive entrance. Diesels on the time have been rising in popularity amongst producers as a strategy to meet more and more tightening company common gas financial system (CAFE) requirements. Nevertheless, acceptance amongst automotive consumers proved to be considerably restricted.
For Audi, this was additionally the period earlier than the marque grew to become inescapably related to its iconic Quattro 4WD system, making this automotive’s FWD structure a little bit of an anomaly to the trendy mindset. The 5000 turbo diesel was a one-and-done mannequin, as whereas it was offered for a few years right here as a U.S. unique, the turbo diesel engine didn’t discover its method beneath the hood of the succeeding mannequin, which arrived in 1984. That makes this automotive a reasonably uncommon duck.
Gimme 5
Like Mercedes, Audi employed a five-cylinder structure for its diesel engine, an extrapolation of the four-pot oil burner that powered many a Volkswagen in Europe on the time. Even with the turbo mixing issues up, the iron-block, aluminum-head 2.0-liter mill solely managed a meager 84 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque when new. In a automotive of the 5000’s dimension, that was barely sufficient, with modern assessments suggesting that the A/C needs to be shut off at stoplights to permit for cheap acceleration upon hitting the inexperienced.
Audi solely provided one transmission on the 5000 turbo diesel, and that is form of an oddball, too. Mainly only a three-speed automated, the transaxle does have a celebration piece, which is the “E” indicator on the shift selector. That setting permits the engine to freewheel when the driving force lifts off the accelerator, thus including to the automotive’s gas financial system bona fides.
Based on the vendor, this 5000’s engine has benefitted from a brand new timing belt and water pump, together with a rebuild of its injector pump and cylinder injectors. They now declare that it “Runs and drives nice.”
Exhibiting its age
That does not imply it is all strudels and cream with this previous Audi, nonetheless. Per the vendor, the A/C, which has been transformed from its environmentally unfriendly R12 to one thing a bit much less poisonous, is leaking and thus stays a scofflaw. The ability door locks are additionally on the fritz, so plan on utilizing the important thing and door-top buttons to safe the automotive.
Every thing else—energy seats, home windows, sunroof, and so forth.—is alleged to work because it ought to. Aesthetically, it seems to be in fairly strong form, too, regardless of being over 4 many years previous. Moreover, it solely has a mere 93,221 miles on the clock, so it is not worn to a frazzle. The bodywork is painted institutional white; nonetheless, the highest coat seems to have held up very nicely. There are not any obvious indicators of harm or street rot, and the manufacturing unit alloys nonetheless have their middle caps. Talking of seems to be, can all of us agree that the Virginia vintage automobile plates this Audi wears appear to be one thing secreted out from behind the Iron Curtain?
The Audi’s inside, with leather-based seating surfaces and a typical monochrome German black colour scheme, additionally seems to be to be holding up its finish of the discount. It even has its authentic Panasonic-sourced AM/FM cassette stereo within the middle stack.
For whom?
A clear title wraps up this Audi’s resume and leads us to contemplate its vendor’s set asking value of $8,900. That is an aggressive quantity, however earlier than we take into account the automotive’s worth, we have to postulate who this automotive’s audience is likely to be. Is there a large enough basic Audi fanbase for this automotive to discover a purchaser? It is a uncommon, though glacially sluggish, basic automotive that actually is little greater than a blip on the Audi timeline. It was additionally overshadowed in its period by the shameful tarnishing of the model in the midst of the last decade over false claims of unintended acceleration, enflamed by a lurid section on CBS’s 60 Minutes TV present.
What do you assume? May this Audi discover a fan? And as soon as it does, will that $8,900 asking value make that fan even happier with the discover?
You resolve!
Good Value or No Cube:
Richmond, Virginia, Craigslist, or go right here if the advert disappears.
H/T to Michael Brown for the hookup!
Assist me out with NPOND. Contact me at robemslie@gmail.com and ship a fixed-price tip. Bear in mind to incorporate your commenter deal with.