On Monday, we presented this week’s shifter and asked you to identify the make and model of the vehicle whence it came. We had figured that a few of you would recognize the shifter as a belonging to an Audi—and you didn’t disappoint—but the first commenter to identify it as the Quattro’s was zphantom. He will receive a Save the Manuals button and sticker as a reward.
The Quattro pictured here is from our July 1984 issue, in which it competed in a Best-Handling imported car comparo alongside a Ferrari Quattrovalvole, Honda Prelude, Lotus Esprit Turbo, Porsche 911 Carrera, Porsche 928S Porsche 944, and Toyota Celica Supra. The Audi’s turbocharged five-cylinder engine offered plenty of power, even at mile-high altitude, but steering issues cost it marks on the freeway segment of our test. Sadly, the road surfaces we encountered in testing did not permit us to evaluate the potential advantages of the Quattro’s four-wheel drive. Ultimately, we dubbed the Audi interesting, impressive, and definitely worth more exploration—but the Porsche 944 won the day.