Catching Up

It has been busy lately hence the blog has not been as updated as often as I would like. Not that I’m complaining, I like the constant stream of activity, writing helps me to keep up with the news and there is the never-ending pleasure of seeing the finished result on the (web) page.

To be really thorough would mean going back to the SMMT Test Day in May. Two cars proved to be unexpectedly pleasing; the Fiat Grande Punto 1.4 T-jet and the Audi A4 3.2 quattro. One shared characteristic was that both cars seemed generally good without offering any singularly defining characteristic or area or excellence. Of the two the Audi was perhaps understandably the more impressive, feeling impressively sure-footed but – surprisingly - slightly less well assembled than the Citroen C5.

Picture of the Week: A quartet of Quattros

The last time I featured an Audi Quattro it was a rather sad and rundown example. To see a collection of cherished Quattros was therefore a heart warming sight. I took this photo at the Oulton Park Gold Cup meeting. Catching a Quattro on the road is an altogether more difficult proposition. There have only been 2 occasions where I have encountered a Quattro on the road but both of those were opportunities to marvel. Once was on a tightly curving exit ramp from the Coventry ring road. The ramps are concrete with expansion joints running across the carriageway and those joints seem perfectly designed to jolt a car off the road. The Quattro shot down the ramp and the last I saw, following at a more sedate pace, was the tail lights disappearing off into the night. The second encounter was a simple display of speed as a Quattro hurried past on the wide, single carriageway section of the A46 from Alcester to Red Hill.

Sad Audi

I was out and about in Leamington Spa today and I saw a sad sight; a neglected Audi Quattro. It was parked on someone’s drive so it wasn’t just abandoned and it appeared to be completely standard, with no naff alloy wheels or silly spoilers. It looks like it hasn’t moved for a while, judging by the fallen leaves around it, the flat tyres and the thick layer of dirt covering it. I also noticed a large patch of rust on the sill, below the driver’s door.

You have to wonder how the Quattro came to be in this state. Had it been damaged in an accident or some other mishap I could understand To leave it, half forgotten, on a suburban street is no way for such a car to end its days. At some point it must have been someone’s pride and joy and one of the fastest cars on the road. I can only wonder how this one ended up neglecting and slowly rotting.