# 10 Iconic Cars From Audi | Otto Explains | AutoTronix **Section:** Otto Explains **Canonical:** https://autotronix.om/otto/audi-iconic-cars **Language:** English **Arabic version:** https://autotronix.om/ar/otto/audi-iconic-cars --- ## Short Answer Otto’s ten iconic Audis are the Type C Alpine Champion, the Auto Union Grand Prix car, the Audi 100 C3, the Sport quattro, the Avant RS 2, the TT, the RS 4 Avant, the R8, the R10 TDI and the RS Q e-tron. Together they run from 1911 to 2024, from rally and record cars to road cars, and each one did something no Audi had done before. --- ## How did Otto choose these ten cars? Each car is a model in its own right that Audi remembers for a first, and each has one defining fact from Audi’s own records. Together they run from the Type C of 1911 to the Dakar winner of 2024 and mix road cars with racing and record cars. Audi counts Auto Union and its racing cars as part of its own history, so the Auto Union Grand Prix car is included. The list is in date order, not a ranking. The cars that changed the company itself, such as the first post-war Audi, the Audi 100, the Audi 80, the original quattro, the A8, the Q7 and the e-tron, belong to Otto’s article on the legendary cars that defined Audi and are only mentioned here. --- ## Why is the Audi Type C called the Alpine Champion? Because it won the Austrian Alpine Rally, then the toughest long-distance competition of its kind, three years running: 1912, 1913 and 1914. Built from 1911 to 1925, the Type C came from the young Audi company that August Horch had founded in Zwickau, and Audi credits its reliability and technical superiority for those wins. --- ## What made the Auto Union Grand Prix car special? Its layout. Developed with Ferdinand Porsche and racing from May 1934, it had a supercharged V16 engine mounted behind the driver, what would today be called a mid-engined car; Otto explains [how a supercharger differs from a turbocharger](https://autotronix.om/otto/turbocharger-vs-supercharger). Its output rose from 295 PS in the Type A to 520 PS in the Type C, and in October 1937 Bernd Rosemeyer drove a streamlined version at more than 400 km/h on a public road, the first person ever to do so. --- ## Why is the third-generation Audi 100 on the list? For its shape. The Audi 100 C3 of 1982 had a drag coefficient of 0.30, which Audi says was the best of any series-production saloon on the world market. The same model line introduced TDI diesel engines and full galvanisation and helped Audi enter the Chinese market. --- ## What was the Sport quattro? A shorter, more powerful quattro that became the basis of Audi’s Group B rally car. Presented in 1983, it was 24 centimetres shorter than the quattro, with a wider track and a new four-valve five-cylinder light-alloy engine of 225 kW (306 PS), which made it the most powerful car a German company had offered for public roads until then. Its competition version, the Sport quattro S1 E2, took Walter Röhrl to victory at Pikes Peak in 1987, the first time a driver finished the hill climb in under eleven minutes. --- ## Why is the Avant RS 2 remembered? It was the first RS model in Audi’s history. Developed with Porsche and built in 1994 and 1995, the RS 2 put a turbocharged 2.2-litre five-cylinder of 232 kW (315 PS) into an estate car, and at its launch it was the fastest and most powerful Audi production car built so far. Audi calls it the founding model of a new class: the estate car with sports-car power. --- ## What made the Audi TT a design icon? It reached production almost exactly as it was first shown. The TT appeared as a concept at the 1995 Frankfurt motor show, and the production TT Coupé, which Audi says differed only insignificantly from the concept, came onto the market in autumn 1998, built in Győr in Hungary; the Roadster followed a year later. Audi names the circle as its central design motif, and the name refers to the Tourist Trophy race on the Isle of Man. Over three generations and 25 years Audi built 662,762 TTs. --- ## Why does the RS 4 Avant of 1999 matter? It was the first RS model that quattro GmbH, today Audi Sport GmbH, developed entirely by itself from a production car. Based on the A4 Avant of the B5 generation, it had a 2.7-litre biturbo V6 with 280 kW (380 hp), and Audi says it set the trend in the high-performance estate segment that Audi had created. --- ## What makes the Audi R8 special? It was Audi’s first mid-engined super sports car and the first car quattro GmbH developed from the ground up. Unveiled at the 2006 Paris Motor Show, it took its name from Audi’s Le Mans-winning prototype, and in 2008 it became the first car available with full LED headlights. Its V10 version used the 5.2-litre naturally aspirated engine of the Lamborghini Gallardo. The last R8 was built in March 2024, after 45,949 cars. --- ## Why is the R10 TDI famous? In 2006 it became the first car with a diesel engine to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and it won again in 2007 and 2008. Audi’s diesel prototypes went on to win Le Mans eight times in all. --- ## How did the RS Q e-tron win the Dakar Rally? With an electric drivetrain that recharged itself in the desert. A motor-generator unit from Formula E drove each axle, a 52 kWh battery stored the energy, and a TFSI petrol engine from the DTM worked with a generator as an energy converter to recharge it. In January 2024, at Audi’s third attempt, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz won the Dakar Rally with it, covering 7,883 km and finishing 80 minutes ahead: the first Dakar victory for an alternative drivetrain. Otto compares electric and hybrid drives in [hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric cars explained](https://autotronix.om/otto/hybrid-vs-plug-in-hybrid-vs-electric). --- ## Common Questions **Why isn’t the original Audi quattro among the ten?** Because it changed the company itself. The quattro of 1980, Audi’s first model with permanent all-wheel drive, is one of the legendary cars that defined Audi, which Otto explains in a separate article. **Which was the first Audi RS model?** The Avant RS 2 of 1994, developed together with Porsche. **How many Audi TTs were built?** 662,762, in three generations over 25 years. **Did the Audi R8 share its engine with a Lamborghini?** The V10 version did: it used the 5.2-litre naturally aspirated V10 of the Lamborghini Gallardo. --- ## Related Otto Explanations - Different Engine Designs Explained: Inline, V, Boxer and More: https://autotronix.om/otto/engine-designs-explained --- ## Related Services - AutoTronix Garage: https://autotronix.om/garage - AutoTronix Lab: https://autotronix.om/lab - AutoTronix PERFORMANCE: https://autotronix.om/performance --- ## Book a Service WhatsApp: +968 9966 8600 https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=96899668600&type=phone_number&app_absent=0 Location: Mabellah Industrial, Street 7, Muscat — Saturday to Thursday, 9 AM to 9 PM