Another one ticked off

Keith Adams

Team Piston Broke Audi Coupe
Team Piston Broke Audi Coupé

Regular readers might remember me saying that I was keeping the Metro and letting the 200 go to a new owner. Well, over the weekend that happened, when I swapped it for a nice Audi Coupé 1.8i. Not just any Coupé, mind you – but the one that Andrew Elphick, Matthew Hayward and I drove back from Prague for Rob Bambridge’s Team Piston Broke equipe.

Rob didn’t have time to bring the Coupé back to the UK and, rather than dump it, he and Andrew cooked up a plan that involved us flying out to the Czech capital in order to pick up the car, deliver Rob and his team to the airport, then drive it home – which we did without any problem. However, since he got the car back, Rob lost heart with it and was close to scrapping it (due to a couple of failures) – until Andrew talked him out of it.

The Cockney matchmaker then decided to suggest that it might be an idea to swap the Coupé for my Rover 214 – knowing that I’d grown attached to the Metro. Rob had previously owned a near-identical Rover 200 and so we swapped – and now there’s an Audi Coupé on my drive.

That’s actually quite nice as I’ve always wanted to own a Coupé so I consider it another car ticked off my wishlist. During the early 1990s, I went through several Audis of this generation, but never managed to secure a Coupé. I wish I had, but it never quite happened.  Thanks, though, to Bangernomics and the spirit of saving old cars from the crusher, that’s been put right.

I have to say that it’s not a dazzling car to drive – they never were – but its competence and sheer dependability are certainly plus points. This car has 211,000 miles on the clock and I wouldn’t think twice about driving it back to Prague tomorrow if need be.

Not sure I could say the same about the 214…

Keith Adams

5 Comments

  1. Still, considering I only paid fifty quid for it and had two years of motoring out of it, I can’t argue. Anyway, I’d have wanted a different rally car for next year!

  2. Nice. The alloys especially look well, WRC-like. Put proper numberplates on it though!

    Coupés are from the era when Audis were driven by characters like Stig Blomqvist and Gene Hunt rather than today’s Gareth Cheeseman types.

  3. I had a 90 Quattro of that era, and always wished it was a Coupé – and yeah, back when Audis were properly quirky and intellectual, rather than the machinery of choice for disenchanted BMW owners scared off by Bangle’s weirdness. I think the A5 is one of the cars I hate most of all by reputation and apparent owner habits; whereas I find myself appreciating the looks of the new 3-series hardtop convertible (for the genre, it’s one of the best looking) and wondering if they really do handle properly.

    Heck, I even noticed a 5-series using INDICATORS on the motorway!

    That Audi would look lovely next to my Mk 1 Golf (which has just eaten a gearbox 🙁 ), shame I’ve still got the SL occupying that space!

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