Driving the million kilometer Audi 80

I can remember it like it was yesterday. It was late autumn and a bit too cold for the work I had given myself. My 2009 white VW Scirocco needed some work on the rear brakes as it did not brake straight and it was up for the bi-yearly inspection.

Of course I had known that for a long time and could have done both the work and inspection when the weather was better. But that would have been very much unlike me.

Hence here I was, in my parents driveway in single digit temperature fiddling with the car.

If you know anything about working on cars and live in parts of the World that sees colder temperatures then you will know there are two types of cold. First when you go outside you may feel like you have dressed properly and think “this will be okay”. But then you start touching any of the metal parts on the car and your fingers almost instantly freeze - if not to the actual metal part - then at least in a numbing way.

I was sure applauding myself for waiting until this part of the year to do the work.

What quickly became apparent after lifting the rear of the car, removing the wheel and getting to the calipers and disks was that the issue of uneven braking stemmed from the fact that the handbrake did not retract properly. Meaning that in one side the handbrake was always “slightly on” and hence this side braked more than the other when applying the foot brake.

I diagnosed it to the handbrake cable and tried my best to apply lubricant to it after having disassembled almost half of the cabin to get to the cables. It quickly became clear that if I had any hopes of finishing the job that day I had to replace the cable in that side instead of wasting time trying to have lubricant save it for me.

This meant borrowing my parents old Audi 80 a car I know all too well. A car that has driven well over 1 million kilometers has outlived a Audi A6 Avant that also covered over 750.000 kilometers and generally just kept trucking along.

I cannot even recall exactly when my parents bought it, but I can remember it replaced an old white Mazda 323 sedan. I can also remember that it felt very luxurious compared with the Mazda back then.

For 15+ years it drove 60.000 kilometers a day carrying either my mom or dad to work. I have many great memories of driving to Sweden or Norway with my parents on our way to skiing holidays. Later when I got old enough I drove it around a lot myself as well adding to the great memories.

I can however remember I always had two issues with it. One is that the driver seat cannot get low enough for me. My head always barely scratches the ceiling unless I lay back really far. Secondly it is really slow. It is a 1.9 turbo diesel but I always teased my parents that they apparently never got the turbo along in the deal.

Driving it now that it has been some years since I last had a chance I still have the two gripes with it. But it being slow no longer matters. I am just amazed at how well it still drives! I mean there is nothing apart from the fact that I know it has covered more that 1 million kilometers that would led me to believe that it the case.

Everything still works (of course it being old, means that there are fewer things that could go wrong) but it also still feels rigid and well put together. The cloth seats are not worn through anywhere, still supports me as well as they always have. Not even the steering wheel is worn through or any buttons that do not work or have fallen apart. The old Sony radio also still makes the same: “bip-bip — bip-bip — bip-bip” sound when you turn it off. It is the funniest small things that sticks in your mind.

Driving it made me realize how much I missed driving stick-shift. My VW Scirocco has VW’s DSG gearbox and although it is the right gearbox for that car I still miss driving stick. So much that I afterwards sold the Scirocco and bought a 2015 Audi A4 Avant with stick-shift.

But driving the Audi 80 just brings back so many fond memories and highlights how well built cars were back in the 90’s. A time where quality was a selling point, not just how cheaply you can make a car without people running away. Maximizing consumer satisfaction not shareholder satisfaction.