Watch: The Audi Sport Quattro Cost More than a Countach in 1984 (And Still Does Today)

When the Quattro all-wheel-drive hit its stride in the World Rally Championship, everyone else had an “oh, shit” moment. It utterly dominated the sport, so maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the homologation special, of which only 164 were sold for road use, was expensive.

Host of Harry’s Garage and long time motoring journalist, Harry Metcalfe worked out that, in era, the Sport Quattro cost about 205,000 German marks. That works out to about £88,000. That’s roughly £30,000 more than the Lamborghini Countach cost in 1984.

Put another way, inflation means that £88,000 in 1984 is the equivalent of about £285,000 today. Now, car prices across markets don’t exactly follow conversion rates, but that’s the equivalent of nearly $370,000, which is about 30 grand less than an Aventador, so Lamborghinis are getting a little pricey these days.

To be fair, though, in competition, Group B rally cars were faster than F1 cars of the era and the Quattro was at the cutting edge of technology. Lamborghini wouldn’t join F1 until very late in the decade but suffice it to say, it was not at the cutting edge of F1 tech.

History has proven that the Sport Quattro and Countach’s pricing makes sense, though. While Ur-Quattros can go for 30-40 grand, homologation Sport Quattros sell for nearly $600,000. Prices for Countaches from the ‘80s vary a lot (older is better) but you can get a good example for $250,000.

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