It all came together on a stretch of tarmac called the Julier Pass. Once used by the ancient Romans, its serpentine twists and panoramic, rock-faced cliffs, coupled with spectacular undulation and baby bottom-smooth asphalt, was nothing less than epic. It was as if God threw a 42km ribbon from heaven and when it landed, declared it an open road.
The RS Q3, seemingly unaware of our pounding hearts and dropped jaws (from the excitement and my disbelief that such a place really exists), weaved its way around the bends without breaking a sweat. Because it doesn’t possess the frightening speed of its bigger RS siblings, it proved less intimidating and flattered my ability somewhat. Just to make sure, we even turned the Q3 around for another fun run.
After a typical Swiss lunch of mostly “speck” (ham) in the ski resort town of St. Moritz, we took what felt like the longest ski lift back down to drive what I flew 10,000km across the world for.
For the benefit of rally fans, we shall jump straight to the Sport Quattro. Yes, the Ur (German for “original”) Quattro set the standard for all future Audi cars, but unlike the Sport Quattro, the “Quattro-quattro” wasn’t built specifically to compete in Group B rallying. Neither was it limited to just 214 rare examples, and it didn’t cost a staggering 203,850 Deutsche Marks when new (roughly $203,000 in today’s money). This was 30 years ago, mind you.
First off, the Sport Quattro is fast. Unlike in the modern Audi models, where the touring experience and stunning Alpine scenery competed for my attention, this communicative old-timer, with its period brakes and long-throw gearbox, demanded our full focus on the task of driving – especially when the tachometer surged past 3000rpm and all of the stable’s 306 thoroughbred horses were released. There was, as expected, slight turbo lag, but every time we built “up” the revs on the 2.1-litre, turbocharged 5-cylinder engine, it rewarded us with surprisingly blistering performance.
If the Sport Quattro feels this fast in 2013, what must it have felt like in 1983? Suddenly, we got a sense of what this machine was developed for – to pulverise Ford, Lancia and Peugeot in the World Rally Championship in the early 1980s.
Audi had (apparently) saved the best for last as we made our way over the Susten Pass into Interlaken. Settling into the RS Q3 once again, we had the whole mountain to ourselves as the car’s 5-cylinder growl and exhaust note reverberated against the cliff walls that lined the route. With the roads curving, climbing, twisting and falling amid the setting sunlight and the surrounding snow-peaked mountains, we were in driving nirvana.
Sitting atop the summit, it was a good time to reflect not just on this terrific road trip, but also Audi’s three-decade quattro journey. For two glorious days, we revelled in the company of the original Quattro and its direct RS descendants.
Their age gap might span over 30 years, but the philosophy behind them – driving dynamism, technical sophistication, everyday useability, and “everywhere” safety – still rings true up to this day.
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