[.ca] The Audi Quattro: Buying, Repairing and Tuning (ISBN 185960403X)

Joe Hevner:
Although this book is catered to the UK market, there is NO books catered to the US market that delve this far into the car itself. Great technical information as well as detailed photographs, and history. Every prospective quattro owner/fan should buy this book. Especially as info on these cars is very limited in book form.

Don't buy this book:
This is an Audi book written for English consumers--with English address for information and repair, and (I think) models that were popular in England. Not much applies to cars common in the U.S., like Audi 4000's or 5000's (are they the same as the 80's, 90's, A6's (I don't know and the book doesn't say.)) There is some brief history of Audi, a lot of racing history, and lot of turbo information, and not much else. The buying section is poor and mainly for overseas, the repairing section is only a few generic pictures and narratives and nothing usable, and the tuning only applies to turbos and high performance, nothing usable for the normal driver. There is little about how the AWD works and how to optimally drive it for the normal driver. A few tidbits of information, but definitly not a reference book. There is a whole chapter on how to keep your car from being stolen, which I found silly. Some nice pictures of race cars. I find this an armchair book and not much else.

Better than nothing, I guess...:
As an Ur-Q fan and owner, I had high hopes for this book but was disappointed by several factors: 1) The amount of filler (does a book targeted at such a narrow audience really need a section on how a radiator is rebuilt or a wheel is refinished? I think not); 2) The lack of original insight into the design or production of these cars (frankly, this book could have been written ten years ago) and 3) The total lack of nitty-gritty details about the car that requires years of firsthand experience with them to uncover ... although the author is also an owner, one almost suspects he bought the car simply to establish his bona fides and not due to any longstanding attraction to or fascination with them. Of course, satisfying a hard-core Ur-Q fan such as myself may be a difficult (if not impossible!) task. For those readers who've only recently come to learn that Audi was making AWD cars as far back as 1980, this book is probably a good introduction to them; for those of us already in-the-know, however, it comes across as yet another opportunity missed.

4 Stars and 4 rings! A great reference source:
Excellent chronology of a great marque. Mr. Pollard provides the reader excellent tips for buying, maintaining, tuning, upgrading, a urquattro, including the rarest of rare 20V model. Helpful photographs show examples of problems, etc. or great pictures of the Audi in its winning posture during the 80's as a Super B rallye winner! Written in the UK, much information and shops are from the UK, and therefore difficult to contact from the US since internet addresses are not given.

4 Stars and 4 rings! A great reference source:
Excellent chronology of a great marque. Mr. Pollard provides the reader excellent tips for buying, maintaining, tuning, upgrading, a urquattro, including the rarest of rare 20V model. Helpful photographs show examples of problems, etc. or great pictures of the Audi in its winning posture during the 80's as a Super B rallye winner! Written in the UK, much information and shops are from the UK, and therefore difficult to contact from the US since internet addresses are not given.