Audi make great cars. Audi make some superb cars. We had a go in a particularly cool RS5 Coupé the other day and it was a winner in every way It looked great, drove spectacularly — but there was something missing, and it got us thinking.
It always surprises me that Audi haven’t bought out an unashamed retro model, unless of course you count the TT. Perhaps retro is the wrong word. Perhaps we mean something simple, something not pushed forward by technology, but by something approximating ‘levity’.
Because of all the current manufacturing companies out there who are making successful cars, they potentially have one of the richest design heritages on which they might draw.
There are many good reasons for the convergence of good design, both across the car universe and within brands themselves. The argument goes within successful ateliers: why break winning formulae and risk alienating hard won loyalists with creative indulgence?
It might be understandable, but it doesn’t mean you have to like it. The truth is that the consequences of replicating successful design are streets awash with dully familiar shapes, rakes clusters and textures.
We’re extra fond of Audi’s middle period. We love the cold war feel to their boxy designs. We love the way that they assume nothing but provide unexpected delight Now that even the once quirky, groundbreaking TT seems to be wrought from the same style sheet as everything else Audi currently build, we’re hankering for something game-changing.
But that might be just us.
We thought we’d share some nice images of older Audis, as we as our twisted opinions…
