Okay so the title of this article is a little over the top however not far from the truth. Of all the cars I have owned I still remember most details of my beautiful and trustworthy Audi 5000s. It’s long sleek body, the rounded corners, and its big sunroof and electric power windows as well as seat warmers which admittedly were more of a fire hazard than a useful feature. Okay so the sunroof was a big deal for me as it was my first car to have ever had one but that’s only one of the features that really got to me.

The Red Instrument Cluster

The instrument panel was the first thing to blow me away, now I have driven new Audi’s and BMW’s before and their red instrument clusters always intrigued me as a somewhat unique feature. From the cluster to the vehicle's stereos everything had the red glowing displays. Initially it was unclear to me as to why these manufacturers would go the great lengths to create this sea of red on your dashboard however I was enlightened by a relative who worked with Mercedes, he pointed out that the red light is the last color in the spectrum we are able to easily see or able to focus on when tired and that this was one of the reasons for BMW and Audi decided to go for the red color. Now this may not be the only reason but what I have found so far on the topic leads me to believe that this is the case. Correct me if I am wrong…

The Sunroof

Sunshine, fresh air, and the wind rushing through my hair. How I miss my glorious sunroof, the large fully automated sunroof was such a big deal to me that I spent more than 1000 dollars in trying to repair it when it failed. I even bought original replacement parts only to find out that even the Audi Dealership did not have the slightest clue of how to align the whole system. Many of my friends (most of them who went with me to the junkyard to find spare parts like slides, cables and covers) can attest that I was quite obsessed with the sunroof, even when I realized that I would never be able to fix it I would on occasion come up with an idea of a new fix. Needless to say this never came to fruition and the sunroof never worked again.

Having said that I have to point out that the windows and sunroof in the Audi 5000s were huge and offered great visibility all around. The slight drawback was that the rear dash break light would melt in hotter climates so the large windows had their downsides too.

Driving Experience

The Inline 5, 2.1 Liter Engine with its surprisingly strong 100hp (sounds like nothing I know) the Audi was a dream for me as it pretty much did what it was told without having to wait for it. The vehicle was an automatic, which had 21 years and over 360,000km on its back was always open for a surprise. I found myself driving the car for a couple of years without having any engine trouble. The large sedan provided a surprisingly soft ride and with its 100hp still had enough power under the hood to accelerate quickly. I have to say even with my current car I haven’t had as soft a ride as I did with my Audi 5000s.  If you can get an old 5000s (they should be pretty cheap right now) I can only recommend to you to get one. And fall in love with your very own Audi 5000.  A little heads-up repairs can be costly if you do not know how to fix the car yourself or know what parts are to be used as most dealerships are extremely expensive when working on these types of cars (see dealership repairs).

In my opinion I have to say that to this date the 5000 will be one of my most favorite “old cars” and one that yes I had to fix plenty of times and repair because the mechanics broke it, but that still doesn’t take away from the joy I experienced driving my 1984 Audi 5000s. The 5000s has that certain charm that literally makes you want to drive it.