Re: Insurance rates + Euro/US Naming

[Jason Douglas (jdouglas@mitre.org) <m17108@mwunix.mitre.org>]

I'm not sure you can say that the 5000 was the same as a 100, and the 5000 turbo
corresponds with a 200.  After owning an old 100 in Germany and a 5000 here,
I've concluded that the 5000 is really a separate model somewhere between the
100 and 200 in terms of what came out of the audi parts bin.  The 200 was really
a luxury version of the 100.  In the late 80s, the 200 was available with either
turbo or normally aspirated versions of the injected 5.  The 100 was available
with carbueretted or injected versions of the 5 and vw's 4!! Of course, there
were also diesel versions in the 100.

I think the marketing types decided to spec the 5000 for a particular segment of
the us market, and had full range of the 100 and 200 hardware to do so.  THis
seems much more plausible than the idea that they chose to americanize the 100
and 200 without changes.  BTW, you could get *very* plain versions over there
if you so desired (no tach, no sunroof, no power windows or steering!, plain
radio (no cassette), etc. a/c is of course a rarity (only 1 vw/audi dealer in
greater Stuttgart -- out of perhaps a dozen -- could work on a/c in 1989!).