HSR Type 859: The Audi Sport quattro reborn as a 600 hp analog restomod
06/05/2026
Some cars never really leave the conversation. The Audi Sport quattro is one of them.
More than four decades after the Group B era turned rallying into one of the wildest chapters in motorsport history, the short-wheelbase quattro still feels like unfinished business. It was brutal, compact, technical and slightly terrifying, which is exactly why it still matters today.
Now, Munich-based HSR Manufaktur wants to bring that spirit back with the Type 859, a modern restomod inspired by the legendary Audi Sport quattro, limited to 84 units and priced from around €500,000 excluding taxes, including the donor car.
A Sport quattro reimagined from the ground up
The HSR Type 859 starts with an Audi Coupé B2, but very little of the original car remains untouched. The donor car is fully stripped, 3D-scanned and shortened by 32 centimetres to recreate the compact, muscular proportions of the original Sport quattro. That detail matters, because the real Sport quattro was not just a standard quattro with more attitude. Its shortened wheelbase was central to its stance, its aggression and its entire identity.
HSR then rebuilds the car around a carbon-fibre body, giving it the visual drama of the eighties with far more modern materials and precision. The goal is clear: keep the silhouette, keep the emotion, but remove the fragility and compromise that usually come with cars from that era.
Five cylinders, manual gearbox, all-wheel drive
The heart of the Type 859 is exactly what it should be: a turbocharged five-cylinder. Rather than using an original rally-derived engine, HSR turns to the modern 2.5-litre DAZA five-cylinder turbo known from cars like the Audi RS 3 and TT RS. In standard form, that engine is already one of the most characterful modern Audi powerplants, but for the Type 859 it will be heavily reworked.
With a larger turbo, forged pistons, revised intake and dry-sump lubrication, output is expected to land between 500 and 600 hp. That power will be sent through a manual gearbox sourced from the Audi S4 B8, complete with an exposed shift gate, and distributed through a permanent all-wheel-drive system with a Torsen centre differential using a 40:60 split. A mechanical limited-slip differential is also part of the package.
The target weight is below 1,200 kg. That combination is what makes this car interesting. Not just power, but power in something light, mechanical and clearly focused on driver involvement.
Limited to 84 cars for a reason
The production run of 84 units is not random. It refers to Audi’s 1984 rally success, when the quattro myth became even stronger on the world stage. That kind of detail can easily become marketing decoration, but in this case it fits the concept well.
The Type 859 is not trying to be a new Audi. It is trying to preserve a specific feeling from Audi’s most emotional motorsport era, then rebuild it with modern engineering and fewer excuses.
AutoNext Take
We are very interested in this. The HSR Type 859 fits perfectly into the trend we have been following recently with cars like the Kimera K39, the return of analog performance stories, and even the wider conversation around Formula 1 potentially moving back towards simpler, louder engines.
People are clearly hungry for cars that feel mechanical again. The Type 859 has the right ingredients: a five-cylinder turbo, manual gearbox, permanent all-wheel drive, carbon construction, low weight and a visual connection to one of the greatest rally icons ever built.
The world needs more cars that remind us why those legends became legends in the first place.
