A group of us were recently kicking around some feature ideas for our classic car titles and one of the subjects up for discussion was the boom in popularity of all-wheel drive during the ’80s and ’90s. Audi started it of course, trickling down the 4x4 hardware from its ground-breaking Quattro to the rest of the range, with even the entry-level 80 offered in quattro format. Ford joined the party with the Sierra XR4x4 and even mid-range Cavaliers and Peugeot 405s could be had with an extra pair of driven wheels.
In the premium market, Audi still had it pretty much to itself, bar a scattering of 4Matic Mercedes and the ‘E34’ generation BMW 525ix. Jaguar remained firmly in
