100 Wagon

Erase/Rewind

No matter what, I’m always going to look for cars, work on cars, and plan my life around events that involve cars. I do try and practice restraint with this: I can’t buy every single car that comes up for sale. And actually, I pass on a lot of Audis given that we always have a vision of how things should look. If it doesn’t fit that vision, it doesn’t come home. This time, we weren’t looking at all: we were content with a 7-car fleet and had just wrapped up an intensive restoration on a 20v Avant, only to get an email about a car that really pulls at my heartstrings… An ‘89 100 Wagon. Are we going backwards by allowing this car back into the collection? By no means is this a desirable spec in the general Audiverse, but I’m sitting on so many parts that I figured I’d come up with a good excuse to use them. And that excuse is simply: just buy it.

WAGNIS OVERVIEW

1989 Audi 100 Wagon (Production 5/89) 2.3L I5 (NF) | 3-Speed Auto (087)

Alpine White L90E | Graphite Leather Comfort Seats

MSRP: $32.785

Dealer: Tischer Audi, Silver Spring, MD (now Silver Spring Audi)

Dealer Delivery Date: October 28, 1989

Factory Options: Automatic Transmission ($550), Power Seats ($825), Leather Upholstery ($1250), Roof Rails ($225), Cold Weather Package ($350)

Dealer Installed Accessories: Plush Floor Mats

In Collection Since: 6/15/2026 (32nd of 32 Audis Owned)

Special Plate: TYP44

Status: Restoration Complete, Permanent Collection

Usage: Seasonal Daily Driver/Show Car

Personality Profile: After daily-driving 20v Avants for almost several years now, getting back into anything less responsive can be somewhat disappointing. A 2.3 NF engine with a 5-speed is a little more lively, but you’ll struggle to feel like you’re going anywhere fast with the 3-speed. On the days when the knees and back hurt, it might be nice to have a leisurely automatic vehicle to enjoy. Otherwise, this one is here more as a conquest piece.

Odd & Unique About This Car: 1989 was the only year you could get a refreshed C3 wagon in FWD with the base non-turbo engine in the US. Wagons here went exclusively turbo quattro in 1990 and for the remainder of the C3 run. Audi started selling the revised 1989 100/200 cars in 1988; and they thankfully separated sales numbers from the remaining outgoing ‘88 5000 models. Combining 1988 and 1989 data shows a total of 13,105 100/200 vehicles sold. An internal memo from 1990 explained the 1989 100 Wagon and its base sedan counterpart, the 100E, each accounted for less than 5% each of sales volume and therefore would be axed. This translates to an estimated 650-700 100 Wagons were sold in the US. Not quite as low as some other offerings, but given the wagons usually lived rough lives, not many have survived. Like the 1984-88 5000 wagon offerings, roof rails were still an option for ‘89, as was an automatic transmission. Some other optional equipment offerings would disappear for 1990 in an effort to streamline and push sales during a tough time for Audi in the US. This is also one of several ‘89 100 Wagons that I’ve seen throughout the years that originated disproportionately from Tischer Audi in Silver Spring, MD, which is also where my first 100 Wagon was sold.

Name Origin: Wagnis translates in German roughly to “Hazardous/Risky Business” which is exactly how I feel taking a gamble on a consignment car from Bring A Trailer.

Favorite Song: “Erase/Rewind” by The Cardigans. “…I’ve changed my mind, I take it back… Erase and Rewind ’cause I’ll be changing my mind…”

T44Brian was built on the C3, FWD Audi 100. Before the Radwood era (and then in conjunction with the Pandemic a little later) started to make ’80s and ’90s cars out-of-reach to the common enthusiast, there were reasonably priced or easy $500 “cash & carry or it’s going to scrap” deals alive and well. Needless to say that there were always outlier examples – special run cars like the 20v cars, Ur-Quattros, and even the nicely sorted B2 and B3 4000/20v 90 quattros would command respectable prices. One car that was always guaranteed to be cheap was either the front wheel drive ’84-’88 5000S or ’89-91 100 Sedans when equipped with the enthusiast-despised automatics. Audi’s bread-and-butter cars never got much love from the diehard quattro guys, and they still don’t even to this day. But it is these cheap and overlooked examples that I cut my teeth on as a teenager that eventually lead to what T44Brian has become today.

Unfortunately the similarly slow, non-quattro wagons (Avants, yes, but let me remind you that Audi never marketed this era as “Avant“ so I will usually say wagon other than speaking specifically about 200 20v cars) are grouped in this category. The good news is that when these are wagons, it doesn’t matter to me. And lately the wagon premium in the Audi market seems to be increasing exponentially.

My first Wagon/Avant/Longroof/etc was a 1989 Audi 100 Wagon, in Lago Blue with basically every option available (sans trip computer and sport seats). This was in 2017, so around that time I wouldn’t have considered myself wealthy enough to procure a 20v Avant or something more racy, so it was a good gateway car into eventually something better. And by better I don’t mean more reliable or faster: that 100 wagon was quite cosmetically challenged and lived a tough life. It did serve me well over a year of ownership and nearly 11,000 miles.

After many road trips and Wendy’s runs for a Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and a Frosty (it was the official snack-run vehicle after all), that Lago 100 Wagon decided to quit, and I had been given an opportunity to purchase a quad-headlight ‘84 5000S wagon that was in much nicer shape so I elected to not investigate further into that car. As usual, that 100 wagon was dismantled completely and it donated parts to every other Audi that was in my collection at the time. Mind you, this is years ago when I was a bit less knowledgeable on resources and tried very hard to keep an ecosystem of recycling dead, once-daily-driven Audis into new daily-drivers I would pickup on the cheap.

Fast forward nearly 9 years, we now have another 100 Wagon in our clutch. This particular car was leased new from Tischer Auto Park in Silver Spring, MD, just like my Lago 100W. As prior noted, this dealer must have received a good chunk of 100 wagons as there’s at least 5 surviving examples I’ve seen that were Tischer-derived.

According to some hearsay information: Around early ‘94 the car was coming off-lease. The next owner, who was the former Corporate Communications Manager for BMW’s Motorrad division, was looking for a second vehicle that was larger for his growing family. At the time, BMW wagons were pricey. At the time, Audi and BMW leases were handled by the same company, so an internal connection of of the lease company had seen this Audi 100 station wagon ready to be passed on, and he pursued the car. They ended up keeping it from 1994-2026, when it went on consignment and I had to successfully bid for it on Bring a Trailer.

I had elected to view the car in person the day before the auction closed. A pleasant experience, and I could definitely see lots of potential in this car, but of course knew right away some things would need to be done. That night I gathered a good chunk of parts I had been sitting on and proceeded to bid the next day, then picking up the car the following Monday.

The ‘89 100 wagons, along with the rest of the early run of non-airbag 1989 100/200 vehicles, do have some unique pieces that make restorations a bit more challenging if you need to replace certain pieces. Identifying an ‘89 is easy: these cars will have a plastic (not vinyl) textured parcel shelf kick-panel on the driver side and a plastic glovebox that is a completely different internal design than the ‘90+ cars. When airbags went into production, these lower dash panels were modified and padded for extra driver protection: so you lose the storage space below the wheel. You’ll also notice the dashboard is all one molded piece, no separate side panels. This makes removing the dash on ‘89s a nightmare, and therefore anything that breaks underneath it as well. Even the wood trim is different: you can swap wood between the cars but you need the correct vent inserts. Thankfully, the instrument cluster and other switchgear is easy access regardless of year.

The good news is that these are otherwise straightforward cars to work with in the Audi realm. I wouldn’t say that this car has lived a charmed life; the basic maintenance was attended to and it wasn’t used in the winters, so the bones are very nice. Even the best C3s closing in around 100K with some original parts are going to need some things, with the most notable weak spot being the center resonators as they just literally collect condensation like nothing else unless truly warmed up on a long drive. We have other hard to find emergency pieces ready to go just in case, like a new distributor and CIS components. And the hood trumpets crumbled on the day I went to look at the car, so I shrugged that off knowing I had the updated metal ones at home.

2026 has shaped up to be a true year of the Wagon: for the first time ever, the wagons outnumber the sedans. now at 8 vehicles in the garage, we’re really out of room and that’s a good thing: I don’t really know what I would consider next. More wagons? Maybe. But if it took six years to locate a quad-headlight 5000 wagon, nine years to find another 100 wagon, and the entire span of 13 years to get a Lago 200 20v Avant, I doubt another example that would require serious consideration is coming up anytime soon. I had parts to use up, one more space left in the shop, and now I can truly say: that’s it.

Until the next one… That is.

Notable Mods & Changes:

2026: New Vehicle Purchase

• Replacement Cargo Cover
• 15” Steel Wheels with Euro-Only Aero Covers
• Zebrano Climate Panel Face & Ashtray
• Updated Metal Hood Release Cable “Trumpets”
• Replacement Interior Door Handles
• Replacement Zebrano, Driver Door
• Euro-only Audi Beta Cassette Radio
• B4 Audi-logo Shift Knob Upgrade
• Bumper Tow Hook Retainer
• New Front Corner Amber Lights
• NOS Black Floor Mats
• Upgraded Instrument Panel Bulbs
• NOS Center Resonator
• New Ignition Switch
• New Coolant Reservoir and Coolant Bypass Valve
• Various Engine Trim/Plastics/Clips
• Refurbished Chrome Window Scraper Trim
• New Left/Right Mirror Glass
• Knew Knock Sensor, Oil Pressure Sensor, Ignition Tune Up, Filters, Voltage Regulator
• Replacement Door Sill Trims & Running Strips
• Refurbished Rear Door Ashtrays
• New Master Cylinder
• New 034133689H Fuel Line retainer
• New Timing Cover Nuts