Street-Spotted: Audi Cabriolet

There are still plenty of European convertibles from the early 1990s on the road, but not many with four rings on the grille. The Audi Cabriolet, as it was known stateside, was rare on this side of the Atlantic when it was new, and a quarter-century later their numbers haven't exactly grown. Which makes this tidy example stand out in a sea of Saab, Mercedes, and BMW convertibles from this era.

The Audi Cabriolet was actually offered for far longer than you may remember—these were sold from 1993 all the way through the 1998 model year and were based on the B3 80 lineup, which debuted in 1991. The sedans certainly made their way stateside, but not the wagons, and in a few short years this truncated lineup was replaced by the new crowd-pleasing A4 lineup.

But not the 90-based Cabriolet, which remained on sale for a while longer, almost overlapping with the debut of the avant-garde TT. So for a major chunk of the 1990s, this model was Audi's sole cabriolet in what was, at the time, a much smaller lineup of models.

As usual, North America received the most lavish trims and engines, with the cabrio offering a 2.8-liter V-6 paired with a choice of a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic. This bought it 172 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque, which was plenty for the kind of driving it would do, with power sent to the front wheels.