When working as a staff writer with the Swedish classic car magazine ”Klassiker”, I had the chance to take a pristine Ro80 on a 1 500 km trip to the south of Sweden and back. That car could chew up kms like few other classics that I have driven. The driving experience is very different; the engine revs at first seem VERY high on motorway stretches. And you wonder if you are about to break something. But after a while you realize it is ment to be this way and the engine actually loves it. It takes some adjustment, but I remember questioning why not all cars had wankels after a few hours. I think that everybody who is questioning why those morons (mazda and nsu) invested so much in the concept with little return, should first drive a Ro80. Hard and fast, preferably on a longer journey. That is where the Ro80 proves its concept. Love the Ro80! Love your channel! Keep up the good work!
Hi.. you say - "... should first drive a Ro80. Hard and fast, preferably on a longer journey. That is where the Ro80 proves its concept." Couldn't agree more with that... if it has a rotary engine. It's the way I daily drove one, when it wasn't broken, over 8years. Sydney, Australia. Roads were decent. Standing start, flat on the floor.. max RPM at 6k > change out of 1st doing 60mph > change out of 2nd at 85mph.. overdriven 3rd top speed??? that thing would cruse at 80-100mph with the UPM at barely over 2,000. Reasonable redline at 6,500 UPM .. that Ro was most willing to go past 5k in top gear. I'd taken it to 140mph once.. comfortably. Yep.. A rotary engine should be taken to redline at least once every time it's driven... when warmed. The problem with "Hard and fast" these days, is the engines hit the fuel hard and fast. LOL 😂 You would have driven the small NSU engine.. ~1litre peripheral ported as it was. They were great and yes, they loved top gear on an expressway.. easily do over 100mph with 4 souls. Handles like it's on rails... never ever over-steered. More so with the 12A Maz engines. 13B was 'excessive', but having said that, I did have a peripheral ported 12A track engine for a while that far exceeded 13B. Back in the mid 90's, a Ro80 car friend (car Journo writer/presenter) would say.. "The worst thing is below 60km/hr. - The best thing is above 60km/h." I'd add... the VERY best thing is above 160km/h. I'd also add.. the Elegant styling and brilliant engineering. The Ro80, overall, was deceptively simple.. well balanced and very strong. The mistake NSU made with the Ro80 is that they didn't offer a 2.6 litre V6 or slant 2 litre piston variant... a backup plan if the rotary proved hard to market. The vehicle design could have gone a 20 year production run, being so advanced as they were. A 2 door coupe or Spider variant would have certainly rivaled Porsche.
"NSU" continued to be Audi's stockmarket code until just a few years ago. Now incorporated into the single VW listing - sometime after the dieselgate debacle
Despite failing to meet expectations of some people the NSU/VW K70 was a wonderful vehicle for families and for long distance travel. A lot of room for passengers and luggage. Due to its large windows travelling through the Alps was really nice. However, it could get quite hot inside for the same reason. Thank you for that excellent video!
We bought and owned one brand new in Signal Orange and loved it! We drove it 200k km until it rusted out (as did all cars of that era) and never had trouble with the engine. Ours had "Tiptronic and was easy and comfortable to drive and to ride in. Our dealer in Tübingen (near Stuttgart) said that many dealers did not service or repair them properly.
Funfact: The design of the Prinz 4 (introduced in 1961) took inspiration from the Chevrolet Corvair and was also copied in the eastern bloc with the Saporoshez SAS-966[W] (introduced in 1966) and also the following SAS-968. Audi's legendary slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik" - Advantage by technology (manifested by the quattro) was originally the slogan for the Ro 80. The Ro 80's Alloy wheels were actually manufactured by Otto Fuchs and that is also the manufacturer of the famous Porsche "Fuchsfelgen" wheels. Audi also had a wankel range extender for their A1 e-tron, they've built a small number (
In many ways, the RO 80 was the predecessor what became the original Audi 100 model, a car that drastically changed the fortunes of Audi because it was so high popular as a "executive car."
It wasn’t of course the point of this excellent video but the fact that NSU were for a time post-war the World’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, largely supplying a hungry local market who couldn’t afford four wheels, is worthy of a video on its own especially in the context of the almost total disappearance of the German motorcycle industry in the 1960’s. Compare and contrast with the British motorcycle industry, whose disappearance is usually blamed on the Japanese and management complacency rather than socioeconomic changes in society when in truth all were significant factors 🇬🇧
I really think the RO80 is one of the most important and most influental car designs of all time. Low front, wide track, great proportions overall. And then this unusually high back for 1967. Today we know they all followed these wedge lines for sedans. Sooner or later.
I've always loved these cars. As a child I had a red Dinky (or it may have been Corgi) model of one. There was someone in Westmount Road, Ektham, SE0 that had one parked on their drive for years. It never seemed to go anywhere, but maybe the Wankel engine had broken down.
Same situation where I lived near Elstree, Herts. A silver grey Ro 80 was parked outside a Cottage through the 80s ,well into the early 20s. You just twigged me it must have had a blown Rotor and no parts available. Should have been given to a Museum. Great waste.
The RO80 was such a hyper modern car back when it was introduced. As a kid i loved it and i got a Corgo 1:43 model as a present. The joint venture between Citroen and NSU is also interesting to explore: i think it was called BiRotor. Citroen made 2 wankel powered BiRotor cars, 1 coupe based on the Ami and a GS powered by a Wankel engine. There were also motorbikes with Wankel engines. The vanVeen OCR1000, the Norton Commando, Hercules and a Suzuki RE. All very collectible bikes today. Norton even succesfully raced Wankel powered SuperBikes. There was also a helicopter that used Wankel power. As nice as the engine design is it has some design drawbacks that are hard to ignore: as was mentioned, the apex seals excessive wear. As a consequence the engine used more oil. 2nd: in relation to the volume of the combustion chamber it has more exposed chamber wall surface area. This makes it less thermodynamically efficient when compared to a compareable piston 4stroke engine of similar power output. Added up and concluding: the wankel engine just wasn't good enough. It also didn't help that the world had to deal with the 1973 oil crisis. New car buyers wanted cars that had great gasmileage. It was also the time when tighter emission standards were introduced.
As cool as rotaries are, they are fundamentally flawed in that oil has to be dumped directly into the chamber to lube the apex seals, and is burned during combustion. This was fine 30 years ago, but modern emission standards mean carmakers can't get away with this kind of "built-in" oil consumption anymore.
Yep. The addition of a supercharger in the RX8 solved the problem of no torque at low RPM, and some changes to oil flow and the addition of an oil radiator helped there. The rotary was killed by arbitrary emissions regulations invented by bureaucrats. However, once the US Supreme Court struck down its own earlier ruling on Chevron deference, all the automakers rushed to sue to end CAFE. When that happens, we'll see a renaissance of great engines. Oh, and the experiments in CVT and electrics will come to an end.
Really need to restore one of my Ro80s - have about 8 of them on the farm...Including the one that was our families car when i was growing up - was a daily from 1973 when Dad bought it used to the late 90s. Did something like 250,000 Miles, including life on dirt roads, towing trailers, several crossings from Perth to Melbourne back in the day when the Nullarboor wasnt a sealed road. Great cars.
I owned two, once upon a time in Sydney. Came down to daily driver and spares. Coastal locations are harsh on sheetmetal. Original NSU motor blew due to water pump fail. 12A Maz transplant was easy. Brilliant design. Decades ahead in so many ways. They had good and bad points. Engine swap was very very easy... crap semi-auto was the near bane of my existence. A Ro80 car friend would say.. "The worst thing is below 60km/hr... best thing is above 60km/h... and very best well above 160km/h. NSU could have.. should've.. had a 2 litre piston option for the Ro80.. 5 speed gearbox in a coupe variant too. What engines were you using crossing the Nulla?
@@BTW...Only NSU engines - is an Ro80 really an Ro80 without its heart? ;) One had to be torn down after a thermostat failed and it over heated - a coolant O ring between a rotor housing and an end plate. Not a massive deal and easier than the head gasket that would have blown on a piston engine. The engines are reliable and while converting to a Mazda isn’t super hard it’s a lot easier to just fix the original engine! I never quite understood why anyone bothered… But there was a lot of misinformation and NSU probably should have borrowed a Passat engine as an option. But then VW wasn’t interested though.
Thank you for an interesting and very informative film. I didn’t know the back story to NSU. The Ro80 remains one of my favourite cars - the design, for 1967 was revolutionary, and set the template for the modern Audi. The car’s details are quite beautiful- especially the aluminium trim around the front and rear screens, and the lovely front grille and light treatment. It’s a shame that the engines were so flawed - the Ro80 is in many ways as important to car evolution as the Citroen DS, and deserves more recognition.
That last comment there an important pearl of wisdom - "The unreliability so often present when working at the cutting edge". My engineer Dad's favourite engineering principle is 'rugged simplicity'.
In the early 70s my older brother was a motor dealer. He bought an RO 80 on a whim. Enjoyed the performance and over all drive for a while. Then had the engine replaced with a Ford V4 and sold it for a modest profit. I adored the look of that car then and still do!
The installation of the V4 was a common cure. Ironically enough, if an Ro80 fell into my hands, I'd have a freshly rebuilt Mazda 12a or 13b engine ready to go in it.
My dad (now 99) often talked about the development by NSU of new automotive technology. The Wankel was theoretically superior but in fact not practical. My thought was that Wankel was best suited for a suicide drone.
If you want to buy an NSU Ro 80 as a classic car, try and get one from the model years 1970-1977. They were made between October 1967 and April 1977. The early ones from 1967-1969 had a lot of teething problems with the rotors prematurely wearing out. The Ro 80 engine suffered from construction faults, among many other problems, and some early cars required a rebuilt engine before 50,000 kilometres (31,000 mi), with problems arising as early as 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi). Originally, the rotor tip seals were made in three pieces, out of the same material. The motor's design caused the centre section to wear more quickly at cold starts compared to the other pieces; the worn centrepieces allowed the two other parts of the seal to move, which in turn allowed combustion products to escape the seals. The tip seal centrepiece was then redesigned using ferrotic material, presumably titanium carbide, and the problem was entirely resolved.
18:45 There was NO 'Volkswagen's fortune' involved in K70 engineering process. NSU completed the K70's development before mortal marriage with VW. K70 was engineered with (K -> Kolben) piston engine since start. NSU printed prospects and built 23 null-serie cars for premiere on Geneva Motor Show (March 1969), cancelled last evening because of Wolfsburg's demand. VW - ready to merge with NSU - was too affraid of internal competition with 411.
As usual Mr McVeigh, an absolutely interesting and educational documentary about something I knew nothing about. Didn't even know the name NSU. So much that I don't even know I didn't know about, and why I'm grateful to RUclips and video makers like yourself.
Ro80 would still look modern if it was built today. VW got 3 new car models when they bought NSU and merged it with Audi, I remember seeing an Audi 50, it became the VW polo.
Oh my, the memories. I normally focus on your aviation videos, but this one caught my attention as our neighbours way back in the 70s had a Ro-80 and absolutely swore by it. They were evangelists, trying to get my dad to switch from BMW. 😆 Minor point: it's not ak-tie-en gesellschaft, but ak-tsee-en (Aktiengesellschaft, AG, publicly traded corporation)
Super interesting, as always. I am as old as the oldest Ro80 and I can remember that as a child, I loved to see these cars (along withe Cx's with their "get off their knees" start, as I always called it). It was VERY different than all the other cars out there and watching that video today, I am amazed as to how modern this body style still is. Claus Luthe's design surely is timeless. One quick note: The Audi 100 taking over from the Ro80 ist not the one first shown, but its predecessor, if I am not mistaken. The car shown is a C3 but the model which took over was the C2. Grüße aus Deutschland!!!
Note in the Audi 100 and A6 footage how the shape of the Ro80's 3rd side window in the C pillar lives on until today in any Audi Saloon designed after the discontinuation of the Ro80. Together with BMW's "Hofmeister Kink" in the rear side windows it is probably one of the design elements in use continuously for the longest time.
The Ro 80 looks amazing. Honestly when you started showing it in the video I was thinking it was a much more modern car. I would have guessed late 70's early 80's. Obviously once you see the interior and look closer that doesn't hold up.
17:08 Ro80 rotor sealings deteriorated even faster due to short-distance trips. NSU didn't predict how many owners will use this magnificent autobahn car to drive for bakerolls 1 mile only every morning, then 2 miles to work office.
My first car was an NSU 1200C SS. Nice but a spoon in a pudding bowl gearshift meant that reversegear could easily be selected instead of first gear at junctions. I rigged up a dashboard light to the reverse gear as a precaution. Also, the head studs would strip out and so I had to have my engine block helicoiled. Another problem I encountered was the exhaust heat exchanger ... not being able to source new exhausts at a decent price (or at all), wrapping and bodging the silencer was not recommended as although it stopped the outside of the exhaust from blowing, it would then rot on the inside, allowing exhaust fumes to blow into the heating ventilation ducts.
The body of the NSU with the Wankel engine was ahead of its time. I visited the factory in Neckarsulm which is now an assembly plant for Volkswagen. I can only imagine what NSU could have been if they invested in the right engine.I had a 250 cc NSU motorcycle and had only small problems. The body of the R70 car did go on to be the first front wheel drive Volkswagen which was not very successful.
@@djphilmanns Actually no. We still do this today with our running Ro 80s. Mine is on its third engine but has been problem free for the last 18 years, after I exchanged the seals with modern carbon based high pressure pressed parts. Besides running well, it also only burns 8 Liters on 100 Kilometers and zero oil. 😎
VW really had no input in the K70 development. The K70 was meant to fill the gap between the advanced but troublesome Ro80 and the outdated Typ 110/1200C (fundamentally an elongated Prinz 1000). The K in K70 stands for Kolbenmotor (= piston engine), so the car was designed around an inline 4 from the outset. A Rotary powered Ro70 was considered but abandoned early on. Development had started around 1965 and was pretty much finished by the time NSU was absorbed by Volkswagen and integrated into Auto Union. This can also be seen in the fact that the K70 shares almost no parts with any VW or Auto Union models. The engine over gearbox drivetrain was surprisingly similar to that of the Triumph 1300 and Saab 99. Ultimately the NSU design was too overambitious for the market segment it was intended to compete in, its Audi stablemates offered more attractive styling, better fuel economy, better performance, similar good driving dynamics all while being much less complex and cheaper to manufacture.
22:20 One of NSU's problems was that its licensed dealers and workshops were quite experienced in dealing with motorcycles and micro cars, but had little experience with larger cars such as the Ro80. Btw.: back in the day, many micro cars could be driven with a motorcycle license, which was an important argument at a time when there were many more holders of motorcycle licenses than car licenses.
@@emjayay In the FRG the class 4 license (if issued before December 1, 1954) allowed to drive vehicles with a displacement of up to 250 cubic centimeters.
My father had a K70 in the late 70's. It was the only on that I have ever seen on the road. I had the misfortune of driving it once. I remember that it had really heavy steering and vicious torque steer!
When I was a bairn in the early 70s, a hap up the lane from us had at least one Wartburg and one bright blue RO80 which always seemed to have its bonnet up. I was fascinated since the car we had at the time was a Fiat 124, this NSU was obviously leagues ahead.
Here in eastern Canada, in sedan racing, a driver named Klaus Bartels won regularly in D Sedan in an NSU...recall that he raced with the trunk lid propped open slightly
The rear mounted NSU engines especially in the Prince had cooling issues. There were actually distance rods available aftermarket to keep the engine hood slightly open. A must for race drivers in competition - and anyone pretending to be one on the road.
Its widely believed that if it hadn't been for the purchase of NSU, there was no way Volkswagen could have developed their Golf so quickly since they utilized a lot of the NSU tooling to pull it off.
That Sports Prinz was a beauty. Car makers have lost the will to make machines regular people want to enjoy. Didn't know about the NSU motorbike heritage, cool to know. Great vid, the comments are a fun read.
These cars were awesome except for the troublesome Wankel. A mate bought one near new but had three replacement engines. In the end swapped a non working car for a Type 70. Lots of conversions to 4 or V6 cylinders were done.
Very interesting - maybe if they had used titanium tips on the rotary cylinder? What a car, what an engine. Mazda took up the Wankel engine successfully did they not?
Yes and no. The engine had some strong points (pardon the pun), but even Mazda never fully committed to it, after they realised that conventional ICEs' were more efficient and competitive in their general range.
Not only Audi is based on NSU, also what is known as "modern" Volkswagen goes back to NSU. When NSU was involved into the VAG ( Union of Audi and VW), Audi got the RO80, the first modern shaped Audi, whereas Volkswagen got the NSU K70 and sold it as the first VW with frontengine, 4 cyl inline, front driven and water cooled. The ancestor of all VW as we know then today.
My dad's business partner was quite a car enthusiast. I remember him having some larger Vauxhalls: Crestas and a Ventora. He bought a NSU RO80 not long after they came out. They were pretty futuristic at the time when it was still possible to see cars with wings and running boards being used as regular, daily use cars. Unfortunately the NSU routinely oiled up its plugs and couldn't be started and he lost confidence in it after a short period of ownership. It was replaced with something more conventional. I recall that some people would replace the Wankel engine with a Ford V4.
Der NSU RO 80 war seiner Zeit weit voraus, aerodynamisch wie technisch👍(zb wie auch mit den innenliegenden Bremsen/scheiben am Getriebe👍 ) Die zwar vorher schon in den 50er/ 60ern/ von Citroen im 2CV und von/ im Renault R4, 5 verbaut wurden, und später auch von Alfa Romeo ua im Alfasud Verwendung fanden und auch bei VW im K70. Also ein klares Statement gesetzt👋. Und er hatte nach seiner Vorstellung 67 im Windkanal bessere CW Werte als viele anderen Autos/Hersteller aus dieser Zeit (außer der GT von Opel ). Das Konzept des Wankels/ Kreiskolbenmotors wurde leider auch damals nicht von den restlichen deutschen Automobilhertellern angenommen ( sondern vielmehr auch von Audi ) als nicht innovativ / Zukunftsweisend abgetan /abgelehnt🤔😔, da die Dichtstreifen (Kolbenringe) der Kreiskolben leider noch keine seht hohe Standfestigkeit/Lebensdauer hatten. Und auch der sehr hohe Benzinverbrauch nach/während der Ölkrise Mitte der 70er nicht unbedingt im Sinne der Käufer war😔. Deshalb wurde auch die Produktion der 2. Serie, (trotz verbesserten Dichtstreifen und den modifizieren größeren Rückleuchten😐) von NSU dann nach relativ kurzer Zeit eingestellt, leider ! Nur die Japaner/ Mazda nutzten diese kreiskolben Technik Jahre später im MX7 (als 3 Scheiben statt 2 wie von NSU) 🤔👍. Mein Freund 😍, hat damals Ende der 70er /80er Jahren eine Lehre als Kfz Mechaniker in einer kleinen Werkstatt gemacht👍. Dort war auch ein Ehepaar als Kunden mit je einem RO 80 (der ersten Serie, mit den schmalen Rückleuchten😊 ) in diesem Blaumetallic ( wie auf dem Bild abgebildet) und einem in Orange, regelmäßig zum Kundendienst/Service vorstellig☺️. Er😍 hat also an diesen "Ikonen" selber Hand angelegt und so seine eigenen Erfahrungen als Lehrling gemacht👋. Das ist ihm mit inzwischen 60 Jahren bis heute positiv im Gedächtnis geblieben👍. Und diese ganzen technischen Details hat er Dank seiner Erfahrungen als Mechaniker und seinem allgemeinen Interesse an Oldtimern / Klassikern ( speziel denen von OPEL ) also fachlich fundiert👋. Und kann deshalb auch mitreden und hat sein Wissen auch mir gegenüber immer wieder zum Ausdruck gebracht, bzw gibt es auch gerne weiter👍💥! .
The RO80 design looks like it could be 10 or maybe 15 years ahead of its time. Rather than Audi it reminds me of Peugeot. The K70 looks like a significant downgrade of style and quality.
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Ro80. Lots of innovation and the rotary engine, mixed in with a then modern style that in my eyes is far, far better to look at than the much praised Citroen DS.
The Kettenkrad HK 101 was marvelous and the Lambretta was a great alternative to the already pricey Vespa by Piaggio. And the Lambretta could pull a trailer. Just across the lake from me the original design offices of Felix Wankel still stand proud. Audi uses it as a conference center and it's a marvelous Bauhaus stile building that makes you drop to your knees in marvel. I miss NSU. Today, sadly, Audis are for posers and twats.
Une auto formidable qui ne fait pas son age. La mienne est de 1971, cette année un voyage en Autriche depuis la France sans problème et une consommation raisonnable de11.5 litres sur autoroute.
Not much four door cars exist with the rotary engine from the factory. Even Mazda’s own early attempts at a luxury saloon required them to purchase a bunch of empty Holden Commodore bodies, shipped them to Japan and installed the 13B into it, creating a very rare Mazda Roadpacer AP specifically for the Japanese domestic market as a competitor for the Toyota Crown. Holden on the other hand, got some technical assistance to build a rotary-powered Torana but never went beyond prototyping. Elsewhere, rotary engines were exclusively put on two door sports cars. Oh, and the Lada got a rotary engine at one point, thanks to espionage and reverse engineering efforts of the Sachs Wankel unit.
14:51 Though not a fan of FWD, I must say the panel fit and overall quality of that bodywork is magnificent, even by today's standards. (certainly better than the typical Audi, ironically enough 😂)
I always thought the RO80 was an odd design, but an interesting one too. You either liked it, or loathed it. If memory serves, I’m sure there were motor repair companies who offered to replace the rotor motors with conventional engines for a price. I’ve no idea how successful that was as it’s such a long time ago now 🏴
Good video. I wonder how many RO80's had the conversion to a Ford V4 engine. Apocryphal that owners meeting each other on the road would show the number of engines replaced under warranty by showing the equivalent number of fingers. No mention of Lada's Wankel cars.
Splendid video and my compliments on your German accent. However, even Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) were unable to make the Wankel engine suitable for normal car use, with varying engine speed (lastly the RX8). It is useful as a light-weight air-cooled light-aircraft engine. Its emissions and fuel economy are hampered by the large surface area of the combustion volume walls, which do not retain heat very well.
Conceptually it seems they would make a good aircraft engine. But there’s never been one in production. They are even rare as auto engine conversions in kit planes. They don’t worry about emissions in light aircraft engines, the issue is fuel consumption, and thereby range.
Tech/transport museums in Berlin and Munich both have one. The Wankel was a huge mistake they should have never made, but the cars are beautiful in every detail and 10-20 years ahead of contemporary cars in terms of style. I think the only other engine around at the time that would fit was the rough without a balance shaft Ford V4, and many got this retrofit. This video may have been a bit optimistic about the NSU Wankel ever being equal to a piston engine in longevity, economy, or emissions (which were far less regulated then). Even the last Mazda rotary decades later fell short in all these.
NSU should have developed the Typ 110 and 1200 as a 4-door (if not even converted it to FWD), limited the Wankel engine to sports cars if not got Mazda involved in Comotor (as well as produced 1000-1300 four-cylinder Prinz TT/TTS versions of the Sport Prinz and Spider), sought closer relations with Citroen on FWD projects (from K50 to Project F, Ro80-based Panhard 24-replacement with 1.99-litre flat-four AML boxer, etc), developed a smaller 1300-1500 K60 brother to the K70 (akin to Triumph 1300/1500 or Honda 1300/145) and had the Ro80 equipped instead with either a 2-litre version of the K70 motor (similar to aftermarket 1.6/2.0? Audi engine swap) or whatever piston-alternative engineers were working on (e.g. flat-six boxer, Lancia Fulvia/VR6-inspired V4, K70-based inline-five or V6, etc).
It may have been replaced by the likes of the Audi 100, but the RO8 is a much better looking car. It's become a classic in the way that the Audi100 never could. (PS.As a teenager, I once drove an NSU Quickly moped. So much better than its British equivalent, the Raleigh Runabout).
I occasionally ponder the question as to whether the initial problems NSU had with their Wankel engines could be solved by today's engine oil formulators? In theory they have the benefit of 50+ years of additive & base oil technology development to call upon but I suspect the answer is no. However it's a nice thought experiment.
Was there anyway for NSU to buy back NSU-Fiat / Neckar and would the resultant combine (together with collaboration with Steyr-Daimler-Puch) have been less of a German automotive minnow?
The mistake NSU made with the Ro80 is that they didn't offer a 2.6 litre V6 or slant 2 litre piston variant... a backup plan if the rotary proved hard to market. The vehicle design could have gone a 20 year production run, being so advanced as they were. A 2 door coupe or Spider variant would have certainly rivaled Porsche.
Yes the reciprocating engine is bigger, heavier and has more bits but there is no actual advantage in output with something just spinning. The energy of the pistons going back and forth is not lost even though it might seem so.
Great video. I grew up with the Prinz II. My father had all 3 early Prinzes, but there were more Prinz II to use as sacrificial parts donors. As I understand, NSUs were brought into 4 US ports and were practically unknown in the US outside those cities. Since the Prinz II was under a thousand pounds, it wasn't a "car" as defined by federal standards. NSUs could get away with not meeting certain federal regulations. After a couple years of poor sales, NSU left the US market and new NSUs were sold at steep discounts.
The fact the RO 80 front end looks like the front of a Mercedes from 15-20 years later shows they were ahead of the times in style
For me it’s Peugeot 305.
Yes, hard to believe it's from the 60s - until you see inside.
Audi you meant
When working as a staff writer with the Swedish classic car magazine ”Klassiker”, I had the chance to take a pristine Ro80 on a 1 500 km trip to the south of Sweden and back. That car could chew up kms like few other classics that I have driven. The driving experience is very different; the engine revs at first seem VERY high on motorway stretches. And you wonder if you are about to break something. But after a while you realize it is ment to be this way and the engine actually loves it. It takes some adjustment, but I remember questioning why not all cars had wankels after a few hours. I think that everybody who is questioning why those morons (mazda and nsu) invested so much in the concept with little return, should first drive a Ro80. Hard and fast, preferably on a longer journey. That is where the Ro80 proves its concept.
Love the Ro80! Love your channel! Keep up the good work!
Nice.
Hi.. you say - "... should first drive a Ro80. Hard and fast, preferably on a longer journey. That is where the Ro80 proves its concept."
Couldn't agree more with that... if it has a rotary engine.
It's the way I daily drove one, when it wasn't broken, over 8years. Sydney, Australia. Roads were decent.
Standing start, flat on the floor.. max RPM at 6k > change out of 1st doing 60mph > change out of 2nd at 85mph.. overdriven 3rd top speed??? that thing would cruse at 80-100mph with the UPM at barely over 2,000. Reasonable redline at 6,500 UPM .. that Ro was most willing to go past 5k in top gear. I'd taken it to 140mph once.. comfortably.
Yep.. A rotary engine should be taken to redline at least once every time it's driven... when warmed.
The problem with "Hard and fast" these days, is the engines hit the fuel hard and fast. LOL 😂
You would have driven the small NSU engine.. ~1litre peripheral ported as it was. They were great and yes, they loved top gear on an expressway.. easily do over 100mph with 4 souls. Handles like it's on rails... never ever over-steered.
More so with the 12A Maz engines. 13B was 'excessive', but having said that, I did have a peripheral ported 12A track engine for a while that far exceeded 13B.
Back in the mid 90's, a Ro80 car friend (car Journo writer/presenter) would say.. "The worst thing is below 60km/hr. - The best thing is above 60km/h."
I'd add... the VERY best thing is above 160km/h.
I'd also add.. the Elegant styling and brilliant engineering. The Ro80, overall, was deceptively simple.. well balanced and very strong.
The mistake NSU made with the Ro80 is that they didn't offer a 2.6 litre V6 or slant 2 litre piston variant... a backup plan if the rotary proved hard to market.
The vehicle design could have gone a 20 year production run, being so advanced as they were.
A 2 door coupe or Spider variant would have certainly rivaled Porsche.
"NSU" continued to be Audi's stockmarket code until just a few years ago. Now incorporated into the single VW listing - sometime after the dieselgate debacle
Will the survive in the EV years now ?
Despite failing to meet expectations of some people the NSU/VW K70 was a wonderful vehicle for families and for long distance travel. A lot of room for passengers and luggage. Due to its large windows travelling through the Alps was really nice. However, it could get quite hot inside for the same reason.
Thank you for that excellent video!
We bought and owned one brand new in Signal Orange and loved it! We drove it 200k km until it rusted out (as did all cars of that era) and never had trouble with the engine. Ours had "Tiptronic and was easy and comfortable to drive and to ride in. Our dealer in Tübingen (near Stuttgart) said that many dealers did not service or repair them properly.
yes ,this would defnatly be the case , no technicians had been prepared to service this kind of engine , for sure and true at they end 👍👍
Funfact: The design of the Prinz 4 (introduced in 1961) took inspiration from the Chevrolet Corvair and was also copied in the eastern bloc with the Saporoshez SAS-966[W] (introduced in 1966) and also the following SAS-968.
Audi's legendary slogan "Vorsprung durch Technik" - Advantage by technology (manifested by the quattro) was originally the slogan for the Ro 80.
The Ro 80's Alloy wheels were actually manufactured by Otto Fuchs and that is also the manufacturer of the famous Porsche "Fuchsfelgen" wheels.
Audi also had a wankel range extender for their A1 e-tron, they've built a small number (
Wasn't there a British car that looked similar to the Prinz?
@@anthonyxuereb792 Perhaps the Hillman Imp?
@@michaeloreilly657 Yes, that's the one, thanks.
In many ways, the RO 80 was the predecessor what became the original Audi 100 model, a car that drastically changed the fortunes of Audi because it was so high popular as a "executive car."
It wasn’t of course the point of this excellent video but the fact that NSU were for a time post-war the World’s largest motorcycle manufacturer, largely supplying a hungry local market who couldn’t afford four wheels, is worthy of a video on its own especially in the context of the almost total disappearance of the German motorcycle industry in the 1960’s. Compare and contrast with the British motorcycle industry, whose disappearance is usually blamed on the Japanese and management complacency rather than socioeconomic changes in society when in truth all were significant factors 🇬🇧
I really think the RO80 is one of the most important and most influental car designs of all time. Low front, wide track, great proportions overall. And then this unusually high back for 1967. Today we know they all followed these wedge lines for sedans. Sooner or later.
I've always loved these cars. As a child I had a red Dinky (or it may have been Corgi) model of one. There was someone in Westmount Road, Ektham, SE0 that had one parked on their drive for years. It never seemed to go anywhere, but maybe the Wankel engine had broken down.
I had that dinky car and as an adult I tried to find one to restore and run with the fascination started with the toy.
Same situation where I lived near Elstree, Herts. A silver grey Ro 80 was parked outside a Cottage through the 80s ,well into the early 20s. You just twigged me it must have had a blown Rotor and no parts available. Should have been given to a Museum. Great waste.
There was a Corgi Juniors model made in 1970s under the "Whizzwheels" brand......
@@andrewphippsphillips1455, I found the Dinky Toys and the Corgi Toys but there is also a more recent issue by Minichamps.
The RO80 was such a hyper modern car back when it was introduced. As a kid i loved it and i got a Corgo 1:43 model as a present.
The joint venture between Citroen and NSU is also interesting to explore: i think it was called BiRotor. Citroen made 2 wankel powered BiRotor cars, 1 coupe based on the Ami and a GS powered by a Wankel engine.
There were also motorbikes with Wankel engines. The vanVeen OCR1000, the Norton Commando, Hercules and a Suzuki RE. All very collectible bikes today. Norton even succesfully raced Wankel powered SuperBikes.
There was also a helicopter that used Wankel power.
As nice as the engine design is it has some design drawbacks that are hard to ignore: as was mentioned, the apex seals excessive wear. As a consequence the engine used more oil.
2nd: in relation to the volume of the combustion chamber it has more exposed chamber wall surface area. This makes it less thermodynamically efficient when compared to a compareable piston 4stroke engine of similar power output.
Added up and concluding: the wankel engine just wasn't good enough. It also didn't help that the world had to deal with the 1973 oil crisis. New car buyers wanted cars that had great gasmileage.
It was also the time when tighter emission standards were introduced.
Wankel Rotary: Those apex seals can today be replaced by materials that were not available in the 70's. They work brilliantly for ever.
Fuel efficiency and emissions would still be a stumbling block
As cool as rotaries are, they are fundamentally flawed in that oil has to be dumped directly into the chamber to lube the apex seals, and is burned during combustion.
This was fine 30 years ago, but modern emission standards mean carmakers can't get away with this kind of "built-in" oil consumption anymore.
Yep. The addition of a supercharger in the RX8 solved the problem of no torque at low RPM, and some changes to oil flow and the addition of an oil radiator helped there. The rotary was killed by arbitrary emissions regulations invented by bureaucrats. However, once the US Supreme Court struck down its own earlier ruling on Chevron deference, all the automakers rushed to sue to end CAFE. When that happens, we'll see a renaissance of great engines. Oh, and the experiments in CVT and electrics will come to an end.
@@floycewhite6991 😋😋😋😋😋😋
@@floycewhite6991 Dream on, your horse and cart is being replaced.
Really need to restore one of my Ro80s - have about 8 of them on the farm...Including the one that was our families car when i was growing up - was a daily from 1973 when Dad bought it used to the late 90s. Did something like 250,000 Miles, including life on dirt roads, towing trailers, several crossings from Perth to Melbourne back in the day when the Nullarboor wasnt a sealed road. Great cars.
I owned two, once upon a time in Sydney. Came down to daily driver and spares. Coastal locations are harsh on sheetmetal.
Original NSU motor blew due to water pump fail. 12A Maz transplant was easy.
Brilliant design. Decades ahead in so many ways.
They had good and bad points. Engine swap was very very easy... crap semi-auto was the near bane of my existence.
A Ro80 car friend would say.. "The worst thing is below 60km/hr... best thing is above 60km/h... and very best well above 160km/h.
NSU could have.. should've.. had a 2 litre piston option for the Ro80.. 5 speed gearbox in a coupe variant too.
What engines were you using crossing the Nulla?
@@BTW...Only NSU engines - is an Ro80 really an Ro80 without its heart? ;)
One had to be torn down after a thermostat failed and it over heated - a coolant O ring between a rotor housing and an end plate. Not a massive deal and easier than the head gasket that would have blown on a piston engine.
The engines are reliable and while converting to a Mazda isn’t super hard it’s a lot easier to just fix the original engine! I never quite understood why anyone bothered…
But there was a lot of misinformation and NSU probably should have borrowed a Passat engine as an option. But then VW wasn’t interested though.
Thank you for an interesting and very informative film. I didn’t know the back story to NSU. The Ro80 remains one of my favourite cars - the design, for 1967 was revolutionary, and set the template for the modern Audi. The car’s details are quite beautiful- especially the aluminium trim around the front and rear screens, and the lovely front grille and light treatment. It’s a shame that the engines were so flawed - the Ro80 is in many ways as important to car evolution as the Citroen DS, and deserves more recognition.
Probably stainless steel actually, but yes. The overall style and also detailing are beautiful.
@@emjayay He is correct, it’s anodised aluminium.
That last comment there an important pearl of wisdom - "The unreliability so often present when working at the cutting edge". My engineer Dad's favourite engineering principle is 'rugged simplicity'.
In the early 70s my older brother was a motor dealer. He bought an RO 80 on a whim. Enjoyed the performance and over all drive for a while. Then had the engine replaced with a Ford V4 and sold it for a modest profit. I adored the look of that car then and still do!
The installation of the V4 was a common cure.
Ironically enough, if an Ro80 fell into my hands, I'd have a freshly rebuilt Mazda 12a or 13b engine ready to go in it.
5:21 - That's a Toyota Previa minivan in the background. This is must be a reenactement.
Which makes the fake black and white video ridiculous.
Well spotted.
I just love this channel. I've always wanted to learn more about European cars, and this is a gold mine!!!!
Not often that we hear of the K70... My dad bought one, quite likely the only one here in Bristol!
My Dad had one in the 70's. It was almost silent when driving and was no slouch. It did brake down a few times though! It was an amazing car.
My dad (now 99) often talked about the development by NSU of new automotive technology. The Wankel was theoretically superior but in fact not practical. My thought was that Wankel was best suited for a suicide drone.
😂Mazda won the 24 Le Mans race with a 4 Rotary engine...still a bitter sweet joke I admit!
@@dipling.pitzler7650 Ye Gods, the sound of that sent shivers down my spine.
Loved working at Neckarsulm, lovely team at a grest factory with history. Home of the RS6 and R8 these days.
17:40 K70 - K for "Kolben", Ro80 - Ro for "Rotor"
If you want to buy an NSU Ro 80 as a classic car, try and get one from the model years 1970-1977. They were made between October 1967 and April 1977. The early ones from 1967-1969 had a lot of teething problems with the rotors prematurely wearing out. The Ro 80 engine suffered from construction faults, among many other problems, and some early cars required a rebuilt engine before 50,000 kilometres (31,000 mi), with problems arising as early as 24,000 kilometres (15,000 mi). Originally, the rotor tip seals were made in three pieces, out of the same material. The motor's design caused the centre section to wear more quickly at cold starts compared to the other pieces; the worn centrepieces allowed the two other parts of the seal to move, which in turn allowed combustion products to escape the seals. The tip seal centrepiece was then redesigned using ferrotic material, presumably titanium carbide, and the problem was entirely resolved.
18:45 There was NO 'Volkswagen's fortune' involved in K70 engineering process. NSU completed the K70's development before mortal marriage with VW. K70 was engineered with (K -> Kolben) piston engine since start. NSU printed prospects and built 23 null-serie cars for premiere on Geneva Motor Show (March 1969), cancelled last evening because of Wolfsburg's demand. VW - ready to merge with NSU - was too affraid of internal competition with 411.
Yes this video and the narration may be AI generated or just sounds like it. Maybe translated to English?
@@emjayay Actually the autor-narrator has real face & voice, however time to time everyone have worst day. :)
As usual Mr McVeigh, an absolutely interesting and educational documentary about something I knew nothing about. Didn't even know the name NSU.
So much that I don't even know I didn't know about, and why I'm grateful to RUclips and video makers like yourself.
Ro80 would still look modern if it was built today. VW got 3 new car models when they bought NSU and merged it with Audi, I remember seeing an Audi 50, it became the VW polo.
Oh my, the memories. I normally focus on your aviation videos, but this one caught my attention as our neighbours way back in the 70s had a Ro-80 and absolutely swore by it. They were evangelists, trying to get my dad to switch from BMW. 😆
Minor point: it's not ak-tie-en gesellschaft, but ak-tsee-en (Aktiengesellschaft, AG, publicly traded corporation)
Super interesting, as always. I am as old as the oldest Ro80 and I can remember that as a child, I loved to see these cars (along withe Cx's with their "get off their knees" start, as I always called it). It was VERY different than all the other cars out there and watching that video today, I am amazed as to how modern this body style still is. Claus Luthe's design surely is timeless. One quick note: The Audi 100 taking over from the Ro80 ist not the one first shown, but its predecessor, if I am not mistaken. The car shown is a C3 but the model which took over was the C2. Grüße aus Deutschland!!!
Note in the Audi 100 and A6 footage how the shape of the Ro80's 3rd side window in the C pillar lives on until today in any Audi Saloon designed after the discontinuation of the Ro80. Together with BMW's "Hofmeister Kink" in the rear side windows it is probably one of the design elements in use continuously for the longest time.
The Ro 80 looks amazing. Honestly when you started showing it in the video I was thinking it was a much more modern car. I would have guessed late 70's early 80's. Obviously once you see the interior and look closer that doesn't hold up.
I have finally learned who was behind those funky looking half bike - half tractor WW2 contraptions. Who would've thought it was NSU. Thanx Ruaridh.
17:08 Ro80 rotor sealings deteriorated even faster due to short-distance trips. NSU didn't predict how many owners will use this magnificent autobahn car to drive for bakerolls 1 mile only every morning, then 2 miles to work office.
In 1970 I bought a new orange NSU TT . It was a great ' second ' car and a lot of fun .
My first car was an NSU 1200C SS. Nice but a spoon in a pudding bowl gearshift meant that reversegear could easily be selected instead of first gear at junctions. I rigged up a dashboard light to the reverse gear as a precaution. Also, the head studs would strip out and so I had to have my engine block helicoiled. Another problem I encountered was the exhaust heat exchanger ... not being able to source new exhausts at a decent price (or at all), wrapping and bodging the silencer was not recommended as although it stopped the outside of the exhaust from blowing, it would then rot on the inside, allowing exhaust fumes to blow into the heating ventilation ducts.
The body of the NSU with the Wankel engine was ahead of its time. I visited the factory in Neckarsulm which is now an assembly plant for Volkswagen. I can only imagine what NSU could have been if they invested in the right engine.I had a 250 cc NSU motorcycle and had only small problems. The body of the R70 car did go on to be the first front wheel drive Volkswagen which was not very successful.
Thank you.
NSU is a topic that few take up and share.
Appreciated 👍🏻👏🏻
8:26 Valiant effort with all those German names, but I think this one's Walter Froede with Dr.Ing. title meaning he had a doctorate in engineering.
Back when the Ro80 was more common, the drivers greeted each other with multiple fingers stuck out, indicating the number of engines they were on.
@@drstevenrey That’s merely a myth
@@djphilmanns Actually no. We still do this today with our running Ro 80s. Mine is on its third engine but has been problem free for the last 18 years, after I exchanged the seals with modern carbon based high pressure pressed parts. Besides running well, it also only burns 8 Liters on 100 Kilometers and zero oil. 😎
@@drstevenrey Are you telling me that when you go out in a Ro80 these days, you see others and wave fingers at them?
Yes, you'll get the one finger from me!
VW really had no input in the K70 development. The K70 was meant to fill the gap between the advanced but troublesome Ro80 and the outdated Typ 110/1200C (fundamentally an elongated Prinz 1000). The K in K70 stands for Kolbenmotor (= piston engine), so the car was designed around an inline 4 from the outset. A Rotary powered Ro70 was considered but abandoned early on. Development had started around 1965 and was pretty much finished by the time NSU was absorbed by Volkswagen and integrated into Auto Union. This can also be seen in the fact that the K70 shares almost no parts with any VW or Auto Union models. The engine over gearbox drivetrain was surprisingly similar to that of the Triumph 1300 and Saab 99.
Ultimately the NSU design was too overambitious for the market segment it was intended to compete in, its Audi stablemates offered more attractive styling, better fuel economy, better performance, similar good driving dynamics all while being much less complex and cheaper to manufacture.
Interesting points, but i wouldn't call any period Audi better looking than the RO80... through with the K70 certainly that argument is reasonable 😅
7:10 Wer den Tod nicht scheut, fährt Lloyd.
22:20 One of NSU's problems was that its licensed dealers and workshops were quite experienced in dealing with motorcycles and micro cars, but had little experience with larger cars such as the Ro80.
Btw.: back in the day, many micro cars could be driven with a motorcycle license, which was an important argument at a time when there were many more holders of motorcycle licenses than car licenses.
In the EU three wheeled cars qualified for that, so the four wheel Isetta bubble car and others were turned into three wheelers there.
@@emjayay In the FRG the class 4 license (if issued before December 1, 1954) allowed to drive vehicles with a displacement of up to 250 cubic centimeters.
Owned a little Prinz 1000 TT, a true gem of a car!
Great, well produced and interesting documentary!
Superbly detailed video as always! Very interesting, many thanks!❤👍
NSU RO 80 is the timeless handsome car that I had looking for it some 30 years ago in Thailand.
Imagine what could’ve happened if NSU, SAAB, Citroën, Panhard & Levassor, and Lancia all merged in the mid 20th century.
I think I’d be sick from looking at wiring diagram
World peace people living on Mars etc and some awesome cars
The independence is what made them interesting
shared platforms but different bodies
Citroen has merged with Peugeot. Too late. On snother point, I wonder if modern technology could revive the Wankel engine for aviation.
My father had a K70 in the late 70's. It was the only on that I have ever seen on the road.
I had the misfortune of driving it once. I remember that it had really heavy steering and vicious torque steer!
When I was a bairn in the early 70s, a hap up the lane from us had at least one Wartburg and one bright blue RO80 which always seemed to have its bonnet up. I was fascinated since the car we had at the time was a Fiat 124, this NSU was obviously leagues ahead.
Some gorgeous looking cars here, remember the NSU motorbikes😊
Here in eastern Canada, in sedan racing, a driver named Klaus Bartels won regularly in D Sedan in an NSU...recall that he raced with the trunk lid propped open slightly
The rear mounted NSU engines especially in the Prince had cooling issues. There were actually distance rods available aftermarket to keep the engine hood slightly open. A must for race drivers in competition - and anyone pretending to be one on the road.
Its widely believed that if it hadn't been for the purchase of NSU, there was no way Volkswagen could have developed their Golf so quickly since they utilized a lot of the NSU tooling to pull it off.
That Sports Prinz was a beauty. Car makers have lost the will to make machines regular people want to enjoy.
Didn't know about the NSU motorbike heritage, cool to know.
Great vid, the comments are a fun read.
Thanks for this informative video. Now I want a rotary-powered knitting machine, for some reason.
These cars were awesome except for the troublesome Wankel. A mate bought one near new but had three replacement engines. In the end swapped a non working car for a Type 70. Lots of conversions to 4 or V6 cylinders were done.
Very interesting - maybe if they had used titanium tips on the rotary cylinder? What a car, what an engine.
Mazda took up the Wankel engine successfully did they not?
Yes and no. The engine had some strong points (pardon the pun), but even Mazda never fully committed to it, after they realised that conventional ICEs' were more efficient and competitive in their general range.
Not only Audi is based on NSU, also what is known as "modern" Volkswagen goes back to NSU. When NSU was involved into the VAG ( Union of Audi and VW), Audi got the RO80, the first modern shaped Audi, whereas Volkswagen got the NSU K70 and sold it as the first VW with frontengine, 4 cyl inline, front driven and water cooled. The ancestor of all VW as we know then today.
My dad's business partner was quite a car enthusiast. I remember him having some larger Vauxhalls: Crestas and a Ventora. He bought a NSU RO80 not long after they came out. They were pretty futuristic at the time when it was still possible to see cars with wings and running boards being used as regular, daily use cars.
Unfortunately the NSU routinely oiled up its plugs and couldn't be started and he lost confidence in it after a short period of ownership. It was replaced with something more conventional.
I recall that some people would replace the Wankel engine with a Ford V4.
Didn’t know about the existence of this car. What a beautiful saloon 😍
Excellent video, and well done on the pronunciation of the German! I'm half German and even I struggle sometimes! 😁😁😁
@@aveedub7403 Although he doesn’t pronounce Ro 80 correctly 😉
Oops. FIAT 600 was not air cooled 2 cylinder. That was the 500
...and many others mistakes. :/ I'm little disappointed today...
@@130rapidIncluding no mention or pictures of the earlier (1958-62) Prinz, which was quite a big success.
Der NSU RO 80 war seiner Zeit weit voraus, aerodynamisch wie technisch👍(zb wie auch mit den innenliegenden Bremsen/scheiben am Getriebe👍 ) Die zwar vorher schon in den 50er/ 60ern/ von Citroen im 2CV und von/ im Renault R4, 5 verbaut wurden, und später auch von Alfa Romeo ua im Alfasud Verwendung fanden und auch bei VW im K70. Also ein klares Statement gesetzt👋. Und er hatte nach seiner Vorstellung 67 im Windkanal bessere CW Werte als viele anderen Autos/Hersteller aus dieser Zeit (außer der GT von Opel ).
Das Konzept des Wankels/ Kreiskolbenmotors wurde leider auch damals nicht von den restlichen deutschen Automobilhertellern angenommen ( sondern vielmehr auch von Audi ) als nicht innovativ / Zukunftsweisend abgetan /abgelehnt🤔😔, da die Dichtstreifen (Kolbenringe) der Kreiskolben leider noch keine seht hohe Standfestigkeit/Lebensdauer hatten.
Und auch der sehr hohe Benzinverbrauch nach/während der Ölkrise Mitte der 70er nicht unbedingt im Sinne der Käufer war😔. Deshalb wurde auch die Produktion der 2. Serie, (trotz verbesserten Dichtstreifen und den modifizieren größeren Rückleuchten😐) von NSU dann nach relativ kurzer Zeit eingestellt, leider ! Nur die Japaner/ Mazda nutzten diese kreiskolben Technik Jahre später im MX7 (als 3 Scheiben statt 2 wie von NSU) 🤔👍.
Mein Freund 😍, hat damals Ende der 70er /80er Jahren eine Lehre als Kfz Mechaniker in einer kleinen Werkstatt gemacht👍.
Dort war auch ein Ehepaar als Kunden mit je einem RO 80 (der ersten Serie, mit den schmalen Rückleuchten😊 ) in diesem Blaumetallic ( wie auf dem Bild abgebildet) und einem in Orange, regelmäßig zum Kundendienst/Service vorstellig☺️. Er😍 hat also an diesen "Ikonen" selber Hand angelegt und so seine eigenen Erfahrungen als Lehrling gemacht👋. Das ist ihm mit inzwischen 60 Jahren bis heute positiv im Gedächtnis geblieben👍. Und diese ganzen technischen Details hat er Dank seiner Erfahrungen als Mechaniker und seinem allgemeinen Interesse an Oldtimern / Klassikern ( speziel denen von OPEL ) also fachlich fundiert👋. Und kann deshalb auch mitreden und hat sein Wissen auch mir gegenüber immer wieder zum Ausdruck gebracht, bzw gibt es auch gerne weiter👍💥! .
The Fiat 600 was NOT an air cooled 2cylinder car. It was a water cooled 4cylinder. The air cooled 2 cylinder was the 500 (not shown in the video)
The RO80 design looks like it could be 10 or maybe 15 years ahead of its time. Rather than Audi it reminds me of Peugeot. The K70 looks like a significant downgrade of style and quality.
Yes, the K70 is similar but nowhere near as slick.
The NSU "Quickly" moped which despite its name was anything BUT quick lol😂😂😂😂
Super interesting video. I have Ro80 steering wheel and both rear quarter side windows, and a big 1976 workshop parts binder.
5:17 What year was that filmed in? Because that looks like some minivan in the background there...
I've always had a bit of a soft spot for the Ro80.
Lots of innovation and the rotary engine, mixed in with a then modern style that in my eyes is far, far better to look at than the much praised Citroen DS.
The Kettenkrad HK 101 was marvelous and the Lambretta was a great alternative to the already pricey Vespa by Piaggio. And the Lambretta could pull a trailer. Just across the lake from me the original design offices of Felix Wankel still stand proud. Audi uses it as a conference center and it's a marvelous Bauhaus stile building that makes you drop to your knees in marvel. I miss NSU. Today, sadly, Audis are for posers and twats.
As a kid I valued the Lambretta over the Vespa. By the time I could buy one, they were no longer on the market. Settled for a 3-speed Benelli.
The NSU 125 & 250cc Gp engine was the basis of Honda's engine technology. My Dad and I had a 250 Max, an excellent bike 😅
Une auto formidable qui ne fait pas son age. La mienne est de 1971, cette année un voyage en Autriche depuis la France sans problème et une consommation raisonnable de11.5 litres sur autoroute.
Not much four door cars exist with the rotary engine from the factory. Even Mazda’s own early attempts at a luxury saloon required them to purchase a bunch of empty Holden Commodore bodies, shipped them to Japan and installed the 13B into it, creating a very rare Mazda Roadpacer AP specifically for the Japanese domestic market as a competitor for the Toyota Crown. Holden on the other hand, got some technical assistance to build a rotary-powered Torana but never went beyond prototyping. Elsewhere, rotary engines were exclusively put on two door sports cars.
Oh, and the Lada got a rotary engine at one point, thanks to espionage and reverse engineering efforts of the Sachs Wankel unit.
14:51 Though not a fan of FWD, I must say the panel fit and overall quality of that bodywork is magnificent, even by today's standards.
(certainly better than the typical Audi, ironically enough 😂)
Thank you 😊
Thank you!
13:15 The Soviets also experimented with the Wankel.
In 1, 2 and 3 rotor form (21018, 21059 and some volgas)
My favourite car of NSU today is the NSU 1200C more than the Ro80...
My first car was an NSU 1200C SS.
@@Mariazellerbahn Amazing cars the NSU
Awesome video Audi vorsprungdurtechnik
Great video, but the FIAT 600 had a 4 cilinder liquid cooled engine 👌
I always thought the RO80 was an odd design, but an interesting one too.
You either liked it, or loathed it.
If memory serves, I’m sure there were motor repair companies who offered to replace the rotor motors with conventional engines for a price.
I’ve no idea how successful that was as it’s such a long time ago now 🏴
Usually the Ford v4 was fitted and it produced a pretty useful vehicle.
@@johnwalkley6746 although it was odd looking, it was ahead of its time especially when you consider the Wankel engine is making a comeback. 🏴
Excellent doco 😎 well narrated
Good video. I wonder how many RO80's had the conversion to a Ford V4 engine. Apocryphal that owners meeting each other on the road would show the number of engines replaced under warranty by showing the equivalent number of fingers. No mention of Lada's Wankel cars.
Splendid video and my compliments on your German accent. However, even Toyo Kogyo (Mazda) were unable to make the Wankel engine suitable for normal car use, with varying engine speed (lastly the RX8). It is useful as a light-weight air-cooled light-aircraft engine. Its emissions and fuel economy are hampered by the large surface area of the combustion volume walls, which do not retain heat very well.
Conceptually it seems they would make a good aircraft engine. But there’s never been one in production. They are even rare as auto engine conversions in kit planes. They don’t worry about emissions in light aircraft engines, the issue is fuel consumption, and thereby range.
@@PRH123 You also don't want your engine to suddenly fail when you are flying.
My uncle had a K70 in the 70's. Only one I ever saw. It was metallic green I think
A design very much ahead of it's time, If only they had put a decent powerplant in it.
My family got a NSU 1200 in the 70ths. It was a rocket compared to the popular VW 1200 (Käfer).
Tech/transport museums in Berlin and Munich both have one. The Wankel was a huge mistake they should have never made, but the cars are beautiful in every detail and 10-20 years ahead of contemporary cars in terms of style. I think the only other engine around at the time that would fit was the rough without a balance shaft Ford V4, and many got this retrofit. This video may have been a bit optimistic about the NSU Wankel ever being equal to a piston engine in longevity, economy, or emissions (which were far less regulated then). Even the last Mazda rotary decades later fell short in all these.
NSU should have developed the Typ 110 and 1200 as a 4-door (if not even converted it to FWD), limited the Wankel engine to sports cars if not got Mazda involved in Comotor (as well as produced 1000-1300 four-cylinder Prinz TT/TTS versions of the Sport Prinz and Spider), sought closer relations with Citroen on FWD projects (from K50 to Project F, Ro80-based Panhard 24-replacement with 1.99-litre flat-four AML boxer, etc), developed a smaller 1300-1500 K60 brother to the K70 (akin to Triumph 1300/1500 or Honda 1300/145) and had the Ro80 equipped instead with either a 2-litre version of the K70 motor (similar to aftermarket 1.6/2.0? Audi engine swap) or whatever piston-alternative engineers were working on (e.g. flat-six boxer, Lancia Fulvia/VR6-inspired V4, K70-based inline-five or V6, etc).
I didn't hear anything about when they stopped making motorbikes. The NSU Quick 50 ceased production in 1965.
It’s pronounced Ro 80 (Row 80), not Ah Oh 80. The Ro stands for Rotationskolbenmotor (or rotary).
It may have been replaced by the likes of the Audi 100, but the RO8 is a much better looking car. It's become a classic in the way that the Audi100 never could. (PS.As a teenager, I once drove an NSU Quickly moped. So much better than its British equivalent, the Raleigh Runabout).
I occasionally ponder the question as to whether the initial problems NSU had with their Wankel engines could be solved by today's engine oil formulators? In theory they have the benefit of 50+ years of additive & base oil technology development to call upon but I suspect the answer is no. However it's a nice thought experiment.
Mazda never really succeeded in decades of trying after this.
Was there anyway for NSU to buy back NSU-Fiat / Neckar and would the resultant combine (together with collaboration with Steyr-Daimler-Puch) have been less of a German automotive minnow?
The mistake NSU made with the Ro80 is that they didn't offer a 2.6 litre V6 or slant 2 litre piston variant... a backup plan if the rotary proved hard to market.
The vehicle design could have gone a 20 year production run, being so advanced as they were.
A 2 door coupe or Spider variant would have certainly rivaled Porsche.
Since Ducati is now under the Audi umbrella, could we see a revival of NSU motorcycles?
People in UK still sniggering at NSU and Wankel.
Unfortunately the Wankel Engine is even better at wearing out its Producers then itself.
than itself.
Rotary nonsense destroyed them.
Yes the reciprocating engine is bigger, heavier and has more bits but there is no actual advantage in output with something just spinning. The energy of the pistons going back and forth is not lost even though it might seem so.
Great video. I grew up with the Prinz II. My father had all 3 early Prinzes, but there were more Prinz II to use as sacrificial parts donors. As I understand, NSUs were brought into 4 US ports and were practically unknown in the US outside those cities. Since the Prinz II was under a thousand pounds, it wasn't a "car" as defined by federal standards. NSUs could get away with not meeting certain federal regulations. After a couple years of poor sales, NSU left the US market and new NSUs were sold at steep discounts.
Almost my dream car, if the fuel consumption wasn't so high.
That's why I drove his brother: K70.