Audi museum marks 50 years of the five-cylinder engine in new Ingolstadt exhibition
Audi Tradition's new special exhibition at the Audi museum mobile celebrates 50 years of the brand's five-cylinder engine with 14 vehicles and seven engine displays from August 2026.
- 50 years
- 14 vehicles and 7 engine displays
- 100 kW (136 PS)
- 9 in a row
What Happened
Audi Tradition is opening a special exhibition titled “1-2-4-5-3: 50 years of Audi five-cylinder engines” at the Audi museum mobile, part of the Audi Forum in Ingolstadt, on August 1, 2026, running through February 28, 2027. Curator Stefan Felber has assembled seven engine displays and fourteen vehicle exhibits tracing the engine's history. The exhibition name refers to the engine's firing order, whose odd number of cylinders produces the four rings' signature sound. A free companion app provides text, audio guides, and 360-degree views of the exhibits.
Second-generation Audi 100 debuts with the first five-cylinder engine, the 2,144 cc EA 828 producing 100 kW (136 PS).
Audi introduces its first five-cylinder diesel, a two-liter naturally aspirated unit with 51 kW (70 PS).
Audi quattro unveiled in March at the Geneva Motor Show with a turbocharged five-cylinder making 147 kW (200 PS).
Avant RS2 arrives with a 232 kW (315 PS) five-cylinder, becoming the most powerful production station wagon of its time.
Audi TT RS relaunches the five-cylinder with a transversely mounted 2.5-liter TFSI producing 250 kW (340 PS).
The first five-cylinder drew heavily on the four-cylinder EA 827 engine from the 1972 Audi 80. Engineers kept its overhead belt-driven camshaft, 88-mm cylinder spacing, cylinder diameter, and valve, spark plug, and injector layout, while lengthening the crankshaft and increasing the stroke to 86.4 mm. The firing interval of 144 degrees of crankshaft rotation creates the distinctive sound. In the Audi 100 5E, the 2,144 cc engine produced 100 kW (136 PS), accelerating the car to 100 km/h in 9.5 seconds with a top speed of 190 km/h.
Racing success followed quickly: after the 1979 turbocharged 200 5T (125 kW/170 PS), the 1980 Audi quattro used intercooling and permanent all-wheel drive to win two manufacturers' and two drivers' world rally championships. Later Group B rally cars exceeded 500 PS, and the 1989 Audi IMSA GTO reached 530 kW (720 PS). In production, the Avant RS2 extracted 232 kW (315 PS) from 2.2 liters. The original five-cylinder series ended in 1997 with the 2.5 TDI in the Audi A6 and the 2.2-liter 20V turbo in the Audi S6.
- Megola motorcycle
- Audi 100 5E (C2)
- Audi 100 5D (C2)
- Audi 200 5T (C2)
- Audi 90 quattro
- Audi 100 TDI (C3)
“50 years of the five-cylinder engine is a very special anniversary for Audi: few technologies evoke such strong emotions or have shaped the brand’s image so profoundly over the past five decades. That’s why so many Audi fans and museum visitors have asked us whether we’d mark this anniversary with a special exhibition — a wish we were only too happy to fulfill.”
The Audi Tradition app gives visitors to the Audi museum mobile access to in-depth content about the featured vehicles through text, audio guides for selected models, and 360-degree panoramic views. It covers both the special and permanent exhibitions and links to the Audi Tradition website, the online shop for accessories, literature, and spare parts, and Audi Tradition's Instagram and TikTok channels. The free app is available for iOS and Android from the main app stores.
Why this matters
The five-cylinder engine defined Audi for five decades, from the 1976 Audi 100 to today's RS models. For newcomers, the exhibition distills that history with original vehicles, racing icons, and technical details, showing how an unusual engine layout became a motorsport and production legend. Audi fans and museum visitors in Ingolstadt get a rare chance to see 14 vehicles and seven engine displays together.
Terms in This Story
- firing order
- The sequence in which an engine's cylinders ignite their fuel-air mixture; a five-cylinder's odd count creates an uneven, distinctive rhythm.
- quattro
- Audi's permanent all-wheel-drive system, used across its model range.
- TFSI
- Audi's designation for turbocharged gasoline direct-injection engines.
- Group B
- A now-defunct FIA rally racing class of the 1980s known for extremely powerful cars.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.