Not sure where to put this post but I thought it might be of interest to Audi fans. I was in Coldfoot, Alaska last Sunday March 3rd before riding back to Fairbanks for an Aurora tour. Now Coldfoot is over an hour north of the Arctic Circle. It's listed as a town though it's more of a truck stop. The Dalton Highway goes through Coldfoot on its way north to Prudhoe Bay (think Alaska pipeline and oil) on the Arctic Ocean.

Low and behold, after catching a van ride to Coldfoot from the landing strip (I flew in from Fairbanks and rode back in the tour van that same day), we pull up to the restaurant and what should be out in front but two Audis! Sorry folks, but it never dawned on me to look closely at the vehicles or what model they were.

I was waiting outside before the van left Coldfoot. Anyway, I eventually peered inside the Audis. The white one had a large plastic tank across the entire back seat. I'm not sure if it was fuel or not but it had a light reddish liquid in it. Diesel perhaps? I don't know as I don't handle diesel. The black Audi had the same set-up if my recollection serves me but it had computer equipment in the passenger seat. Presumably it was to monitor the Audi's performance.

Eventually, the two drivers came back to their vehicles. I asked them why they had all that stuff in their vehicles much less what were they doing in Coldfoot driving luxury vehicles on the Dalton Highway. If you know anything about the Dalton Highway, you know it's a rough road.

Well, the drivers were coy and didn't say anything. I asked them what they were doing and asked if they were test driving the vehicles. The only thing they said was that they were putting miles on the cars. I asked if they were working for a motor vehicle magazine such as Car and Driver or Road and Track or even Audi itself. They just smiled and didn't answer the question.

I then said to them, I want your job.

Here's a shot of the Audi vehicles that I took on my iPhone. Sorry, I didn't break out the fancy camera for a mere car. That was reserved for the Aurora Borealis.

If Audi is willing to loan me a vehicle to test it out for them then I'd be happy to drive it from Boulder, Colorado to Coldfoot, Alaska and back.

 

Interesting... Thanks for taking the time to share...

Based on the picture, they look like A4s to me. Pretty hard to tell from the distance and angle, though.