RE: Shed of the Week: Audi A8
Discussion
Ianeldy said:
Well I am the lucky Chappie who managed to ring up the vendor, whizz over to see the shed (sorry, the car), strike a deal .. and I now have a pretty darn good looking A8 in my possession !!
The waft-factor is 10/10 .. sublime and smooth
Seats are proper armchairs (infact more comfortable than my settee)
The car has real presence .. it still feels solid and special
Leather is creased (nicely) but not torn or cracked
Auto box works perfectly - and so do the paddles on the steering wheel .. nice slurry gearchanges (if that makes sense!)
The alloys are also in remarkably good condition
The wipers worked - it lashed down with rain on the journey home so these had plenty of use!
The previous owner (a real hobbyist - has lots of lovely motoring "toys"), has certainly looked after this well I feel - I have positive vibes about this purchase.
Bodywork is in surprisingly good condition - a few scuffs on the rear bumper in particular, one patch which has gone right down to the plastic about the size of 2x 50pence pieces .. may need filling and then a spot of paint .. but come on .. the car is 16 years old !
Issues noted on the drive home to wales
- pixels disappearing on the dash - It started off with around 97,000 miles on the mileometer as it set off ... when I got home it read more like morse code ... --.--0 !!
(does anyone have any contacts for people who you can recommend to rectify pixelated dashboard's like this??)
- drivers heated seat doesnt work - could be a loose wire - I shall investigate this
- it struggled to demist -- but even from the owners confession .. the car needs a bit of a clean and TLC inside - cobwebs and crumbs a plenty in there possibly blocking the vents
but the one that made my heart stop temporarily was ..
- as I came off the motorway, oil pressure warning light came on. Checked the oil - plenty in it and it looks reasonably fresh too .. Are there any suggestions on what I ought to check first?
Tomorrow, I shall lavish some hot, soapy water on it ... hoover and refresh the interior .. and see what I really have underneath
Thumbs-up so far though
Good shedding !!
IIRC quite a few VAG products of this era had issues with sludge build up blocking the pick up pipe, something to do with people using the incorrect specification of oil for long life servicing. It might want the sump pulling off and cleaning out.The waft-factor is 10/10 .. sublime and smooth
Seats are proper armchairs (infact more comfortable than my settee)
The car has real presence .. it still feels solid and special
Leather is creased (nicely) but not torn or cracked
Auto box works perfectly - and so do the paddles on the steering wheel .. nice slurry gearchanges (if that makes sense!)
The alloys are also in remarkably good condition
The wipers worked - it lashed down with rain on the journey home so these had plenty of use!
The previous owner (a real hobbyist - has lots of lovely motoring "toys"), has certainly looked after this well I feel - I have positive vibes about this purchase.
Bodywork is in surprisingly good condition - a few scuffs on the rear bumper in particular, one patch which has gone right down to the plastic about the size of 2x 50pence pieces .. may need filling and then a spot of paint .. but come on .. the car is 16 years old !
Issues noted on the drive home to wales
- pixels disappearing on the dash - It started off with around 97,000 miles on the mileometer as it set off ... when I got home it read more like morse code ... --.--0 !!
(does anyone have any contacts for people who you can recommend to rectify pixelated dashboard's like this??)
- drivers heated seat doesnt work - could be a loose wire - I shall investigate this
- it struggled to demist -- but even from the owners confession .. the car needs a bit of a clean and TLC inside - cobwebs and crumbs a plenty in there possibly blocking the vents
but the one that made my heart stop temporarily was ..
- as I came off the motorway, oil pressure warning light came on. Checked the oil - plenty in it and it looks reasonably fresh too .. Are there any suggestions on what I ought to check first?
Tomorrow, I shall lavish some hot, soapy water on it ... hoover and refresh the interior .. and see what I really have underneath
Thumbs-up so far though
Good shedding !!
Well done to the guy who bought it...hopefully the niggles are easily sorted.
I bought mine sight-unseen from fleabay just over 6 years ago. A 2000 4.2 V8 Quattro with 61K on the clock which seemed good value for under £4K and i needed something short term to get 5 of us around Northern France - the wifes Golf cabrio and my track Saxo were not going to do the job !. Never had an auto and totally intended to sell it once back from the French holiday, but 6 years later and with 129K on the clock i still have it as my main car.
No significant mechanical niggles but a few gremlins are an occupational hazard on an old car (on mine at least).
- Yellow engine management light came on about 4 years back and traced to something near front bumper that is used in the cold start/running process. Garage man said quite pricey to fix, and not key so its run like that since. A reset gets rid of the error for a day or 2 but then it comes back.
- The steering angle sensor has intermittently played up for the last 3 years, which turns off the ABS (not ideal). The last 2 weeks its been on more than off so i've finally booked in it for a replacement when it gets MOT'ed.
- I also have the dreaded "dash clicking" which seems to get a bit of internet coverage, but no real fix (other than dismantling the whole dash). So for the last 5 years i have put up with it doing about 30 clicks (from behind centre console and under steering column) every few minutes. Its something to do with the way it recycles air/pulls fresh air in every so many minutes. Would love to be able to stop this !
- My demisting isnt great either, seems that the vents dont operate properly (open/close) as not much air comes out of the top (windscreen) or central vents. Maybe related to the clicking issue above??
- So far replaced 3 of 4 reversing sensors, but its a 16 old car so guess thats to be expected.
- This last week the "bulb gone warning light" has come on and beeps every couple of minutes (and never stops!), even though I cant see any bulbs that have gone. Bit annoying when on a long journey !
Hopefully the guy who bought the shed doesnt get the above issues to add to those he already has.
In terms of comfort its great, i love the torque of the V8 (if not the fuel consumption) and i may well replace it when the time comes with another barge....a newer A8 would do the job nicely ! For 600 odd quid, this weeks Shed definitely gets a tick from me
I bought mine sight-unseen from fleabay just over 6 years ago. A 2000 4.2 V8 Quattro with 61K on the clock which seemed good value for under £4K and i needed something short term to get 5 of us around Northern France - the wifes Golf cabrio and my track Saxo were not going to do the job !. Never had an auto and totally intended to sell it once back from the French holiday, but 6 years later and with 129K on the clock i still have it as my main car.
No significant mechanical niggles but a few gremlins are an occupational hazard on an old car (on mine at least).
- Yellow engine management light came on about 4 years back and traced to something near front bumper that is used in the cold start/running process. Garage man said quite pricey to fix, and not key so its run like that since. A reset gets rid of the error for a day or 2 but then it comes back.
- The steering angle sensor has intermittently played up for the last 3 years, which turns off the ABS (not ideal). The last 2 weeks its been on more than off so i've finally booked in it for a replacement when it gets MOT'ed.
- I also have the dreaded "dash clicking" which seems to get a bit of internet coverage, but no real fix (other than dismantling the whole dash). So for the last 5 years i have put up with it doing about 30 clicks (from behind centre console and under steering column) every few minutes. Its something to do with the way it recycles air/pulls fresh air in every so many minutes. Would love to be able to stop this !
- My demisting isnt great either, seems that the vents dont operate properly (open/close) as not much air comes out of the top (windscreen) or central vents. Maybe related to the clicking issue above??
- So far replaced 3 of 4 reversing sensors, but its a 16 old car so guess thats to be expected.
- This last week the "bulb gone warning light" has come on and beeps every couple of minutes (and never stops!), even though I cant see any bulbs that have gone. Bit annoying when on a long journey !
Hopefully the guy who bought the shed doesnt get the above issues to add to those he already has.
In terms of comfort its great, i love the torque of the V8 (if not the fuel consumption) and i may well replace it when the time comes with another barge....a newer A8 would do the job nicely ! For 600 odd quid, this weeks Shed definitely gets a tick from me
Isn't the rumour that Audi sold these at an effective loss due to spending so much developing the car to compete with the S class?
I have not long sold my 2000 FL S8. I owned the car for a little under a year. I was running a 3.2 TT DSG alongside it for a similar time which became my 'economical' run around as the fuel consumption of the S8 was truly shocking. I knew it was going to be poor but even so, the reality was mid teens around town. The problem was I loved driving it so much i did about 15k in it in a year which equated to about £5k in fuel.
Things I loved. The tech for a car of it's era. The dash lights at night. The seats - easily the most comfortable of all my cars. My other half still comments how good they were. The noise (I had a new cat back exhaust put on). The space in the back for the kids.
What I didn't like. Even though people said it's a nimble car for it's size there's still no denying it's a big old unit. I replaced all four tyres and replaced front suspension and it still felt like a big old tank. Although you don't buy an S8 to hoon around in. Also the back seats didn't fold so despite being a huge car you couldn't take large items in it. Also the 5 spear gearbox feels prehistoric compared to newer units.
I've since replaced it with an E61 535d that has been remapped which feels much quicker. Dare I say it I don't miss the S8. As much as I'm glad I owned one it always made me nervous there was a big bill around the corner.
Great shed though non the less. Amazing these can be had for such little money.
I have not long sold my 2000 FL S8. I owned the car for a little under a year. I was running a 3.2 TT DSG alongside it for a similar time which became my 'economical' run around as the fuel consumption of the S8 was truly shocking. I knew it was going to be poor but even so, the reality was mid teens around town. The problem was I loved driving it so much i did about 15k in it in a year which equated to about £5k in fuel.
Things I loved. The tech for a car of it's era. The dash lights at night. The seats - easily the most comfortable of all my cars. My other half still comments how good they were. The noise (I had a new cat back exhaust put on). The space in the back for the kids.
What I didn't like. Even though people said it's a nimble car for it's size there's still no denying it's a big old unit. I replaced all four tyres and replaced front suspension and it still felt like a big old tank. Although you don't buy an S8 to hoon around in. Also the back seats didn't fold so despite being a huge car you couldn't take large items in it. Also the 5 spear gearbox feels prehistoric compared to newer units.
I've since replaced it with an E61 535d that has been remapped which feels much quicker. Dare I say it I don't miss the S8. As much as I'm glad I owned one it always made me nervous there was a big bill around the corner.
Great shed though non the less. Amazing these can be had for such little money.
Edited by MrHooky on Tuesday 6th September 00:32
well the 'old bus' has cleaned up rather nicely !!
It goes in for an oil change next week (hopefully this will give an insight (or cure) the oil pressure warning concern I have.
Some diagnosis on the inoperative parking sensors (both front and rear) is then needed .. plus some touch-up of the body scars on the rear bumper, in particular.
A happy-shedder though !!
Luvvly !!
It goes in for an oil change next week (hopefully this will give an insight (or cure
) the oil pressure warning concern I have. Some diagnosis on the inoperative parking sensors (both front and rear) is then needed .. plus some touch-up of the body scars on the rear bumper, in particular.
A happy-shedder though !!
Luvvly !!
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