Insane S8 Lease Deals!!
Discussion
You may try this if it's not sold out already: http://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/vehicle.php?vehi...
Or use these figures and call dealers asking for a deal based on it. If you spend enough time on a phone, you may find someone willing to match it.
Or use these figures and call dealers asking for a deal based on it. If you spend enough time on a phone, you may find someone willing to match it.
The trouble with these short term deals as they just destroy the value of the brand and kill sales in the future. I've had D3 A8s in the day and still have a couple of Audis' but neither of the Audi dealers I use rang to offer this deal that Barrie is referring to. Sure this sounds like sour grapes but I would not 'buy' any top end S series Audi now unless they were giving them away.
EC2 said:
The trouble with these short term deals as they just destroy the value of the brand and kill sales in the future. I've had D3 A8s in the day and still have a couple of Audis' but neither of the Audi dealers I use rang to offer this deal that Barrie is referring to. Sure this sounds like sour grapes but I would not 'buy' any top end S series Audi now unless they were giving them away.
I agree with you. But it's manufacturers decision to do this. Cars that are not offered on cheap leasing or without any discounts, are holding value better. Looks like it's a second round of selling out S8. Maybe they have too many production slots left after S8 is not sold in USA any more? The only option across the pond is S8 Plus now.
What makes these deals iffy for me is - what do you do next? You have £X budget pm for a car and can get a Golf R or an S8 for pennies...but in 3 years you may have to step back down to a Fiat 500 because the deals just aren't there at that time.
More realistically - you get used to the 'life' of having an S8, but next time your budget and the deals dictate the best you can get for that prices is a diesel A6..., "I know you've got used to the RR Evoque darling, but it's back in the MINI for you....".
Ha ha.
More realistically - you get used to the 'life' of having an S8, but next time your budget and the deals dictate the best you can get for that prices is a diesel A6..., "I know you've got used to the RR Evoque darling, but it's back in the MINI for you....".
Ha ha.
That's the risk you take!
Flip it the other way though, you've been driving a 5 series or A6 then go into the garage to have the car serviced and they give you an S8 for the day, how would you feel?
Live the dream, you're only here once and "we're not getting out of this alive" springs to mind
Flip it the other way though, you've been driving a 5 series or A6 then go into the garage to have the car serviced and they give you an S8 for the day, how would you feel?
Live the dream, you're only here once and "we're not getting out of this alive" springs to mind
I thought I will struggle to replace C63 but S8 deals came and sorted it cheaply for me. It's not AMG but it's not bad and more comfortable than c-class. Yes, I wonder what am I going to get next time, but I'm sure something will come up. If not, I will live with something cheaper.
Edited by PenelopaPitstop on Thursday 14th January 15:21
PenelopaPitstop said:
I thought I will struggle to replace C63 but S8 deals came and sorted it cheaply for me. It's not AMG but it's not bad and more comfortable than c-class. Yes, I wonder what am I going to get next time, but I'm sure something will come up. If not, I will leave with something cheaper.
Penelopaare you enjoying your S8? I'd be very interested in your thoughts so far etc - what colour options did you go for?
EC2 said:
The trouble with these short term deals as they just destroy the value of the brand and kill sales in the future. I've had D3 A8s in the day and still have a couple of Audis' but neither of the Audi dealers I use rang to offer this deal that Barrie is referring to. Sure this sounds like sour grapes but I would not 'buy' any top end S series Audi now unless they were giving them away.
My local dealer is Guildford. I'm predisposed to giving business to people who are local to me but they couldn't be less interested in making a sale to me, despite a visit in person and numerous follow up calls and emails. I presume Audis just sell themselves as the sales staff don't seem to work for a living.Harris_I said:
I know this is a slightly weird question but can a towbar be fitted to the S8? The Audi configurator does not show a tow bar option and yet does show a cycle carrier that sits on a towbar.
If yes, then time to start looking for one of these deals instead of an A6....
If it's not on the configurator then probably not. If the carrier is an accessory rather than a factory option then it's most likely a mistake I would guess. If yes, then time to start looking for one of these deals instead of an A6....
IME you can't add towbars to the newer Audi models without some difficulties. Tried to get a physical C7 A6 2.0 TDi fitted with a towbar for somebody a couple of years ago. We could find an aftermarket supplier but Audi insist on the car having upgraded cooling fans and a remap too to keep the warranty so it was a £2k+ job.
ModernAndy said:
Harris_I said:
I know this is a slightly weird question but can a towbar be fitted to the S8? The Audi configurator does not show a tow bar option and yet does show a cycle carrier that sits on a towbar.
If yes, then time to start looking for one of these deals instead of an A6....
If it's not on the configurator then probably not.If yes, then time to start looking for one of these deals instead of an A6....
"Tow bar – electrically folding - 825.00 GBP"Harris_I said:
My local dealer is Guildford. I'm predisposed to giving business to people who are local to me but they couldn't be less interested in making a sale to me, despite a visit in person and numerous follow up calls and emails. I presume Audis just sell themselves as the sales staff don't seem to work for a living.
A mate and I were in Guildford Audi last weekend. They had matched an on-line lease deal and got an S8 demo in from Camberley. We took it for a test drive, signed the paperwork and my mate left a deposit. For some reason he failed the credit check (possibly because he wasn't on the electoral roll) They were fine to deal with though!He is now trying to find a cheaper deal online!
Here's my review.
The main reason for getting the car was cheap leasing promotion. I drove C63 at the time and was looking for replacement as it was going back to Mercedes. I considered SLK55, SL400 and some other cars. I had big spreadsheet with all costs calculated for every car I considered. I was never interested in A8 or any other car from this segment of the market. But when I put price of leasing into my spreadsheet, it was the cheapest from all other cars I already looked at. I booked test drive at West London Audi, checked out all the colour combos in dealership, read brochure from cover to cover and decided it's not a bad choice. Being fan or rather sporty cars, saloon is not my dream car, but as long as I don't think it's ugly, I could live with it.
I returned C63 2 days before delivery of S8. Car was delivered to my home address and dumped on the random parking space without any contact with me. Only then driver called me to let me know, the car is here.
I chose beige interior and black exterior as I wanted to avoid black seats and grey was too grey, I like a bit of colour in my life. Had beige and black and white seats before so I'm already used to cleaning it regularly and not driving in anything that may leave stains.
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
My main concern was size of the car, as the biggest car I had before was C-class which is 466cm long, Audi is 50cm longer. However so far I did not have any issues with it. I noticed that people just remove themselves from lane 3 or let me in as soon as I indicate change of lane. I don't go to any narrow cars parks, don't do Tesco, Sainsbury, etc. I avoided places like these before anyway and I always parked away from other cars due to long doors in cabrios and coupes I drove before. Audi being a saloon is not bad, doors are not long and it's possible to squeeze out of the car in narrow places.
Driving.
I only had short test drive on A4 in London, so couldn't test the car properly, just satisfied myself that it was accelerating nicely and should be good enough to replace C63. After all, on paper it's quicker.
For such a big car, it drives quite effortlessly and you don't feel it's a barge. I tested different driving modes: eco, comfort, dynamic and setup individual. Eco is uneventful, comfort is way too soft for me. I use it only in city or on uneven surface. Otherwise it feels like a boat and I'm afraid I can get sea sick ;-) Dynamic mode switches everything into sport mode, so: engine, gearbox, exhaust and suspension is changing. It's good but I don't need sport mode on gearbox all the time, so I setup individual mode similar to dynamic but without sport setting for gearbox. If I want race start, I change to S mode manually. I drove gently for the first 1000 miles and switched to a bit more dynamic/aggressive mode since then. Car is understeering a bit when going aggressively through roundabouts. Dynamic suspension is a bit too soft for my liking and I would prefer it to be more firm. When I drove Mustang with sport suspension for a few days and came back to S8, I thought I'm driving in comfort mode.
Fuel consumption so far is similar to my C63, around 23mpg city/motorway. I hope it will improve over time. Do not believe 29mpg in the brochure! Start/stop is not as annoying as it was in SLK diesel. If you press break pedal subtly, it won't kick in, however if you're stationary for some time, engine will shut down. Or you can press break hard and it will kick in immediately. Of course you can switch off start/stop entirely but because it's not very annoying, I don't do this unless I'm parking and don't want the car to switch off.
I had no chance to try cylinder on demand technology, as I believe it switches on above certain speed which is too high for UK.
Equipment.
Basic spec of the car is generous, I added privacy glass, heated steering wheel and ventilated front seats. I hardly ever carry passengers so no need for any gadgets for rear seats. It took some time to setup everything, find perfect position behind the wheel and add it to memory, etc. I never had Audi before so couldn't work out some settings without reading manual and searching internet. I think MMI is overly complicated with a lot of options in submenus and requires a lot of faffing about. I would prefer to have buttons on mid console for suspension settings and some other options, so I don't have to look for it in the system while driving. There's no indication of oil temperature, which is annoying. I read it can be switched on with VCDS code.
I like instrument cluster, car is showing me more information than Mercedes and directions in nav menu are more clear than on MMI screen. I don't like navigation but it's personal preference and depends what you expect. It's not showing speed limits on motorways, it's not updating current speed on managed motorways like Mercedes does.
I tested Online traffic option using pre-paid sim card. Google traffic is showing only for main roads. I played a bit with Audi Connect apps. Petrol prices and weather could be useful. It's not possible to update maps online. I tested hotspot, used Android apps to see if they are useful but I didn't find any purpose for them. Again, it depends how people use apps and for someone they could be great.
Jukebox is playing songs according to tags and my music is not properly tagged so I don't use it. I prefer SD card which allows me to play music based on folders. Car accepted 32GB fat32 card but nothing above it. Bigger card was showing as unreadable. Even when formatted in FAT32.
Seats are heating very quickly and can be switched on even when engine is off, you just need to switch on ignition. Steering wheel is heating quickly too. In general it's a joy to drive this car even when it's cold as everything heats and demists quickly. Much better experience than in my previous cars when it took ages to heat the seats.
Parking system is very helpful and so far I had no problem parking.
, 
I tested Matrix headlights but I have to read more how to switch them off, as when I try to do this, high beam is switching on.
I wasn't able to make work convenience boot, maybe I have to setup something somewhere. Boot is similar size to C-class, I use boot liner from it, and it fits.
Additional costs.
I bought service plan for £350, it's valid for 3 years, up to 60K miles and includes cost of 3 services. I noticed, that if you do more longer journeys, interval between oil change extends, if you do short journeys, it shortens. At the moment, oil service shows as due in 13K miles or 540 days. Photo is from first day of ownership. I was told that first service costs £400, so buying the plan is worth it. I'm not sure how many miles I will do over lease period, as I'm freelancer and can end up in different locations.
I think it's a nice car to drive, comfortable, quick and well equipped. Definitely worth the money I'm paying for leasing.
My friend's short version of review after driving my car: "Sounds nice, engine pulls very strongly and is surprisingly nimble for a car of it's girth."
, 
, 
,
English is not my native language, so please ignore any mistakes in the text.
The main reason for getting the car was cheap leasing promotion. I drove C63 at the time and was looking for replacement as it was going back to Mercedes. I considered SLK55, SL400 and some other cars. I had big spreadsheet with all costs calculated for every car I considered. I was never interested in A8 or any other car from this segment of the market. But when I put price of leasing into my spreadsheet, it was the cheapest from all other cars I already looked at. I booked test drive at West London Audi, checked out all the colour combos in dealership, read brochure from cover to cover and decided it's not a bad choice. Being fan or rather sporty cars, saloon is not my dream car, but as long as I don't think it's ugly, I could live with it.
I returned C63 2 days before delivery of S8. Car was delivered to my home address and dumped on the random parking space without any contact with me. Only then driver called me to let me know, the car is here.
I chose beige interior and black exterior as I wanted to avoid black seats and grey was too grey, I like a bit of colour in my life. Had beige and black and white seats before so I'm already used to cleaning it regularly and not driving in anything that may leave stains.
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
My main concern was size of the car, as the biggest car I had before was C-class which is 466cm long, Audi is 50cm longer. However so far I did not have any issues with it. I noticed that people just remove themselves from lane 3 or let me in as soon as I indicate change of lane. I don't go to any narrow cars parks, don't do Tesco, Sainsbury, etc. I avoided places like these before anyway and I always parked away from other cars due to long doors in cabrios and coupes I drove before. Audi being a saloon is not bad, doors are not long and it's possible to squeeze out of the car in narrow places.
Driving.
I only had short test drive on A4 in London, so couldn't test the car properly, just satisfied myself that it was accelerating nicely and should be good enough to replace C63. After all, on paper it's quicker.
For such a big car, it drives quite effortlessly and you don't feel it's a barge. I tested different driving modes: eco, comfort, dynamic and setup individual. Eco is uneventful, comfort is way too soft for me. I use it only in city or on uneven surface. Otherwise it feels like a boat and I'm afraid I can get sea sick ;-) Dynamic mode switches everything into sport mode, so: engine, gearbox, exhaust and suspension is changing. It's good but I don't need sport mode on gearbox all the time, so I setup individual mode similar to dynamic but without sport setting for gearbox. If I want race start, I change to S mode manually. I drove gently for the first 1000 miles and switched to a bit more dynamic/aggressive mode since then. Car is understeering a bit when going aggressively through roundabouts. Dynamic suspension is a bit too soft for my liking and I would prefer it to be more firm. When I drove Mustang with sport suspension for a few days and came back to S8, I thought I'm driving in comfort mode.
Fuel consumption so far is similar to my C63, around 23mpg city/motorway. I hope it will improve over time. Do not believe 29mpg in the brochure! Start/stop is not as annoying as it was in SLK diesel. If you press break pedal subtly, it won't kick in, however if you're stationary for some time, engine will shut down. Or you can press break hard and it will kick in immediately. Of course you can switch off start/stop entirely but because it's not very annoying, I don't do this unless I'm parking and don't want the car to switch off.
I had no chance to try cylinder on demand technology, as I believe it switches on above certain speed which is too high for UK.
Equipment.
Basic spec of the car is generous, I added privacy glass, heated steering wheel and ventilated front seats. I hardly ever carry passengers so no need for any gadgets for rear seats. It took some time to setup everything, find perfect position behind the wheel and add it to memory, etc. I never had Audi before so couldn't work out some settings without reading manual and searching internet. I think MMI is overly complicated with a lot of options in submenus and requires a lot of faffing about. I would prefer to have buttons on mid console for suspension settings and some other options, so I don't have to look for it in the system while driving. There's no indication of oil temperature, which is annoying. I read it can be switched on with VCDS code.
I like instrument cluster, car is showing me more information than Mercedes and directions in nav menu are more clear than on MMI screen. I don't like navigation but it's personal preference and depends what you expect. It's not showing speed limits on motorways, it's not updating current speed on managed motorways like Mercedes does.
I tested Online traffic option using pre-paid sim card. Google traffic is showing only for main roads. I played a bit with Audi Connect apps. Petrol prices and weather could be useful. It's not possible to update maps online. I tested hotspot, used Android apps to see if they are useful but I didn't find any purpose for them. Again, it depends how people use apps and for someone they could be great.
Jukebox is playing songs according to tags and my music is not properly tagged so I don't use it. I prefer SD card which allows me to play music based on folders. Car accepted 32GB fat32 card but nothing above it. Bigger card was showing as unreadable. Even when formatted in FAT32.
Seats are heating very quickly and can be switched on even when engine is off, you just need to switch on ignition. Steering wheel is heating quickly too. In general it's a joy to drive this car even when it's cold as everything heats and demists quickly. Much better experience than in my previous cars when it took ages to heat the seats.
Parking system is very helpful and so far I had no problem parking.
, 
I tested Matrix headlights but I have to read more how to switch them off, as when I try to do this, high beam is switching on.
I wasn't able to make work convenience boot, maybe I have to setup something somewhere. Boot is similar size to C-class, I use boot liner from it, and it fits.
Additional costs.
I bought service plan for £350, it's valid for 3 years, up to 60K miles and includes cost of 3 services. I noticed, that if you do more longer journeys, interval between oil change extends, if you do short journeys, it shortens. At the moment, oil service shows as due in 13K miles or 540 days. Photo is from first day of ownership. I was told that first service costs £400, so buying the plan is worth it. I'm not sure how many miles I will do over lease period, as I'm freelancer and can end up in different locations.
I think it's a nice car to drive, comfortable, quick and well equipped. Definitely worth the money I'm paying for leasing.
My friend's short version of review after driving my car: "Sounds nice, engine pulls very strongly and is surprisingly nimble for a car of it's girth."
, 
, 
,English is not my native language, so please ignore any mistakes in the text.
Edited by PenelopaPitstop on Friday 15th January 08:27
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