Goodbye V10 diesel Phaeton hello W12 Audi

[BIRMA]

After four years of pleasurable wafting and very little outlay maintenance wise I have decided to replace my trusted old Phaeton with something a bit more modern for my daily.
Having tried a few Audi S8's over the last few months and not being able to find one with a decent spec, this is due to most of them being ex-lease cars so no extras is the norm.
Anyway a bit like the Mercedes/AMG range the V12 versions like the Audi with its W12 just has that bit of extra oomph that appeals to me over the other engines in the range, sod the fuel consumption.
This car has everything including night vision, heads up display, cooled massage seats all round, adaptive cruise control, ionised air treatment plus loads of other toys to keep the driver amused/safe.
The colour is a bit Marmite but I like it.

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Monkeylegend said:

You are either very brave of very foolish or in fact both .

I wish I had the balls to do the same, but the bork factor on something like that wouldn't let me sleep at night. You have my utmost admiration.

I like the colour as well, a bit unusual.

What year is it and how many miles has it covered?

It's a 65 reg only 27K miles so not even run in.

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Nutty9000 said:

Lovely is it a 6.3 or 6.0?

What was the V10 like, heavier than a heavy thing?

It's the later 6.3, the V10 was lovely you just wafted along with the torque of the engine. Initially I was going to have it re-mapped but the longer I drove it the more I thought it didn't need it.
The real plus point with the Audi is the eight speed autobox, it was great in the S8 and nice in the V8 4.2 diesel but matched to the W12 it is just sublime, seamless relentless acceleration at any speed. Not that I'm too worried about MPG but there have been some very surprising MPG results recorded on some of the forums so we'll see after the initial lunatic phase.

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Summit_Detailing said:

Absolutely fabulous.

Enjoy every mile...and the shell drivers cars points.

cheers

Chris

I'm already a fully paid up member as I also run an about to be re-mapped CL65 AMG V12 which will be near 700 BHP when done, believe it or not I've averaged 18 MPG over 2600 miles in that.

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F1GTRUeno said:

Absolutely love that colour

Thanks, and thanks to all the other posters who also say they like it. I think it was one of those difficult decisions but in my eyes it looked more bronze than brown but the interior is definitely brown which I like too.
Although I wouldn't have ever thought about buying the car new the original owner forked out a lot of cash because both colours are what are called the Audi Exclusive range which is probably Audi code for charging a fortune more for it.

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I've managed to buy the registration W12 AXE from the DVLA for peanuts, I think it'll suit the car.

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Thanks all regarding the colour, I guess it is down to personal choice/taste but I like it. I believe the colour is, according to the Audi Exclusive colour range Samba Brown Pearl effect and in bright daylight it certainly sparkles many, many different colours.
Being a bit of a gadget freak it certainly has all the things I've been after but have failed to find in the S8 version.
On an Audi open day I tried the 4.2 V8 Diesel that was stunning and as fast as you would want. Then I tried the S8 and I was sold on the car, I still have reservations about the hot V V8 engine but was prepared to give it a go.
Then I tried the W12 version, quite hard to find one as I believe only 40 were registered in the UK. The power delivery is very difficult to describe but if anyone has tried any of the V12 Mercedes/AMG range compared to the other models you'll know. On this car in particular the 8 speed autobox is a delight as is on the rest of the later A8 range but the torque/grunt of the W12 is a surprise even using the S8 as the benchmark.