Audi A8 W12

[BirkinBoy]

Hi

Any advice appreciated. Looking to buy a barge for my weekly commute from Dorset to London. The car will be replacing a Range Rover that served me well for 180,000 miles until I sadly wrote it off. Always liked the A8’s from being driven in them and seen an early 2005 W12 for just over £7000 with 110k miles on a dealership in Poole. Wondering if it’s too old for reliable use. Currently using a Mini Cooper S Works so must be more comfortable! Any experience welcome.

Kind Regards

David

[anonymous-user]

not owned one but aren't these pretty rare. i would look at a phaeton, similar specs if not better for less. S8 would be my option as well.

[Scabutz]

I was looking for a D3 4.2 V8 a couple of years back. They were very rare. Whilst looking I came across a couple of the W12s. Most that I came across were older and high mileage. I had heard the engine wasn't that nice. I have had a few older high-mileage Audis and they can become money pits. With the W12 its engine out for things like new cats or O2 sensors.

The A8 has tonnes of kit so make sure everything works. It has air suspension that can become costly to repair so make sure to check that.

As Thespurcegoose says look at the S8. Normal petrol A6s & A8s are extremely rare. If you could afford the V8 you could probably stretch to the S8. I went for a S6 in the end as the S8 was a little out of my reach.

They are expensive to run £90-100 fill up and that was lasting me 2 weeks. £500 disk and pads at the front once a year, tyres etc. Lot of fun though

[BIRMA]

I was about to buy a 2015 W12 A8 and had a PX deal for my V10 Phaeton all sorted but unfortunately the Phaeton went bang so the deal was off.
From my own homework I concluded the later cars were better equipped but the engine seemed to be more or less untouched over the years but obviously improvements were made.
Like all these wonderful bargain cars you have to first of all sort out a decent independent to service it for you because main dealers with this age of car will welcome you with open arms and the costs will make a grown man cry.
Second and most important is to be of the mindset if something major goes wrong you may have to throw it away.
I ran my Phaeton for just over four years with the above mindset and I thoroughly enjoyed it and what's more didn't cost me a fortune.
In checking these cars out I noted one for sale in Bedfordshire had a replacement engine at about 60K miles but apart from that I didn't find any other major issues with the W12 apart from drinking fuel.