RE: SOTW: Audi A8

[Traveller]

bobberz said:

Very nice shed! I've always liked the subtle, understated styling of the first A8s. No fuss, no LED DRLs, just smooth, clean lines and simplicity. I'd say it looks better than the current A8!

I agree with that, the shape has aged well. When it comes to mile munching, they are excellent. It would happily sit at 150 MPH all day long, with just a purr from the engine, a much underrated vehicle.

[ITech]

I much prefer the earlier Audi V8, to the A8 myself. Much rarer and more interesting styling. Less risk of gearbox woes (although still the main danger area) and steel body rather than very difficult to repair aluminum, important if you like your cars to be 'dint' free as I do.

Overall, as some others have said, an e38 BMW or x300 Jag is a much wiser buy, in every way than a cheap A8. It's all very well this talk of scrapping it, if something major goes wrong and selling the bits etc. But, that actually takes quite a lot of time, effort, space and how disappointing to buy a car, then end up scrapping it.

[gt69]

Munter said:

Of course for just over shed money you can get the S8... http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/3205719.htm

Great turn of phrase - 'Body work is in excellent condition apart from a didnt in the roof about the size of a golf ball'. That's the sort of damage my Mum used to do to our cars

[gmackay2]

teacake said:

The 5-speed boxes can last starship mileages if the transmission oil and filter are regularly changed. Unfortunately, this is not on the service schedule and Audi regard the oil as lifetime fill. This is true to the extent that the gearbox lasts only as long as the oil does, in the same way as you could say a scuba diver's air tank is a lifetime fill.

I had an S8, which I took to an Audi franchised dealer to have the oil and filter replaced. Unfortunately, they just shoved the old filter gaskets back on, which prevented oil circulating properly through the pump, destroying the box. £4k to replace.

Exactly! Nail right on the head with this one, VAG do not have a ZF gearbox service as part of their service schedule, so this is why you see so many A4's/A6's/A8's/Passat's etc with buggered gearboxes??? I've got a B5 Passat 2.8 V6 Syncro with the same tiptronic gearbox, and there is nothing wrong with these gearboxes as long as they're serviced. Thankfully i know a ZF specialist that did the job for £100 all in! Happy days. But anyone that considers buying a VAG/BMW/Jag/Ford or any GM car with a ZF box, if the car has done over 100k miles? Then get it serviced asap!! If you want to see another 100k out of it.
Also back on topic a friend of mine has an S8 currently lying on his drive and is need of a good home if anyone's interested??

[kazino]

Doesn't show it age. Sat in one a few weeks back, was amazingly comfortable and no rattles or squeaks after 130k miles

[Jonathanb48]

Had a 95 4.2 Quattro Sport (N488OUU) for about two years in the early 2000's. It was simply superb, luxurious, fast and reliable and a top barge. Bought at 60,000 miles for 10k and sold at about 100000 two years later for 5k. I would have another big Audi without a doubt though here in Hong Kong they cost a packet

[J4CKO]

CDP said:

J4CKO said:

I can see what would happen here,

Its like going to the Dogs home, and flling for some porr old fella with a hard luck story and sad, sad eyes, lets call him "Mr Woof", Mr Woof settles in and is a dream with kids, still does the guard dog thing, still fetches a stick, ok a bit creaky in the morning but not too bad, he then needs some injections and the vet suggests a little op to give him more quality of life, lets say a Hernia is noticed, the bills start adding up and before you know it Mr Woof is needing medication at £100 a month, special food and regular Vets visits, the vet keeps coming up with solutions to keep him going and you cant bear to part with him.

So, with this, first bill, shotgun to the back of the head.

So you'd save a heap of money and dispatch Mr. Puppy on being quoted for his first injections?

Mr Woof actually, it was a comparison about how we get attached to things and loose perspective, I said "with this" not the metaphorical aged hound, been there with dogs and a similar situation with a Fiat 500 at the moment, none have ever actually been executed.

[xkrGiles]

Sorry to disagree with evry other post

But I think it is the most "beige" car I have ever seen. The most boring thing ever.

Putting lots of toys on does not = luxury

[confused_buyer]

hora said:

I LIKE IT AND MAY KEEP A LOOKOUT FOE ONE THAT DOESNT NAME EVERY EXTRA BUT CONCENTRATES ON THE DETAIL/SERVICES/OWNERS ETC

At this price none of that matters a lot - you can only judge a car at the moment at this level and whether it goes and stops. Basically, if you're looking to get a few cheap thousand miles out of it one with 8 owners and little history which works and has reasonable tyres, brakes and a working gearbox is better than a 1 owner car with fully stamped booked which needs £600 worth of tyres, £400 brakes and has a leak from the propshaft seal.

To an extent this is why luxo barges at the £2500-£5000 price points are so difficult to sell. They're cheap enough that it is difficult to justify spending much money on them, but they aren't so cheap that you feel inclined to cut your losses and dump it when something expensive goes wrong.

[infradig]

I expect to see this on a trailer behind a Sprinter minibus with Polish plates heading towards Dover soon. Make a change from the A6's they usually seem to be taking , often wonder what they bring back on the weekly return trips.

[GeeTeaEye]

Great Shed!

My mate's dad had a 2.8 front wheel drive version a few years back. We did a 70mile round trip to University in it regularly. I remember how comfortably it ate motorway miles, and how we felt like royalty driving round a campus riddled with Corsas, Fiestas and Saxos!

Amazing that you could now technically purchase a limo on a student's budget! Maintenance, insurance and fuel costs are of course another matter though

[Apache]

Great barge for that money but.......ffs, is most of this country illiterate? if my spelling was that poor I'd use a spell checker before placing an ad

[motoroller]

Max M4X WW said:

Did they do a diesel this shape?

Actually - yes. It's rare though.

They even did the W12 in this shape - equally rare. Mostly LHD imports.

[carreauchompeur]

Yeah, a D2 W12 came up on eBay recently and I was really tempted, sadly it looked a bit ratty though.

Such lovely cars, massively under-rated.

[bazking69]

Best SOTW for a long while. There have been a few howlers of late.

[tali1]

motoroller said:

Max M4X WW said:

Did they do a diesel this shape?

Actually - yes. It's rare though.

They even did the W12 in this shape - equally rare. Mostly LHD imports.

Although diesel was not sold in uk

[nismo48]

Emailed the vendor and have got an answer on the mileage...175k on clock..almost..full history from new with a couple of stamps missing from 2004 and 2005..had mot as ad stated in march this year..brakes been overhauled and runs superb..so it seems a steal at that price..

Strawman said:

The mileage would be worth knowing, I think a belt service on these is quite a bit. A lot of car for the money though.

[KM666]

GeeTeaEye said:

Great Shed!

My mate's dad had a 2.8 front wheel drive version a few years back. We did a 70mile round trip to University in it regularly. I remember how comfortably it ate motorway miles, and how we felt like royalty driving round a campus riddled with Corsas, Fiestas and Saxos!

Amazing that you could now technically purchase a limo on a student's budget! Maintenance, insurance and fuel costs are of course another matter though

Students budget? Where do you go to uni? Eton?

[Escort Si-130]

I guess I now know hy I see so many Eastern Europeans driving these as the values ha plummeted. Same goes for the A6 from the late 90's

[VCat]

I was tempted by the D2 A8 but they are just too big for me.
Insurance is more than its XJ8 rival.
But a lot of car for the money.

I settled for a relatively compact Alpina B10 V8 with LPG...