RE: SOTW: Audi A8
Discussion
I do miss my D2 S8. The most complete car i've ever owned.
Never really worried about fuel bills in the 20k miles i put on her until i did a return trip to Newquay. A 750 mile round trip that cost £280.
Didn't give it much thought until i did the same trip two weeks later in my F150 Lightning on LPG and it cost £140.
I couldn't bring myself to fill the S8 up again and put it up for sale. A lovely motor though
Never really worried about fuel bills in the 20k miles i put on her until i did a return trip to Newquay. A 750 mile round trip that cost £280.
Didn't give it much thought until i did the same trip two weeks later in my F150 Lightning on LPG and it cost £140.
I couldn't bring myself to fill the S8 up again and put it up for sale. A lovely motor though
When the rules on company car tax changed, my old boss sold his 911 and bought this A8 4.2 Sport
He continued to drive it like he did the 911 and apart from decking the sump repeatedly and going through tires and brakes like no-one's business, the car didn't miss a beat in about 50k miles.
It used to amaze me how well it went with a decent wheelman at the helm.
He continued to drive it like he did the 911 and apart from decking the sump repeatedly and going through tires and brakes like no-one's business, the car didn't miss a beat in about 50k miles.
It used to amaze me how well it went with a decent wheelman at the helm.
Witchfinder said:
Looks lovely, is it in the classifieds?
^^^^ no it's not but if you email me i'll pass your details on to the owner, as it's currently been gathering dust on his drive!! Such a waste of superb machine. I know for a fact the gearbox has been serviced as well!!!! And it's had a timing belt/waterpump/thermostat change as well. Cheers.
They are nice cars.. but the BMW E38 is a far far better car and so is the Jag x300, the w126 is superior in most ways also. Whether you are spending the SOTW basement £1k or £6K or anywhere in between, the Jag and the BMW are the superior car, no comparison really. The Audi, has no charisma, for starters, does not handle as well, parts are dearer, servicing is more difficult, less stylish and now Audi's image is a little chavvy. I sold my Audi V8, partly because the driving position was very poor, but also, because I started to feel the image had become a little unsavoury.
It's a good car, but it has major weaknesses, like the gearbox, having a timing belt (rather than chain), bland styling and un-fortunate image. There are much better cuff-link carriages for the money.
It's a good car, but it has major weaknesses, like the gearbox, having a timing belt (rather than chain), bland styling and un-fortunate image. There are much better cuff-link carriages for the money.
buellboy said:
Aluminium alloy is trading at 2300USD/ton on the LME, primary @ 2376. You can probably get 60/70p a kilo if you scrap it.
How many kilos of that 1750 is alluminium?? 200/300? Not a bad trade, but we are near a 4 year peak in prices (taking FX into account)...so chop it in quickly
Or the buy the option now to sell the Aluminium later..How many kilos of that 1750 is alluminium?? 200/300? Not a bad trade, but we are near a 4 year peak in prices (taking FX into account)...so chop it in quickly
And people said Derivatives were bad! ;-)
ITech said:
They are nice cars.. but the BMW E38 is a far far better car and so is the Jag x300
Got to be joking! The E38 7-series is an overweight soggy pudding compared to the A8.I was looking for one, tried about 7 of them (mostly sports) before coming across the A8 I bought. No comparison whatsoever. BMW has a softer ride, but everything else feels like it's from a previous decade.
XJ is a lovely thing, but they don't have the same level of reliability. Interior and boot space is pathetic and handling is not in the same league.
BT52 said:
Got to be joking! The E38 7-series is an overweight soggy pudding compared to the A8.
I was looking for one, tried about 7 of them (mostly sports) before coming across the A8 I bought. No comparison whatsoever. BMW has a softer ride, but everything else feels like it's from a previous decade.
XJ is a lovely thing, but they don't have the same level of reliability. Interior and boot space is pathetic and handling is not in the same league.
No joke. Having owned the E38 740i BMW and several Jag x300's myself and driven a couple of S8's owned by a friend of mine. The Handling of the e38 & and Jag is, in my opinion, better, both when driving enthusiastically and for comfort. I was looking for one, tried about 7 of them (mostly sports) before coming across the A8 I bought. No comparison whatsoever. BMW has a softer ride, but everything else feels like it's from a previous decade.
XJ is a lovely thing, but they don't have the same level of reliability. Interior and boot space is pathetic and handling is not in the same league.
Ok, the quattro system of the S8 affords the Audi better grip, of course it does and the S8 is very quick, but somehow not fun, like the BMW can be. I guess it is personal taste to some extent.
As for reliability and contrary to popular folk lore, the Jag x300 is better, they are very reliable. The Audi's are not bad, but often suffer with small but annoying electrical problems and as others have said the gearbox is a real weak spot on the powerful ones. In fact the 2 S8's my friend owned, both of them eventually ate their gearbox's, getting a replacement gearbox from a scrap yard was nigh on impossible, as they are all broken!
I would agree with you that the Jag and BMW both feel like older cars, in terms of the interior and exterior styling (not handling), that is undeniable, it's not important to me, but may be to some. The Jag does feel a lot smaller, the Audi certainly beats it on boot space and interior space you are correct, but those are the only things I think it does better.
Edited by ITech on Monday 19th September 17:41
gmackay2 said:
^^^^ no it's not but if you email me i'll pass your details on to the owner, as it's currently been gathering dust on his drive!! Such a waste of superb machine. I know for a fact the gearbox has been serviced as well!!!! And it's had a timing belt/waterpump/thermostat change as well.
So is he selling it or not? Sounds like you're trying to sell his car for him, and he's not looking to sell - if he were, he'd be advertising it, surely?EDIT: YHM
Edited by Witchfinder on Tuesday 20th September 15:35
Well on my drives the extra 200kg of the 7 over the A8 really told. The ride was much better, but the downside was soggy body roll and poor damping.
The V8s were all a bit rough for my liking also, to the extent that I would have prefered a straight-six 728, which had a lovely smmoth delivery, but was painfully slow.
Whereas the V6 2.8 A8 is fast enough but rough and the V8s are much better. (Although the lovely V8 Jag engine blows them all away IMO).
Sure the A8 is a bit dull, but IMO everything this size is. I had an X350 XJR and that wasn't exactly fun to hussle either.
The other thing with the various 7s I tried was that they all suffered from a multitude of problems and some had even started to get body rust, which obviously isn't going to happen to an A8
Research suggested that those A8s that had the non-recommended transmission oil change didn't suffer the failures. That would be the main thing I would look out for.
The V8s were all a bit rough for my liking also, to the extent that I would have prefered a straight-six 728, which had a lovely smmoth delivery, but was painfully slow.
Whereas the V6 2.8 A8 is fast enough but rough and the V8s are much better. (Although the lovely V8 Jag engine blows them all away IMO).
Sure the A8 is a bit dull, but IMO everything this size is. I had an X350 XJR and that wasn't exactly fun to hussle either.
The other thing with the various 7s I tried was that they all suffered from a multitude of problems and some had even started to get body rust, which obviously isn't going to happen to an A8
Research suggested that those A8s that had the non-recommended transmission oil change didn't suffer the failures. That would be the main thing I would look out for.
Anecdotally, from an A8 forum I used to frequent, the oil changes would only help if they were done religiously from new every 20-30k.
Coming to an 80-90k box which might never have had it done, changing the fluid is a risky business since, again anecdotally, many would fail soon afterwards- Possibly through the dislodging of gunk.
And one of the members had the box rebuilt which promptly failed a year later!
So sadly it's a matter of poor design, the problem I was given to understand is that the power output of the engine was too near to the max tolerance of the box so there was little room for manouevre.
An AA warranty was found to be useful by at least one member, contributing £1000 towards a box rebuild. However you'd need to have a car within the age/mileage limits.
Coming to an 80-90k box which might never have had it done, changing the fluid is a risky business since, again anecdotally, many would fail soon afterwards- Possibly through the dislodging of gunk.
And one of the members had the box rebuilt which promptly failed a year later!
So sadly it's a matter of poor design, the problem I was given to understand is that the power output of the engine was too near to the max tolerance of the box so there was little room for manouevre.
An AA warranty was found to be useful by at least one member, contributing £1000 towards a box rebuild. However you'd need to have a car within the age/mileage limits.
carreauchompeur said:
So sadly it's a matter of poor design, the problem I was given to understand is that the power output of the engine was too near to the max tolerance of the box so there was little room for manouevre.
Exactly this ^^^^If the ATF has been changed every 30k miles since new, then possibly the box may last a bit longer. But, as has been previously said, a fluid change is not in the service schedule, so now, it is clearly not going to be easy, to find a car that has been maintained this way. Basically, the box is not up to the job on the bigger engine cars.
ITech said:
Exactly this ^^^^
If the ATF has been changed every 30k miles since new, then possibly the box may last a bit longer. But, as has been previously said, a fluid change is not in the service schedule, so now, it is clearly not going to be easy, to find a car that has been maintained this way. Basically, the box is not up to the job on the bigger engine cars.
My experience too. Combination of auto box working near its tolerance, big V8 engine and 4wd just seems to wear the internals out. No fluid changes are going to put friction material back on the drums. There are about 8 different versions over a 5 year period of 5-speed auto box in the same A8 models which says it all.....If the ATF has been changed every 30k miles since new, then possibly the box may last a bit longer. But, as has been previously said, a fluid change is not in the service schedule, so now, it is clearly not going to be easy, to find a car that has been maintained this way. Basically, the box is not up to the job on the bigger engine cars.
I like the A8 a lot but the driving is very much old school early 90's Audi which means very little steering feel, an overly hard ride and competent but not very inspiring handling.
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