Best smoker barges 1-5 large [Vol 22]

[W00DY]

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

[GeniusOfLove]

They, like so many of Piech's half baked ego trip cars and engines, fall under the category of "glad it exists, glad it's not mine"

Also it is very cool, or at least I think it's very cool, which means it's not in the least bit cool.

[donkmeister]

I've only ever seen one W8 Passat in the wild, and that was back when it was a current car.

I had no idea it was available as an estate or as a manual!

[anonymous-user]

W00DY said:

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

I really like that.

[Hippea]

I never knew they made that, how bonkers is that. Is that the only manual use of the W8?

[tobinen]

The acid-induced era of VAG engine creators. W8, W12, V5, VR6, cambelts at the bulkhead end of the engine, etc, etc

[Mr Tidy]

GeniusOfLove said:

I think you're right, now more than ever potential Barge owners are put off not only by the bork fear, which has always been there, but the very real and very inescapable £800 RFL and petrol costs.

Old barges are an eccentric choice too, all of the benefits they grant upon the owner are experienced only by the owner "internally"; the comfort, performance, sense of enjoyment of the quality of the thing and the interior environment but they provide pretty much none of the "external" reward people get from cars vis a vis the "imagine". I don't think many long term barge enthusiasts haven't had someone ask something along the lines of "why on earth are you driving around in this old thing (15 year old V8 mega barge), you want something new and decent like my car (1.5 litre Qashqai or similar)".

If anything they just tell the world you're a bit odd at a time where people seem to be more conformist than ever in their purchasing decisions, just look at the almost complete absence of variety on the roads now in colour, style of vehicle and so on. Even on PH, supposedly an enthusiasts forum, many posters would rather eat a bowl of slugs than have a car with an interior in something other than in black, or in a loud exterior colour, or with a roof that comes down. For all the bleating about individualism when it comes to dropping a fat stack of money people are more conservative and conformist than ever.

What sort of weirdo wants to smoke around in a 15 year old Uber XL in a society like that?

Edited by GeniusOfLove on Sunday 9th August 15:53

That makes sense, although if your barge was registered before 2001 you don't have that punitive tax rate and if you don't do that many miles the fuel economy isn't such a factor to have some barge wafting.

You're right about colours too, but that was the case even in the mid-2000s when nearly everything was in some sort of shade of monochrome like both my cars, although thankfully neither of them has a black interior. Black just feels tomb-like to me!

[golfer19]

biggbn said:

W00DY said:

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

I really like that.

There must be a very small market for that.

[BlueMR2]

golfer19 said:

biggbn said:

W00DY said:

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

I really like that.

There must be a very small market for that.

Sounds like the first owner serviced it pretty well, the others however…

[QBee]

I was driving out of Waitrose's car park yesterday and heard before I saw it a TVR Tuscan coming the other way.
Roof off of course, and it was in the gold/orange/red flip paint that absolutely pops in the sun.
The picture does it no justice, in the full sun it was amazing.



Hard to believe it is almost a quarter of a century old.

[BlueMR2]

TVR certainly didn t hold back on the colour palate.

Imagine if they had been owned by Audi, just wouldn’t have had the same presence in grey scale.

[PenultimateSpiderman]

Pretty looking Audi in budget. wheelz look a bit oversized though

[anotherswifty]

BlueMR2 said:

golfer19 said:

biggbn said:

W00DY said:

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

I really like that.

There must be a very small market for that.

Sounds like the first owner serviced it pretty well, the others however

That is a quirky thing, for somebody else to own, maybe.
Previous owner 18m, current owner 6m.

[LayZ]

Maritius blue 7-seat S211 320 CDI Sport (1 of 6 he says - maybe?) that has had some money spent and needs further saving, could be cheap as not a single good picture in the ad.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800483320133

Edited by LayZ on Monday 10th August 15:14

[Mark-C]

anotherswifty said:

BlueMR2 said:

golfer19 said:

biggbn said:

W00DY said:

https://www.carandclassic.com/l/C2128554

It's a manual estate with the Recaros.

It may not make any fking sense whatsoever, but it is cool.

I really like that.

There must be a very small market for that.

Sounds like the first owner serviced it pretty well, the others however

That is a quirky thing, for somebody else to own, maybe.
Previous owner 18m, current owner 6m.

Is this the only car that ever got the W8? Does that make parts an issue?

[anonymous-user]

PenultimateSpiderman said:

Pretty looking Audi in budget. wheelz look a bit oversized though

My mate had a coupe of these, a 2.8 sport and an S8. S8 gearbox shat itself, but wow, these are the cars that got me interested in big Audis.

[macron]

LayZ said:

Maritius blue 7-seat S211 320 CDI Sport (1 of 6 he says - maybe?) that has had some money spent and needs further saving, could be cheap as not a single good picture in the ad.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800483320133

Edited by LayZ on Monday 10th August 15:14

219000 miles of diesel stboxing. Get it to the scrapper.

[Rusty Old-Banger]

LayZ said:

Maritius blue 7-seat S211 320 CDI Sport (1 of 6 he says - maybe?) that has had some money spent and needs further saving, could be cheap as not a single good picture in the ad.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/800483320133

Edited by LayZ on Monday 10th August 15:14

If my S211 is anything to go by, run a mile. Everything is expensive and at that age and mileage everything will be reaching end of servicable life. MOT history is pretty good but that doesn't mean it won't fail to proceed. Crank sensors, soft close boot, wiring etc are all made of chocolate IME.

If this is so good, why sell it just to spend money on his other two cars that need money spending on them, especially if he's doing 100 miles/day.

I know I'm being a negative Nelly, but mine has ruined my fondness for big Mercs.

[AlfaManc]

biggbn said:

PenultimateSpiderman said:

Pretty looking Audi in budget. wheelz look a bit oversized though

My mate had a coupe of these, a 2.8 sport and an S8. S8 gearbox shat itself, but wow, these are the cars that got me interested in big Audis.

I imagine the 2.8 would feel a bit underpowered these days. I still prefer these to a D3 or D4 though. The design is almost timeless and I think has fared better than its Teutonic contemporaries.

[KadettE]

CL500 at just over thread max. Nice colour and if when it goes wrong you can still get some money back from selling the wheels https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/318707251668



ETA: The wheels on that A8 are comically large (and must ride like crap), not my cup of tea at all.

Edited by KadettE on Monday 10th August 18:48