Audi r8 Spyder

[barriejames]

Hi All

I am considering buying an R8 v10 Spyder 2010 manual with 27k miles. It is from a non audi dealer and I simply don't trust any indy's with the warranty they provide as the facilities they have seem to be a bloke in a lock up. Anyhow my questions to the group as I know little about these are

1 Would most be happy to but from a dealer without getting their own check done?

2 Is 65k way over priced for a 2010 v10 27k mile spider. For me I only want it in one colour and manual so it means a total of 1 on the market!! And if anyone knows this particular car at Romans St Albans please let me know.

Thanks in advance

Edited by barriejames on Saturday 18th November 22:52

Edited by barriejames on Saturday 18th November 22:56

[Trev450]

You really want to be arranging a PPI on a purchase such as this. Even consumables can run into the £1000's if in need of replacement, and that's before you take into account the dampers and A/C compressor - both of which are known weak points.

The price is a bit high. Nice examples of this age and mileage are currently selling for around £60-62K.

[Trev450]

Trev450 said:

You really want to be arranging a PPI on a purchase such as this. Even consumables can run into the £1000's if in need of replacement, and that's before you take into account the dampers and A/C compressor - both of which are known weak points.

The price is a bit high. Nice examples of this age and mileage are currently selling for around £60-62K.

Edited to add: just had a look at the advert on Roman's site and it looks a lovely example. Manual and red are both quite rare as you probably already know. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet on price if it's what you've been waiting for.

[barriejames]

Yeah I know they are tough to come by and for me black or white does not cut it. So still a PPI recommended? Not spent this amount in a single hit before especially on a seven year old car so trying to get it right from the off to avoid dramas further down the line. They claim to do a 500 pounds inspection but I cant see the point as it cannot be independant

[Trev450]

Romans have a very good reputation and sell a lot of high-end cars as I'm sure you know.

In your position I would ask to see a copy of exactly what the inspection covers and also what the warranty excludes. As I mentioned earlier, the mag ride dampers and the a/c compressor are the main areas for concern. Dampers are around £1200 each to replace and can fail alarmingly frequently. The a/c compressor is not a costly component but takes around 6-8 hours to change.

[sparta6]

http://www.r8talk.com/

[barriejames]

Well I sold a 911 a few years back and the buyer paid 350 for a ppi and when I say the inspection was thorough it was very detailed and I thought then I will definitely do the same when spending serious money as me I wouldn't really know much other than paint finish and panel gaps and usual worn interior items.

[200Plus Club]

Trev- am I right in thinking the v10 a.c. compressor is a much lesser job than the r8 which is engine out?
Dampers still the same though as you say.
I'm fancying a V10 next myself

[PompeyReece]

200Plus Club said:

Trev- am I right in thinking the v10 a.c. compressor is a much lesser job than the r8 which is engine out?
Dampers still the same though as you say.
I'm fancying a V10 next myself

Yes, v10 doesn't require the removal of the engine to replace the AC compressor.

[PompeyReece]

barriejames said:

Yeah I know they are tough to come by and for me black or white does not cut it. So still a PPI recommended? Not spent this amount in a single hit before especially on a seven year old car so trying to get it right from the off to avoid dramas further down the line. They claim to do a 500 pounds inspection but I cant see the point as it cannot be independant

I was about to purchase an R8, paid £500 to the RAC to do a complete and full PPI and their inspection unveiled a number of serious issues. The main one was a leaking steering wheel column amongst many others and although I'm sure some of the minor points highlighted were an easy fix, the RAC's report (the AA don't touch R8's last time I checked), it was enough to put doubt in my mind and I pulled out. This was on a 21,000 mile 58 plate.

What happened to the car after I pulled out? Went on sale again, didn't sell, appeared at another dealer a few months on and is still being advertised today 12 months after my original PPI.

Get a PPI

[Trev450]

PompeyReece said:

200Plus Club said:

Trev- am I right in thinking the v10 a.c. compressor is a much lesser job than the r8 which is engine out?
Dampers still the same though as you say.
I'm fancying a V10 next myself

Yes, v10 doesn't require the removal of the engine to replace the AC compressor.

As Reece says, it's not an engine out job like the V8, but still quite labour intensive as a number of ancillaries need to be removed to get at it.

[barriejames]

Interesting replies as an update called the sales guy 4 times and emailed each time he said he would get back to me and as yet Nothing!! So what happens when you report a repair under warranty i wonder if they aint interested in even selling the car!!

[Nano2nd]

i think the general consensus is that these 3rd party warranties generally aren't worth the paper they a written on.

i've also been looking at v10 spyders if i sell the 430, i'd primarily be looking and a car from Audi to get a proper warranty. Leicester had a manual come in and go out before they managed to get the pics up, so you need to be quick on a correctly priced manual.

are there no reputable Audi indys? like 911 Virgin and JZM for Porsches?

a lot of the same manual cars have been forsale for a long time, other than the one mentioned above the only other one that might have sold is the one at dovehouse, though i bet as a SOR car the owner may have given up.

[barriejames]

Interesting I wonder if the long sales time indicates a poor car or no one wanting to stump up 60k plus on a 7 year old car? I agree on the warranty too from a small dealer I mean who would they use to work on a complex car not an Audi trained technician I'm guessing

[200Plus Club]

Unfortunately it's not like the 911 market where you can turn to specialists very easily. The only guy doing anything good is Ricky at 'RE performance and he's not really into used sales, just servicing repairs and tuning but he's the go to specialist if you don't trust Audi Main dealers.
I was suprised myself at how few R8 specialists are available. Second hand any number of traders are happy to sell an R8 as theur forecourt flagship but I wouldn't give two farthings for any of the warranties on offer tbh.
If you want some come back in afraid it's main dealer top priced stock or arrange a ppi on a private sale from a genuine enthusiast seller.
I went this route but to be fair the car was extremely low mileage and like new, so I trusted my judgement and to the gods and bought privately with my own inspection and a slush fund of £5k available from the savings made.

[barriejames]

Good sound advice my only issue is I have limited tastes so only manual and only v10 in red so the field is super narrow as in 1 car at present available but I won't buy it if it's a lemon at any cost

[Trev450]

Maybe a phone call to the sales manager explaining you want to spend some money but the salesman doesn't appear too interested may stimulate some response.

[barriejames]

Yeah i just called again and explained the situation!! I've been treated better when buying a pub meal I could buy a house up north for this dosh!! Lets hope its just coincidence as to be fair I've offered a little lower than screen price but not much and if I can't get a little I will likely pass and continue to wait or buy another make etc

[PompeyReece]

Nano2nd said:

are there no reputable Audi indys? like 911 Virgin and JZM for Porsches?

Yes, mine's about to go in to REPerformance in Swindon and that's a 200 miles round trip! Before I bought my R8 it was serviced at QST in Haywards Health and although I've not used them personally, the car's been problem free for the last 3,000 miles/12 months.

However I imagine as the R8's aren't Audi's natural bread and butter, they might be fewer and far between.

[PompeyReece]

barriejames said:

Good sound advice my only issue is I have limited tastes so only manual and only v10 in red so the field is super narrow as in 1 car at present available but I won't buy it if it's a lemon at any cost

For reference, I regularly keep an eye on the market and red R8s are pretty rare, even more so in manual. They crop up occasionally but I would say there are probably the rarest colour, especially if you want the darker (not silver) blades.