Audi S8 V10 - Any experience?
Discussion
Hello everyone, I'm currently looking for a big comfy cruiser to use daily and getting extremely tempted by an S8 V10.
This has largely been spurred on by two things; 1) a surprisingly low insurance quote, and 2) my family history with the D3 A8/S8.
My father owned a 4.0 Diesel back in 2010ish and we loved that car despite it costing in the region of £9k over 18 months of ownership... MMI system failure, optical system failure and finally a power steering pump taking the rack with it. That was the final straw and it got traded for a new A6 avant.
I don't expect it to be maintenance free (I have a TVR as a toy so I understand nice things need looking after) and I only cover about 4k miles a year so fuel isn't much of a concern... (I'd likely keep my 2015 Golf GTI as a backup anyway) However, is this complete financial suicide to even attempt to drive something like this without a film star salary?
I read that there are a few V10/FSI specific maintenance items (Carbon buildup, Intake flaps etc) that are commonplace and a few more that require engine out (starter, timing chain etc). My hope would be to buy the best one I can afford, tackle a heavy service fairly early on and then worry about the engine out as/when the time comes. Hopefully no time soon!
Any experiences would be greatly valued... even if they make me run screaming!
This has largely been spurred on by two things; 1) a surprisingly low insurance quote, and 2) my family history with the D3 A8/S8.
My father owned a 4.0 Diesel back in 2010ish and we loved that car despite it costing in the region of £9k over 18 months of ownership... MMI system failure, optical system failure and finally a power steering pump taking the rack with it. That was the final straw and it got traded for a new A6 avant.
I don't expect it to be maintenance free (I have a TVR as a toy so I understand nice things need looking after) and I only cover about 4k miles a year so fuel isn't much of a concern... (I'd likely keep my 2015 Golf GTI as a backup anyway) However, is this complete financial suicide to even attempt to drive something like this without a film star salary?
I read that there are a few V10/FSI specific maintenance items (Carbon buildup, Intake flaps etc) that are commonplace and a few more that require engine out (starter, timing chain etc). My hope would be to buy the best one I can afford, tackle a heavy service fairly early on and then worry about the engine out as/when the time comes. Hopefully no time soon!
Any experiences would be greatly valued... even if they make me run screaming!
Very budget dependent - if you're looking at top-end D3 S8 values, it depends if you end up floating into D4 territory? The 4.0tt engine is less likely to end up bankrupting you (assuming the oil screens in the turbos have been sorted under recall) compared to the V10.
If the answer is 'because V10' I'd be looking for an RS6 saloon, if it was me. But it's not, so.......
If the answer is 'because V10' I'd be looking for an RS6 saloon, if it was me. But it's not, so.......
To be honest, I just cant justify the insurance cost on the D4... Im 24 years old so astronomical doesnt begin to describe it!
Ive also looked at S8 competitors of a similar era and they seem to be even worse to run (maybe an XJR would be slightly easier). The RS6 is cool... but its not quite as wafty as the S8...
Ive also looked at S8 competitors of a similar era and they seem to be even worse to run (maybe an XJR would be slightly easier). The RS6 is cool... but its not quite as wafty as the S8...
Not the S8 V10, but had an S6 V10. Some things to be aware of. On those engines, lambda sensors are engine out jobbies. They are incredibly thirsty, it wasnt hard to get mpg into single figures on a journey if you have a heavy right foot. They are very heavy cars, brakes cost about a grand all round disk and pads and that was once a year. Tyres are 250 a corner. Additional thing to be wary of on the S8 is the air suspension which can be costly to repair.
They can throw up some big bills unexpectedly. One MOT I thought it would sail through cost me £1500. A throttle body went kaput and that was going to be £1k. I got one from a scrappy and coded it with VCDS myself. Fifty quid (plus the cost of VCDS).
They are hugely fun to drive, no turbo lag, just huge power and torque. Great fun beating other cars away from the lights when they dont realise its an S
They can throw up some big bills unexpectedly. One MOT I thought it would sail through cost me £1500. A throttle body went kaput and that was going to be £1k. I got one from a scrappy and coded it with VCDS myself. Fifty quid (plus the cost of VCDS).
They are hugely fun to drive, no turbo lag, just huge power and torque. Great fun beating other cars away from the lights when they dont realise its an S
I ran one for about three years. Loved it.
The V10 engine is the centrepiece of the car. It has a sound unlike any other V engine. Very deep baritone thrum.
They are heavy but not super heavy. The overall weight of the car balances out the weight of the engine pretty well.
Get B&O over Bose; the B&O system is hands down the best I have heard in any car. Check every speaker though - put your ear right up it it. I had to replace a few and they aren’t cheap (IIRC I found some on Polish eBay). Four zone climate is nice if you are carrying passengers a lot. The rear screen blind is also a nice touch.
I had pretty much nothing go wrong with mine, but it was a low mileage car when I got it and I didn’t put a lot of miles on it.
The boot lid struts run out of oomph over time and the boot needs a hand to open. The post face lift models (rectangular front fogs and slightly different rear lights) are supposed to have better noise insulation and a slightly different Torsten differential. I never got to the bottom of whether the second point was true though.
If you get a car with ceramics don’t assume you can replace them with steels. You have to change the brake servo as well.
Build quality feels immense. For me, the engine and electrics were solid too. But on pure internal feel, it feels hewn from rock.
The V10 moves it along but it’s isn’t neck-bendingly quick. It certainly doesn’t hang around when you floor it but it’s not quick like a modern EV or a modern turbo’d ICE. Reality: you won’t be complaining it’s slow though unless you have a wide hooligan streak.
They are limited to 155mph, which cuts in around an indicated 263-265kph.
Daytona grey is the colour to get. The paint on those is impressively hard, so if you find one with a lot of chips, be wary of the life it may have had.
The V10 engine is the centrepiece of the car. It has a sound unlike any other V engine. Very deep baritone thrum.
They are heavy but not super heavy. The overall weight of the car balances out the weight of the engine pretty well.
Get B&O over Bose; the B&O system is hands down the best I have heard in any car. Check every speaker though - put your ear right up it it. I had to replace a few and they aren’t cheap (IIRC I found some on Polish eBay). Four zone climate is nice if you are carrying passengers a lot. The rear screen blind is also a nice touch.
I had pretty much nothing go wrong with mine, but it was a low mileage car when I got it and I didn’t put a lot of miles on it.
The boot lid struts run out of oomph over time and the boot needs a hand to open. The post face lift models (rectangular front fogs and slightly different rear lights) are supposed to have better noise insulation and a slightly different Torsten differential. I never got to the bottom of whether the second point was true though.
If you get a car with ceramics don’t assume you can replace them with steels. You have to change the brake servo as well.
Build quality feels immense. For me, the engine and electrics were solid too. But on pure internal feel, it feels hewn from rock.
The V10 moves it along but it’s isn’t neck-bendingly quick. It certainly doesn’t hang around when you floor it but it’s not quick like a modern EV or a modern turbo’d ICE. Reality: you won’t be complaining it’s slow though unless you have a wide hooligan streak.
They are limited to 155mph, which cuts in around an indicated 263-265kph.
Daytona grey is the colour to get. The paint on those is impressively hard, so if you find one with a lot of chips, be wary of the life it may have had.
Thats all so far, your experiances are much appreciated!
How hard were you driving that S6 Scabutz to go through a set of brakes every year!!
Unexpected bills are the main cause for my concern, I can plan for servicing and running costs. Ill add lambda sensors to the yikes list though. My Golf has cost me a total of £330 in the 5 years of ownership.
Blacktails, very useful and somewhat reassuring comments. The one I'm looking at is a failry low mile Daytona Grey facelift car. Sadly no B+O but steel brakes so less chance of 5k brake bills! Its got good history but has laid in storage for a fair bit of its life.
Build quality is by far and away my no1 priority when it comes to cars. I remember my dads being good but nice to know others feel the same.
I need to go see one, hopefully that will be the final push towards or away.
If I do end up with one, I'd think about starting a readers cars thread. There needs to be more out there documenting the ownership of these!
How hard were you driving that S6 Scabutz to go through a set of brakes every year!!
Unexpected bills are the main cause for my concern, I can plan for servicing and running costs. Ill add lambda sensors to the yikes list though. My Golf has cost me a total of £330 in the 5 years of ownership.
Blacktails, very useful and somewhat reassuring comments. The one I'm looking at is a failry low mile Daytona Grey facelift car. Sadly no B+O but steel brakes so less chance of 5k brake bills! Its got good history but has laid in storage for a fair bit of its life.
Build quality is by far and away my no1 priority when it comes to cars. I remember my dads being good but nice to know others feel the same.
I need to go see one, hopefully that will be the final push towards or away.
If I do end up with one, I'd think about starting a readers cars thread. There needs to be more out there documenting the ownership of these!
BEARDYB0Y said:
How hard were you driving that S6 Scabutz to go through a set of brakes every year!!
!
!
I live in Milton Keynes. If you've never been the main roads are all 60/70 speed limit with a roundabout every 1km or so. Car weighed 2 tonnes and constant coming out a roundabout, boot it to 70 (ish) then hard on the brakes as you're now on top of the next roundabout. Rinse and repeat.
You don't buy a car like and drive it like you're driving miss daisy.
Well, I went to buy one the other day and I'm fully sold on the idea now!
It lived up to every expectation. The quality, comfort, refinement and general feeling of being in something special was exactly what im after!!
The only issue... the seller has decided he would rather keep the car than sell it... back to the classifieds once again
It lived up to every expectation. The quality, comfort, refinement and general feeling of being in something special was exactly what im after!!
The only issue... the seller has decided he would rather keep the car than sell it... back to the classifieds once again
I’ve had an S8 V10, and S6 V10 and 3 R8 V10’s.
Loved them all but always worried about big bills so made sure all the mandatory preventative stuff had been done at someone else’s expense.
My S8 had an exhaust on it, think it was Milltek but it was 7 or 8 years ago. It sounded beautiful.
Only issues it had were from the multiple ECU’s they have, the soft close doors didn’t work and keyless entry didn’t work.
Kind of took some of the enjoyment away as that was a nice luxury touch I wanted.
Loved them all but always worried about big bills so made sure all the mandatory preventative stuff had been done at someone else’s expense.
My S8 had an exhaust on it, think it was Milltek but it was 7 or 8 years ago. It sounded beautiful.
Only issues it had were from the multiple ECU’s they have, the soft close doors didn’t work and keyless entry didn’t work.
Kind of took some of the enjoyment away as that was a nice luxury touch I wanted.
Beardyboy, there is a lot to wade through here, but this is my post from a few years back on my first year of S8 V10 ownership.....
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
Owned a D3 4.2 V8 for over 12 years now. Aside from 2 less cylinders and suspension tuning, they’re identical underneath.
On the whole very solid cars. Much more so than their contemporaries (rust anyone???). Gearbox and driveline are rock solid. They like to get through front upper control arm, and roll bar drop link bushings. Not a big deal to fix but definitely an item to check/use for negotiation.
Air suspension these days is also no big deal. Lots of strut rebuilders out there now which aren’t expensive, and it’s a competent DIY job. Check how quickly the suspension raises ride height from “dynamic” to “lift” mode. Should be less than a minute. If it’s significantly longer, then that’s a sign of a worn compressor. They can be cheaply rebuilt (kits on eBay) to restore performance, or simply replaced. Bit a bit of a faff to get to on the V10 though.
Also, if you can, try and swing by the car after you know it’s been parked up overnight and not started. If the ride height is looking wonky, chances are it’s got a suspension leak. Again no big deal or great expense to fix, but a good negotiation item.
Regards gotchas, most electronic problems stem from water ingress into the cabin, which can ruin the MMI control panel, and/or flood some of the modules located under carpet in the footwells. Check these areas for damp, as if they are, there’s a good chance you’ll have electrical gremlins.
The leaks are either from blocked sunroof, or cowl drains. So check the sunroof opening for signs of water ingress, standing water, and same for the cowl area. Overflows from either of these areas into the cabin will cause electrical problems.
Regards mods, not much really out there performance wise. An ECU tune might sharpen up throttle response, get a couple more ponies, and remove the speed limiter. But nothing much to be gained. Aftermarket exhausts are available, but imho are really rather uncouth on such a car. ymmv.
Best upgrade though is to install a wireless apple carplay/android auto interface. Mr12volt makes the best ones. Plug and play, and as close to an OEM implementation as you’ll get. It really is an excellent modification, bringing an otherwise completely outdated multimedia system bang up to date.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. And they can be run relatively cheaply if you can DIY some items, and have a good scan tool (VCDS is the best one). The online support and availability of workshop manuals and other technical literature is second to none and makes a huge difference to their long term viability.
On the whole very solid cars. Much more so than their contemporaries (rust anyone???). Gearbox and driveline are rock solid. They like to get through front upper control arm, and roll bar drop link bushings. Not a big deal to fix but definitely an item to check/use for negotiation.
Air suspension these days is also no big deal. Lots of strut rebuilders out there now which aren’t expensive, and it’s a competent DIY job. Check how quickly the suspension raises ride height from “dynamic” to “lift” mode. Should be less than a minute. If it’s significantly longer, then that’s a sign of a worn compressor. They can be cheaply rebuilt (kits on eBay) to restore performance, or simply replaced. Bit a bit of a faff to get to on the V10 though.
Also, if you can, try and swing by the car after you know it’s been parked up overnight and not started. If the ride height is looking wonky, chances are it’s got a suspension leak. Again no big deal or great expense to fix, but a good negotiation item.
Regards gotchas, most electronic problems stem from water ingress into the cabin, which can ruin the MMI control panel, and/or flood some of the modules located under carpet in the footwells. Check these areas for damp, as if they are, there’s a good chance you’ll have electrical gremlins.
The leaks are either from blocked sunroof, or cowl drains. So check the sunroof opening for signs of water ingress, standing water, and same for the cowl area. Overflows from either of these areas into the cabin will cause electrical problems.
Regards mods, not much really out there performance wise. An ECU tune might sharpen up throttle response, get a couple more ponies, and remove the speed limiter. But nothing much to be gained. Aftermarket exhausts are available, but imho are really rather uncouth on such a car. ymmv.
Best upgrade though is to install a wireless apple carplay/android auto interface. Mr12volt makes the best ones. Plug and play, and as close to an OEM implementation as you’ll get. It really is an excellent modification, bringing an otherwise completely outdated multimedia system bang up to date.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. And they can be run relatively cheaply if you can DIY some items, and have a good scan tool (VCDS is the best one). The online support and availability of workshop manuals and other technical literature is second to none and makes a huge difference to their long term viability.
Thanks to everyone who has replied!
Apologies for the delay in replying, not going to lie I had had a massive bout of cold feet towards the end of last year and planned to go slightly more modern... however after a change of circumstance I'm back on the hunt for V10 goodness again this year!
Overall the impression I'm getting is that these are exactly what I'm after and I should just go in with my eyes open and try to find the best one I can.
My major concern is the running costs and reliability. Lets face it though, any car could throw a massive bill at any time and I've had brand new cars go bad just as much as old ones. Then there is the small matter of finding a good one thats not been ragged senseless all its life...
Next step is to find a decent specialist locally to help look after it and head out into the market. Really looking forward to the hunt!
Will keep this up to date as the search commences, thanks again everyone!
Apologies for the delay in replying, not going to lie I had had a massive bout of cold feet towards the end of last year and planned to go slightly more modern... however after a change of circumstance I'm back on the hunt for V10 goodness again this year!
Overall the impression I'm getting is that these are exactly what I'm after and I should just go in with my eyes open and try to find the best one I can.
My major concern is the running costs and reliability. Lets face it though, any car could throw a massive bill at any time and I've had brand new cars go bad just as much as old ones. Then there is the small matter of finding a good one thats not been ragged senseless all its life...
Next step is to find a decent specialist locally to help look after it and head out into the market. Really looking forward to the hunt!
Will keep this up to date as the search commences, thanks again everyone!
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