Tell me about the Audi A8

[vitesseefi]

After nearly 12 years / 160k smoking (literally!) around in a 2.5TDI A6 I'm feeling the urge for an A8.

This has to be a V8 (why bother else?) in D2 flavour. Not fussed whether 3.7 or 4.2. Manual would be nice but as far as I can tell they more or less don't exist. Year is unimportant. Condition and history is.

I know they like a drink. It would be a daily driver doing at least 15k a year so the right car would be treated to LPG. I also know they they have have a grisly reputation for serious gearbox problems. I could probably mend one but I'd really rather not! I suppose I might consider an otherwise excellent car with a broken box if it was cheap enough as I'd rather deal with such a problem up-front. It also seems that the earlier cars use a different gearbox (4sp rather than 5 sp) which are supposedly less prone to issues, but struggling find when the change over was and whether they really are tougher.

Info and wisdom much appreciated!

Thanks

Nick

[rusty998]

Made of aluminium and go like stink, make sure the headlights are in good condition, they are £1500 each !

[andyborris]

Nothing to add really, except turning the traction control off is quite a laugh.

Especially when it's not your car!

[lukas]

Great car to drive around in comfort. But it has been a very expensive car and so are the repairs.

So great if it runs, but will eat you out of house and home if something goes wrong. Very expensive to repair the body properly after accidents, the mechanical parts need to have been serviced religiously and if something fails, prepare for the big bills. My mechanic calls these cars "financial time bombs".

An early 2.8 FWD version is the best for the smaller budget. The 4.2 V8 quattro is a lot nicer to drive, but a lot more expensive to run. Avoid the 2.5 TDI V6 though. Bad engine.

[vitesseefi]

Thanks. No diesel D2 for UK market. I don't like the 2.5 V6 anyway - too fragile and too thirsty. My current C4 A6 has the 140 bhp I5 2.5TDI which is an amazing engine, if a little agricultural by today's standards. Can't argue with 50mpg in a 1.6 ton car and still doing it after 272k miles (430k kms)! I isn't slow either.

Perhaps I should put an I5 2.5 TDI in a D2 A8. Can be tuned to over 300bhp apparently......

Would only buy a car with decent history and few owners - have looked at a couple of "cheap" ones and was all to obvious that things would soon get ugly!

Nick

[lukas]

I´d only take the best one-owner-from-new example with a complete dealer-repair-history and low miles I could afford. If you are a mechanic, it´s a lot easier. But if you have to drive to the garage if something goes wrong, it´s an expensive way to travel in style.

Compared to the longterm-quality-automobile the Audi 100/A6 C4 was, modern Audis are a lot worse sadly. Not that dependable, not that well built anymore, not that problem-free anymore. Your C4 2.5 TDI inline-5 was maybe the best quality, longest living car Audi ever built.

[mjphotography2016]

i know very little about A8's other than aluminium, reasonable performance, can be expensive and my dentist used to have one. however whenever i see one for some reason makes me think of one of these,

[vitesseefi]

Not a professional mechanic but I can fix most things. Just don't want to be fixing stuff all the time. A8 is also more complex than anything I've dealt with before.

Agree with remarks about the C4 A6. It is a superbly well built car. After 272k it still has almost all original parts including alternator, starter, clutch, exhaust (less CAT which blocked and got weighed in!).

Now starting to show signs of wear. Needs engine mounts (scary expensive if you can even find them) injector nozzles and front subframe bushes. Probably also another set of dampers all round (3rd time from front, 2nd for rear). Not much else wrong though.

Nick

[THE_Liam]

My mate has a 2.8 Quattro Sport, that's a great drive. Far sportier than any other big luxury saloon of its era, can take a twisty B-road really well. I borrowed it when my 306 shat its clutch to take my lass on a night away to the Tan Hill Inn, surprisingly useful on the buttertubs pass even with only 200bhp or thereabouts, must be brilliant with a V8.

He's had his for 2 years, cost 2.5k and it's never needed anything major.

[camerashy]

Is an S8 in the budget?

[VIP]

No such thing as a manual D2 A8.

Forget the 2.8, you'll get all of the fuel consumption of the V8 with none of the upsides.

Ensure you get one with recent cambelt change, replacement with expensive and time consuming.

An early 4-speed autobox is more reliable than the later 5-speed, which is prone to failure. Changeover came at the same time as the facelift in 1998, so look for cars that have seperate front indicators instead of the later single piece lamp assemblies

Don't worry about buying an example with tired suspension links, replacement is easy and relatively inexpensive.

[grifterkid]

I think the A8 is a pretty cool barge...!!!

I remember my old man driving one for a client of his (he didn't want to be driven in my Dad's S-Class!!!) and when he bought it home I was blown away by being able to sit outside my house and watch Chuckle Vision...!!!!!!!

They are really rather very smart indeed...

[sweep]

Why bother with the V8 when you can have the W12?

[THE_Liam]

Jan 13, 2015 13:12:28 GMT sweep said:

Why bother with the V8 when you can have the W12?

Sure you're not thinking of the newer shape?

[VIP]

Jan 13, 2015 13:49:08 GMT THE_Liam said:

Jan 13, 2015 13:12:28 GMT sweep said:

Why bother with the V8 when you can have the W12?

Sure you're not thinking of the newer shape?

There was a very limited run of D2 A8s with the W12 in, however none were RHD.

[sweep]

Jan 13, 2015 13:49:08 GMT THE_Liam said:

Jan 13, 2015 13:12:28 GMT sweep said:

Why bother with the V8 when you can have the W12?

Sure you're not thinking of the newer shape?

Perhaps, a friend had a W12 for a short while but I never actually saw it so I'm not sure!

If you're going for the V8 are you not just as well going for an S8? Considering they can be had for peanuts.

[VIP]

Jan 13, 2015 18:53:23 GMT sweep said:

Jan 13, 2015 13:49:08 GMT THE_Liam said:

Sure you're not thinking of the newer shape?

Perhaps, a friend had a W12 for a short while but I never actually saw it so I'm not sure!

If you're going for the V8 are you not just as well going for an S8? Considering they can be had for peanuts.

I wouldn't say peanuts, rarely does a decent S8 turn up for under £2k.

[vitesseefi]

Thanks dIA. With you on the 2.8 - though they are alot easier to find.

S8...... suspect one within my budget would soon eat all my money. I think they are lower geared for better acceleration and thus even more thirsty. I'm not (very) greedy - I reckon a 4.2, or even 3.7 A8 will be enough!

Cheers

Nick

[mrscruff]

My thoughts - I owned my 1997 S8 for about 18 months, was meant to be selling it for a mate but liked it so much ended up keeping it.

Thought it was pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things, bought and sold for under £2k. Agree with the cambelt comments, worth checking as can be a huge job. They do like to eat suspension parts but they're not hugely expensive. Gearbox oil change is worth looking out for.

They tend to have lots of electrics and sadly do go wrong, you'll soon get to know where the (massive) fuse boxes are. Check the electric seats move, air con works, abs light goes on and off (tho often it's just the abs sensor needing cleaning if it doesn't). Check for fluid leaks as with any car, they often dribble from the rocker cover gaskets.

S8 was predictably bad on fuel but went very well for such a huge car. Lovely and comfortable place to waft along but would also hussle very nicely when asked. I loved mine and still really miss it but I wasn't driving it (new job working from home) and they really don't seem to respond well to that!

Got me hunting the classifieds now....

[james54]

Nice little tiptronic to manual conversion here
www.s2forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61442