Anybody drive an Audi A8?

Metallifux

Metallifux

Metallifux

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Northumberland
I have noticed that these can be picked up for very reasonable money 2nd hand and it is an awful lot of car. Just wondering if anyone had any horror stories about ownership, things going wrong massive bills that sort of thing. I'd be looking at the 3.0TDI if I bought one.
 
Massive bills come as standard with this sort of car, even routine stuff, which is exactly why they can be picked up for not a lot of money.
 
Er misread the thread title... thought it said R8.


There is one that parks on campus daily, absolutley beautiful car. Pity its too big for any parking space

photo is crappy due to Iphone camera.
 
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Any chance of resizing that stupidly large photo? If you resized it to 1024x768 it wouldn't look so crap.

The A8 will be like any other car in it's class - capable of removing a lot of cash from your wallet in one hit.
 
Depends what you're willing to spend on the car and the risk you are prepared to take. I got the same stuff about my 7 series ruining my life financially yet the MOT cost 130 quid including me buying wiper blades and a front plate - hardly mega money. If the engine or gearbox go bad then yes, you're in bother but other parts for these aging ***** Prestige motors aren't THAT bad.

At least they are well built - so much better than some of the crap out there. You are taking a chance on having big bills on any second hand car. A mate of mine bought a 3yo Megane and that went through 4k of work in 18 months.
 
3.6 grand mondeo, 2001 plate (newer shape). in 14 months owning.... 3 Tyres (don't ask), springs on the front, 2 services, MOT. total £1K or there abouts in just general keeping it on the road :) 25k miles covered.

But I am unlucky with cars, always have been.

Although, that does work out at 4pence a mile excluding car purchase cost and depreciation!

edit: my point being cars always cost money, just a Ford might be less of a wallet hit than the high end barges!
 
Kitchster_uk said:
Depends what you're willing to spend on the car and the risk you are prepared to take. I got the same stuff about my 7 series ruining my life financially yet the MOT cost 130 quid including me buying wiper blades and a front plate - hardly mega money. If the engine or gearbox go bad then yes, you're in bother but other parts for these aging ***** Prestige motors aren't THAT bad.

At least they are well built - so much better than some of the crap out there. You are taking a chance on having big bills on any second hand car. A mate of mine bought a 3yo Megane and that went through 4k of work in 18 months.
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You've only got a 728 though?

Even if the engine did go bang its hardly mega money to replace the whole thing, try doing the same in a proper engined A8 and report back with the cost difference.
 
wasnt Rilot the one who chopped his 4.2 A8 in for the Lexus as it was in the garage more time than the mechanics were ?
 
Yes, but you can get a bad egg in any batch of cars, wouldn't take his ownership experience and apply it to all A8's ever made.

When buying secondhand its a little easier to know if your buying a lemon or not.
 
Absolutely superb cars, especially with the awesome torque of the 4.2TDI. Depreciation is fierce, but bargains can be had as a result.
 
These cars have a major problem, and that is that Audi do not understand how to build luxury suspension. Far too hard to be a serious long distance cruiser. A reasonably sporty drive results - just what you want on a 2 tonne diesel barge :confused:
 
MrLOL said:
wasnt Rilot the one who chopped his 4.2 A8 in for the Lexus as it was in the garage more time than the mechanics were ?
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Correct.
Over £20k of warranty work in the first 3 years of it's life.
Wouldn't touch another one unless I had a water tight warranty or tons of cash sitting in the bank.
 
Firestar_3x said:
You've only got a 728 though?

Even if the engine did go bang its hardly mega money to replace the whole thing, try doing the same in a proper engined A8 and report back with the cost difference.
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At the end of the day, it's part of the whole 'bangernomics' situation and there would be little or no point messing about changing an engine - you pays your money, you takes your chances. That said, these big engines are fairly lazy and are likely to have done mainly motorway miles as well. Lot of cars for little money.
 
Jez said:
These cars have a major problem, and that is that Audi do not understand how to build luxury suspension. Far too hard to be a serious long distance cruiser. A reasonably sporty drive results - just what you want on a 2 tonne diesel barge :confused:
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Bit surprised at that. In Comfort mode, I'd be hard pushed to describe the ride as anything other than incredibly smooth and stately. In Dynamic, it drops 20mm and the damping noticibly firms up, but it's still far, far removed from being even remotely harsh.

As far as bills, I've had an opposite experience to Rilot. The car has been faultess from day 1...a year and a half later I've paid £425 for servicing and £1100 for tyres and that's pretty much it. But as mentioned, I'm fairly sure if something did go wrong on a major component it could be crippling if you are running the car on a tight budget or without a warranty.
 
Fett said:
Bit surprised at that. In Comfort mode, I'd be hard pushed to describe the ride as anything other than incredibly smooth and stately. In Dynamic, it drops 20mm and the damping noticibly firms up, but it's still far, far removed from being even remotely harsh.

As far as bills, I've had an opposite experience to Rilot. The car has been faultess from day 1...a year and a half later I've paid £425 for servicing and £1100 for tyres and that's pretty much it. But as mentioned, I'm fairly sure if something did go wrong on a major component it could be crippling if you are running the car on a tight budget or without a warranty.
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Have to agree with above, mines very soft in comfort mode, and stupidly soft in lift mode! Mines always in dynamic and its more than fine.

Biggest expense for mine has been rubber, total replacement is over 1k. The A8 has the best incar infotainment system I have seen so far, its really easy to use and its very feature rich without being illogical, everything seems to be where you'd expect to put it. Though, I'm one of the few that love the iDrive on the BMW's I rather have Audi's MMI its just easier to live with. The built in standard sound system is a marvel and the bose upgrade is nothing short of spectacular. The newer B&O upgrades are simply insane, with insane prices to match!

Running costs are fine, nothing is too expensive, yes, ok, if you're unlucky enough for an engine or a gearbox to die then its over 10k to replace (d3's), but if your looking at cars in the A8 class then i'm affraid they are all the same. There is and never will be a cheap gearbox/engine for an 80k car.

The 3.0TDI isnt really the car to be going for, they have the weakest gearbox of them all (multitronic), get the 4.0 or 4.2 diesel, or as its almost the same to run, get the 4.2 petrol, they are cheaper to buy, and with the cost of diesel right now theres not much in it.

Basically the 4.0 or 4.2 diesels are only a little more expensive to run than the 3.0 and much better to drive

the 4.2 petrol is only a little more expensive to run than the diesels and about the same to drive.

I think the only advantage's the 3.0 has is cost to buy and insurance.
 
Wilderbeast said:
The 3.0TDI isnt really the car to be going for, they have the weakest gearbox of them all (multitronic), get the 4.0 or 4.2 diesel, or as its almost the same to run, get the 4.2 petrol, they are cheaper to buy, and with the cost of diesel right now theres not much in it.

Basically the 4.0 or 4.2 diesels are only a little more expensive to run than the 3.0 and much better to drive

the 4.2 petrol is only a little more expensive to run than the diesels and about the same to drive.

I think the only advantage's the 3.0 has is cost to buy and insurance.
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Aye, I forgot to mention engines. If I were buying again today, I would still stick with my oil burner, it suits the cars purpose very well and it's quicker than the petrol. For the sake of potential costs if the car was out of warranty or I was buying an older car, I'd probably plump for the petrol though.
 
lozza23_uk said:
3.6 grand mondeo, 2001 plate (newer shape). in 14 months owning.... 3 Tyres (don't ask), springs on the front, 2 services, MOT. total £1K or there abouts in just general keeping it on the road :) 25k miles covered.
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That's hardly unlucky. All cars require servicing, tyres, MOT.

Most cars require replacement suspension at some point too.

That's only 4p a mile running costs.

Fuel I would guess about 15p per mile so seems good to me.
 
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