connell

hey guys, I'm lookin to buy a cheap A8 for long distance trips (500 miles every month or so) cuz flying is gettin old!

i've had a couple of older audis and am currently audi-less becuase when i moved to the states from canada, i wasn't allowed to bring my minty fresh 93 UrS4 with me (best car i have ever owned). i'm thinking about an A8 now because i am blown away how cheap some of them are here! (sub 10k is unheard of in canada) i took a look at my first A8 today and i have couple of questions.

pre and post facelift....what's the difference? i've been searching the site to see if i can get at least a description but i suppose i'm not looking the right way.

the other question is to do with the transmission. i understand they have issues and i'd like to get a better idea of the symptoms. the one i just drive did the following: acceleration and decceleration were fine but small throttle inputs caused it to kick down a gear but then it was like it realized i wasn't going to accelerate hard and it shifted back up. upon upshift, there was a slight jerk. the whole episode would last maybe 2 seconds.

is this an indication of a trans that will fail eventually? i'm not too sure because i've never owned or looked at owning an automatic before, i mean, it could very well be my driving style....

i'm hoping to see another one on monday night that is even cheaper than the one i just drove but has recently rebuilt trans in it. wish me luck and thanks for any help you can give me.

chenisheda

Where are you finding them? I am looking to buy one and have the same questions. I live in Virginia. Oh and I read about the transmission- you have to have a vag com and then you can switch the tranny from standard to sport mode and from what I have been reading it is a big difference.

KYNZ

Pass on that unless its REALLY cheap. go to audipages.com for more info on the A8.<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com">http://www.audipages.com</a</li></ul>

greenbird

I thought it was just the programming?

SoCal Mike

it turned out that the car was programmed in "old man's mode", basically it would not hold 1st gear and would only hold 2nd ever so quickly which I thought was "hunting". I had the transmission programmed to "sport" mode and it made a HUGE difference.

ohbw

<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/usedA8.html">used A8/S8 buyer's guide</a></li></ul>

connell

and at 9k i certainly wouldn't call it REALLY cheap!!!

the one i wanna look at this week i think i could get for 7 and has a 2.5yr old tranny in it.....too bad it'd be ANOTHER silver audi for me if i got it.... did they may audis in any other colour?!?!?!?!

connell

i would do ebay again but the first time was nerveracking enough thank you very much....besides, i did EXTREMELY well on the ebay purchase, don't wanna push my luck to make it 2 in a row!!!!