...there may be a very nice and under-priced one-owner '01 S8 available for one of you guys in Denver early next week.

I drove down today to drive the car, which I'd put a deposit on over the phone as soon as the Ebay ad appeared, and bring it back if it checked out.

It's a 9.95 -- two inch scratch on very lower front right bumper, hardly noticeable, probably repairable by the MB dealer who has it, and some wear on the inside driver's door handle, also repairable by their shop. Possible rattle in sunroof but the car was covered with ice on a lousy day and I'm virtually certain that was the source of the noise. Nothing, and I mean nothing, else.

40 minute test flog on all kinds of curvy roads and interstate revealed nothing (aside from roof rattle mentioned) but a tight, solid S8. Hammered the tranny, hammered the brakes, all great. Very nice car. Shifts, turns, stops like you'd want it to. Dogsh*t new Potenzas suitable only for burning to warm your shop.

Didn't drive it home for two smallish reasons and maybe one big one: They didn't have complete service records, which they promised they'd get together before I got there. It's a local car and both Carfax and the Audi service book show regular on-time servicing up to 48K, and no issues except replacing a plastic seat rail cover! But zero records after that. Did the guy drive the car 20K on the last oil change? I wanted the mystery cleared up about the dropoff in the records, which they've promised for Monday. Probably can be cleared up.

Also, one salesman agreed over phone yesterday to include install of remote radar / laser jammer system in price. He's out today, other guy wanted to charge for that at MB shop rates. Probably/maybe can be ironed out.

But...but...but...I honestly didn't like it as much as I like my car. Performance wise, the S8 is very slightly faster, and stops slightly better, yes. But the differences aren't dramatic at all, and my car handles and rides better -- firmer, tighter to the road, better tactile feel from all controls.

Suspension-wise, the S8 feels halfway between where my car was stock and where it is with the H&Rs -- there's more body roll and general ambiguity (relatively speaking, that is, no offense to rightfully proud S8ers). More feel through the wheel in my car.

Better seating in my car -- the Recaros are pretty, but I think the foam is too soft and it adds to the feeling of ambiguity in the ride and handling. I like how my seats turned out after the rebuild.

And I like my interior appearance better (prefer the wheel, black rather than mungy brown dash and door sills, nicer wood). Nothing wrong with the S8, mind you, it's in excellent shape. Mine's just prettier. To my eye.

Cosmetic factor but a considerable one: my car sits a lot handsomer. The S8 is higher -- I dunno whether anyone has tinkered with an S8 suspension to lower a car or not, but as they stand, my car looks more lethal.

So if I buy the S8, there's lots to do: rework the stereo with iPod wiring, amp, sub (I bet I spent 3 hours balancing the levels after I did my subwoofer install to mate it perfectly to the Bose system), burn the Potenzas, possibly rework the suspension, refoam the seats. With new BEL system, stereo gear, etc. and lots of labor, I could spend probably $5-10K to make it like my car, with a little extra hp and an interior I like less. I'm not sure it's worth the trip.

I ain't saying I ain't buying it. The deposit is still down and I'll wait til Monday for the questions to be answered. But honestly, if I had to decide this minute, I'd keep my car, grinning.

Anyone who's dead-set on an S8 should be on alert, and can email me for instant notice, if I decide to pass on Monday. The car is truly first-rate, and I think it's under-priced.

Enough of these damn motorcarriages. I'm going to contemplate the recumbent carriage of the Fresh Tomato.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/anz0252.jpg.jpg"><ul><l

When I drove my car home, I thought it was great, but not very great. Didn't have Nav Plus, I already had the recaros and the armrest, facelift HVAC, etc., etc.

Then I drove it for the first week, I liked it, but like you say, it didn't do it totally for me.

My old car had a much more agressive stance. It looked cooler.

However, after driving the car for a while, OMG does the thing rock!!! I am so happy I don't have H&amp;R's any longer and I think it handles just as well. I have yet to really push it as I have M+S tires. Next summer I believe I will be tracking it and I know it will way out perform my 97.

Plus I don't have any of the maintenance items that I had to do before, no leaks, no breather hoses, no nothing. My car is perfect and tight.

Throw $3K into electronics and my car has all the creature comforts that a 2007 or 2008 would have.....

The "S" mod really made it sooo much more sporty. It's sick how it reacts in "S".

And I agree on the color of the dash/interior/wood as compared to your black.

Whatever you do.....I love your picture!

:-)

Very Good Point.
Your car looks More Lethal.
I also think the black wheel and wood trim look much better than the car on ebay.
IMO Those '03 D3 wheels are nicer than the S8 rims.

Just me typin' ish.

I had the same experience. Drove a couple of S8's. They were very cool, but close enough to my car that I could not justify the cost difference. Plus my wife kept making fun of me for 'buying pretty much the same car for more money'.

You have a great car. I am skeptical that you will really be able to sell it for what you are asking - what it is worth. That might be frustrating if the cost difference between the A8 and S8 got larger when you sold your car.

Paul is probably right, the more you drive an S8, the more you love it and appreciate the upgrade. But, I know this other guy who is always talking about a "95% rule". Hmmm, who was that again, . . . started with a B, . . .Brian, . . or something like that?

Depending on what "type" of driver you are Brian, I think a week in it might change your impressions... save for the steering wheel - I'm with ya there - "makeupy" steering wheels don't do it for me neither.

These things aren't for everyone, as the guy here who had his for a month and is "upgrading" to a D3 proves. To him, that's the better (i.e. more appropriate) car for "his" needs.

Good for him / good for you, whatever you should choose to do.

I've driven A's - a challenge to agree the S doesn't outbrake outrun (gearing alone) all-around out drive / out-experience the A (no offense to any A'ers whatsoever, they're fabulous machines). I was out in mine moments ago, reaaaaaally hard to agree the seats are "softly" foamed. Recaro Trophys are like _sex_. Buthey that's just me 8-).

My useless $0.0000002... hope yer doggy's doing better.

Since the subject has been raised by our esteemed colleague from the land of the great salt lake, allow me to explain how the 95% rule has more merit than most folks understand, especially when one tests its' limits and the veil is drawn back to reveal that you have 105%, not 95%. It doesn't always work this way. (The explanation of this may take a moment, he said, underestimating by a few dozen paragraphs or so.)

This is a case of the 95 &gt; 105 principle. I wasn't quick to pursue an S8 because I loved my A8 mightily. Dreamed of having one, shopped carefully, modified tastefully and effectively. In three years of ownership, never felt less than magnificent driving it. Never wanted to get rid of it for something else, an absolute first in my life -- oh, sure, I looked at Porsche porn in Car and R&amp;T like the rest of you, but I was very happy with what I had.

But life is full of temptations. S8 conversation on the forum escalated. Apostles like Doug and Paul shed their modest burlap A robes for S gowns of velvet. My head was turned. Worried thoughts entered it: "They're newer! They have more horsepower! There are only a few and they're going to get snapped up as they come off lease!"

So I programmed my Cray to crawl Ebay, cars.com, Auto Trader, and more. I turned up my nose at most. I made calls, to no avail. After months, on Friday, I was startled into action.

And yet. Well, just read the post -- the S8 ain't all that, not for me, not next to my car. It's mighty fine, especially that engine as it bangs through the gears! But my car in Tip roars, too, and overall I just like its' handling, looks, sound, and feel better. Again, no disrespect to those of you clad in velvet, that's just me -- I lived with my 95-percenter long enough, and tested her against other cars carefully enough, to discover that I was actually married to a 105 percenter.

A cautionary tale for the lads here (those old and wizened, like me, may return to mechanical matters, having no need of this lesson): Once upon a time there was a fellow, maybe not unlike you, young and strong, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed. He had, for five years, a woman of great merit, a brilliant, funny, good-natured, patient, rambunctiously sexy, lithe and lovely Harvard-educated modern dancing gem of a woman, who loved him truly, madly, deeply:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/228654.jpg.jpg">

The young fellow knew what he had (95%! 98%!), and for it he was thankful every day. And then, on Pearl Harbor Day in the year of our Lord 1987, the boy didst part ways with his mountain bike at great velocity, on a hill in the hallowed land of Santa Cruz, and the boy didst break his neck in two places and fracture his skull so that his modest brain was exposed unto the sky.

The head-injured often lose their judgement, and do not know that they have done so. Verily, this fellow did. He looked at his near-perfect girl and said, "There's 2% missing!" In his deranged condition, he drove her away, against her wishes and her efforts to persuade him of the infirmity that had entered unto his brain when the ravens were allowed to look upon it.

The tale takes a sad turn. Within months, the boy was visiting his photographer friend in Gotham, and didst come upon a French model, and lo, within three short months had married her and given rise to a child in the center of her, who is present in this photograph, though you cannot see her:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/valerie.jpg">

But you can see the look in the woman's eye, and the difference between that and the look on the other woman's face? That's the difference between hell and heaven.

Sorrow ensued! Terrible grief washed over the boy's life in tsunamis! Pots and pans were thrown! The sound of breaking glass was heard 'round the world! The boy gnashed his teeth and tore his hair in Biblical fashion! Concerned constables circled! Divorce lawyers bought shiny new German cars and memberships at exclusive country clubs!

There is a silver lining, happily, a beautiful one, beautiful at birth, beautiful every day since, not the eighth but, at least to this fellow, the first wonder of the world:

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/hhcauthorphoto.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/sofifliesweb.jpg">

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/84266/sofi14thirteen.jpg">

The boy survived (barely). The child is a delight unto her father and amazes far and wide. But the lesson remains: the boy became stupid and greedy -- for which he may be forgiven, having smote his noggin so mightily upon the rocks -- and his suffering, as a consequence, was considerable. 95% can percolate into 105%, you see, if you settle into a nice chair and breathe deeply. And it can boil away to a burnt pan and gray hair if you start snorting and pawing at the ground because it's "only" 95%.

And what does that have to do with cars? Well, nothing, of course. And everything.

In closing, the best poem I know, from my friend Jim Harrison, who wrote the magnificent novella "Legends of the Fall", which is as great as the movie made of it was pathetic. Print it and put it in your wallets, young fellows!

<b><u>Homily</u>

These simple rules to live within -- a black
pen at night, a gold pen in daylight,
avoid blue food and ten-ounce shots
of whiskey, don't point a gun at yourself,
don't snipe with the cri-cri-cri of a becasine,
don't use gas for starter fluid, don't read
dirty magazines in front of stewardesses --
it happens all the time. It's time to stop
cleaning your plate, forget the birthdays
of the dead, give all you can to the poor.
This might go on and on and will: who can
choose between the animal in the road
and the ditch? A magnum for lunch
is a little too much but not enough
for dinner. Polish the actual stars at night
as an invisible man pets a dog, an actual
man a memory-dog lost under
the morning glory trellis forty years ago.
Dance with yourself with all your heart
and soul, and occasionally others, but don't
eat all the berries birds eat or you'll die.
Kiss yourself in the mirror but don't fall in love
with photos of ladies in magazines. Don't fall in love
as if you were falling through
the floor in an abandoned house, or off
a dock at night, or down a crevasse
covered with false snow, a cow floundering
in quicksand while the other cows watch
without particular interest, backwards
off a crumbling cornice. Don't fall in love
with two at once. From the ceiling you can see
this circle of three, though one might be elsewhere.

He is rended, he rends himself, he dances,
he whirls so hard everything he is flies off.
He crumples as paper, but rises daily from the dead.</b>

I never thought the s8 would become such deals. I also never thought I'd own my car for 6 years/120k. Next up is 150k and beyond. I could shoot for 200k by 2010,but I know another D2 in non S8 spec would be repetitive. The S8 is worth the hp and exclusivity at an added cost.

For now I feel like I have a Ronin S8, with facelift Avus rims and mirror caps! No need to change yet

And I still wish I hadn't driven it. Kinda. Maybe a C4S will cure this desire... But that's a different discussion entirely.

&lt;ducks&gt;

That's funny.

&lt;thinks about it for a minute&gt;

Heyyyy wait! That was mean!