A8 - high mileage okay?
 

I'm looking to buy an A8, around 6-7 years old (about my price range). I've seen a few which have pretty high mileage - between 150K and 180K. They all have full Audi service histories and don't seem to have been abused. Are they worth going for? How long should an A8 last? I suppose I can expect higher service bills, but can I expect the car to be reliable and not let me down in the next 50,000 miles...? Any experience and advice, much appreciated!

Plan on spending $1200/year maintenance
 

If you do it yourself, you could probably get by with $600 in parts per year.....if you have somebody else do it for you, $1200/year, but the first year might cost you $1800.

Are you going to do your own maintenance or have somebody else do it?

pw

Re: Plan on spending $1200/year maintenance
 

Would be getting the dealer or a local audi specialist to do the work. Not enough experience to do it myself (and probably not enough time!). What's most likely to crop up that will need attention at that age?

Suspension, timing belt, etc
 

<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/usedA8.html">Have you read this?</a></li></ul>

Re: Suspension, timing belt, etc
 

Yeah, I'd seen that page. Excellent and very helpful stuff there. I will get the car inspected by a professional if I go for one. The main prospect has been very well looked after and doesn't look like a car that has done that many miles. Drives incredibly smoothly - better than a 7 series BMW of the same age which had 80K on it. Timing belt has just been replaced for the second time. Most of it is highway miles (previous owner used to go from UK &gt; Portugal three times a year!). I just need a few people to say, my A8 has done 200K with hardly a problem (or the opposite!). It's a lovely car, but I'm just not sure if that amount of miles is worth the lower price...

I bought my 2000 with 70k (miles) on it
 

I put about $2,000 in it the first year, then very little since then other than filters and fluids (and a couple of mods).

I did the timing belt, water pump, and gaskets at 80k miles. I then had a freak failure of my ECU at about 83k miles that cost me another $600. Other than that, it's been a great car.

Since I stole it for les than $25k, I was ready to do a little extra maintainence in year one. I'm now at 92k miles and it drives great, but I can't vouch for 150k to 200k miles yet.

I take it that......
 

...the 150-180k are kms and not miles. I also assume that you are in Europe (but not Germany), so change the $ signs to Euros.....

Nope... I did mean miles
 

And I am in Europe, but in the UK, so I'm changing the $ to £!

might be a bit harsh (the $ to £), but......
 

....I do know that spares for Audi can be quite dear in the UK and finding a good mechanic with the proper Audi skills may not be easy. If you have good mechanic, then I'd suspect you'd be OK, assuming a recent MOT and proper documentation on the timing belts.......

Re: might be a bit harsh (the $ to £), but......
 

More documentation than I'd ever care to look through for the car. Every service and every visit to the dealer (and possibly every tank of gas put into the thing) is documented and invoiced. There is an Audi specialist garage relatively close by who have a good reputation in the area which bodes well. I just don't know if I should save £1K or so on the price of the car for these miles or get something with less miles for an extra grand...