Buy an A8!?

[bear47]

Best kept secret for value and performance. WHATTA A CAR1

[duhnowhattodo]

Honda is reliable but I can appreciate a little more than that. What I've heard so far is good maybe not as much to be concerned about than with any car. I take good care of my vehicles and would with this one. With this you have to unless money does not matter. Thanks

[A8-911-Odyssey]

.....as you can tell from my name, I currnetly have three "high maintainence" cars.

My 911 is a Silver 1977 S Coupe model. Yep the greatly maligned 2.7liter model. Bought it 4 years ago f0r $8,500 from a wholesaler friend of mine who took pity on a middle income sales guy. He found the car, bought it and rolled it to me. He's still a friend ;-). And the car has had ZERO problems in four years! Typical 911 issues like a small puddle of Mobil 1 on the garage floor, and a gear box that is a bear until it warms up, but that's it.

The Range Rover is a 1995 Classis SWB. Aluminum body, aluminum V8 block (Buick design), White and Tan snow eater. My wife feels like she is in a tank when she drives it. It's a slow pig but once it's up to speed we cruise at 80 MPH in comfort and style. Owned this one or two years now and I've had one bizzar experience. Moon roof opened in a snow storm in Canada. Failed seal on the wind shield led to snow in the headliner. Shorted the moon roof switch. Easy fix.

The A8 is a '00 w/75k mi., paid $26k. One issue, failed radio controls on the steering wheel. Could have just left it, but the dealer screwed up the horn and the air bag while he "diagnosed" the problem. Now I'll fix it, with a little help from the list.

So, apply some regular maintainence to these cars and they'll last, and you can get great used prices on them. These prices leave some room for a major repair or two, but I've yet to have a big one. Everyone else is afraid of them, which drives the used prices down.

[barryl]

Hello,

I had a 94 Lincoln Mark 8 for a number of years.
The car was great, but it was getting old and
a little tired (110K miles, VERY few problems with
it).

I started thinking of a replacement. My requirements:
4 doors (carrying my kids in the 2 door Lincoln
was getting old)
At least 250 HP
RWD or AWD
Reasonably priced (under $25K)

There are not too many cars out there that met my
needs, and excited me. I looked at the Lincoln
LS V8 (not enough power) BMW (too common) Mercedes
(too expensive) and Infiniti / Lexis (just didn't
excite me.

I started doing more research on the A8. Hey, this
might be something - 300 HP, AWD, 5 speed tip, etc.

Yeah, it might cost more to maintain than some other cars, but you don't see one on every corner.

To end this long story, in August I found a 99 A8,
68K miles, excellent condition. I bought it from a
Lincoln Mercury dealer for $23.5K. It had a few
minor problems (steering wheel heater not working,
driver side headrest nor working, the common trans
oil leak where it drips on the cat).

So far, I have been extremely happy with the car.
I bought an extended warranty for $1200 that lasts
37 months / 37K miles.

Good luck,
Barry

[duhnowhattodo]

So Barry, what's your take on these stories out here of people who have had not so good experiences with their Audi? Do you think its the other models and the A8 is put together more carefully with greater quality control? Thanks

[duhnowhattodo]

The reduced prices of these cars for the technology is what has attracted me to them. Their beautiful but I've yet to drive one. Maybe that will be the deal closer. I sat in an O3' and the seats felt like those of a sports car. Thanks.

[ryoung]

.
we should probably do a simple "yes or no", "mileage", and "miles driven" forum poll:

1. Have you ever had ANY transmission problems?

2. Have you ever had ANY motor problems?

3. Have you ever had ANY brake problems?

4. Have you every had ANY suspension problems?

5. etc etc etc

Since much of this forum is orientated toward problem solving, well ... you tend to see the problems.

[A8-911-Odyssey]

...but that #5 covers a lot of ground Randy.

[A8-911-Odyssey]

You have to check the bottom center photo on his sig.

[barryl]

Hello,

I don't know enough about Audi to know if the A8 is
better made or not. I do know that I started following
this list in March, and I bought my car in August.
I didn't start looking seriously until July, so I
took my time and studied.

I didn't hear of any serious problems with the A8.
I did hear of a lot of transmission problems in the
'97's, so I ruled that year out.

From what I learned, you can expect to have a
number of annoying things go wrong on the car:
heated steering wheel won't work
power head rest will stop working (but the fix is
well documented)
you will probably have a few oil leaks - the valve
cover gaskets will go, the trans output seal
will go, some other seals may go as well.
The cruise control may go, or will work 'strange'
The trip computer for miles to go will be flaky

Now for the good things:

The motor is well designed, powerful, efficient,
and durable. I get 25+ mpg on the highway, have plenty of power, and I am confident that the engine
will last 200+K miles with just regular mainetance
The AWD sytem is very durable and works great.
The overall performance of the car is astounding.
THe car is very quiet, very comfortable, and
very fast.

I do most if not all of auto maintenance. From what
I have seen the car is well designed and relatively easy to work on.

Do I recommend this car? If you have to pay a dealer
to work on it, then no, get something else.
Are you going to be very upset if a seat heater
craps out, the cruise doesn't work, or the rear
sunshade doesn't go down? If so, get a Lexus.
Do you work on cars yourself, or know a good
independant? Do you like performance cars that
can hold 4 people, luggage, and still cruise at
90+ no problem? Then this car is for you!

Barry