2002 S8 After Two Weeks (Long Post)
08-21-2007, 11:40 AM
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2002 S8 After Two Weeks (Long Post)
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_at_publix.jpg">
I've had my S8 for two weeks now and put 3,000 miles on it, driving in MD/DC/Va and on my recent trip to Florida, and here are my observations/comparisons to my previous 98 A8:
1) Interior: I was worried about the seats at first. They actually seemed somewhat uncomfortable, to the point where I started to see why people ordered S8s with the comfort (i.e. regular A8) front seats. But on the drive to and from Florida, I got accustomed to them. I think it may just be something one has to get used to, because the only minor irritant now is that a bit more effort is needed to get in and out because of the bolsters. I am also missing two switches, the nav dial and the front passenger seat horizontal adjustment bar. I checked the stealers and those items cannot be purchased without their underlying electrical components. Time to scour eBay. Other than that, the interior is beautiful. I love the rear and side sunshades, love the fact that they maintained (and perhaps added?) the red lighting. And red lighting inside the armrests ... just classic. I paid a little over $21K for my car, and there is no way in the world that any other new or used car in that price range would have those touches and such a thoughtfully designed interior.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_rain.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/southbeach.jpg">
2) Exterior: She had 77K on her when I bought (80K now), and there are minor exterior issues. A few dents, dings and scratches here and there, curb rash on the wheels, small crack in the grille. It is by no means a perfect car, but I don't think it was badly beat either. Was surprised to find quite a decent coat of wax and Rain-X on the car, but will be reapplying both this weekend. It is a darker green than my previous car, which has gotten a few notices. Funny enough, the only thing that has jumped out to most family and friends are the wheels. Other than that, few know that anything happened. Also, this car has been racking up compliments. At the tire shop, gas stations, a guy in a Taurus SHO that looked over and gave the thumbs up; this car has generated more admiration in two weeks than the A8 used to in several months. It is still discreet and unobtrusive compared to other offerings from Merc and BMW, but not as quiet as the A8. When I come back to this car in a parking lot, a one word description keeps cropping up: Strong. The A8 will always be a fine-looking car in my book, but this thing looks and sits strong.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_dash.jpg">
3) Performance and Handling: As PaulW said in his previous post (and as can be seen in the pict above), these cars are geared too low for the highway. When I got my first full tank of gas, it showed a range of 480 miles, where the A8 would have given from 590-600. As my trip went on, that actually crept up to a high of 580 after one fill-up. When I reset the computer to only take highway driving into account, I am sometimes seeing 24 mpg or so, a far cry from the 26-29 mpg in the A8. One very interesting difference I found from reading Paul's account is the punch above 75 mph. It is not quite what I expected in `Drive,' but in `S,' it pulls hard. It really does change the character of the car. This is the `In Case of Emergency, Break Glass' gear, and it is rare that I use it. Doing about 80-90 and flooring it in `S' gear, it pulls a good deal harder than my old A8 did. But I have also noticed what others said that, at higher speeds, the weight transfer seems to be the same as the A8. It gets a little soft at those speeds. While on that subject, the car has very nice, sharp turn-in and steering response at lower speeds. I put a new set of shoes on it before setting out, Toyo Versados. Because of very positive experiences with the Toyo Proxy TPT tires on my A8, I went with these. They are good, but not as good as the TPTs were. They have occasionally squealed when taking sharp turns at speed (somewhat cured by bumping up the air pressure), and last night when giving it some gas in the rain, the car briefly hydroplaned, something the A8 rarely did. This is the first car with traction control that I've owned, but other I've driven would have activated in that instance, so I'm not certain if I should have pressed the ESP button to turn it on or if it should be left alone; will check the manual. In any event, on a scale of 1-to-10 (for light to moderately aggressive driving), I would rate the TPTs 8, but the Versados only a 5. The ride is noticeably firmer than the A8, but not a problem for me and hasn't generated any complaints from passengers.
4) Mechanical Aspects. I took my car to an indy shop for pre-purchase inspection and it was in pretty good shape. It needed tires, there was a torn boot on one of the tie rod ends and a leaking connector on one of the headlight washers. I fixed the latter myself and replaced the tires. Was informed that the car had brand new brakes all around, and new CV boots up front. The engine compression was consistent across the board. The tranny is in good shape and has never hunted or thumped, but due to all the tranny problems with A8s in general, I still use tip when climbing moderate to steep hills at low speeds because I believe it cuts down heat buildup; I think climbing hills in drive is not a good idea with these cars. Anyhoo, this S8 has yet to leak anything except for the aforementioned (and resolved) windshield washer fluid. When fixing this, I noticed that the lower right and left grills come off very easily, but do not fall off when driving. A great improvement over pre-facelift A8s. As I recently hit 80K, I believe it may be time to change the spark plugs (will have to check the manual), so if that is the same or similar procedure to the 98 A8, that will be an easy job. I've done the tires and tinted the windows, so the next major mod may have to be an extended warranty; the gift that gives up to the cutoff point. Other than that, I most likely won't do too much to it.
So that is all I have for now. Even though it's not a perfect car, I am actually quite pleased with it so far and am definitely glad I made the switch.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_on_a1a.jpg">
I've had my S8 for two weeks now and put 3,000 miles on it, driving in MD/DC/Va and on my recent trip to Florida, and here are my observations/comparisons to my previous 98 A8:
1) Interior: I was worried about the seats at first. They actually seemed somewhat uncomfortable, to the point where I started to see why people ordered S8s with the comfort (i.e. regular A8) front seats. But on the drive to and from Florida, I got accustomed to them. I think it may just be something one has to get used to, because the only minor irritant now is that a bit more effort is needed to get in and out because of the bolsters. I am also missing two switches, the nav dial and the front passenger seat horizontal adjustment bar. I checked the stealers and those items cannot be purchased without their underlying electrical components. Time to scour eBay. Other than that, the interior is beautiful. I love the rear and side sunshades, love the fact that they maintained (and perhaps added?) the red lighting. And red lighting inside the armrests ... just classic. I paid a little over $21K for my car, and there is no way in the world that any other new or used car in that price range would have those touches and such a thoughtfully designed interior.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_rain.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/southbeach.jpg">
2) Exterior: She had 77K on her when I bought (80K now), and there are minor exterior issues. A few dents, dings and scratches here and there, curb rash on the wheels, small crack in the grille. It is by no means a perfect car, but I don't think it was badly beat either. Was surprised to find quite a decent coat of wax and Rain-X on the car, but will be reapplying both this weekend. It is a darker green than my previous car, which has gotten a few notices. Funny enough, the only thing that has jumped out to most family and friends are the wheels. Other than that, few know that anything happened. Also, this car has been racking up compliments. At the tire shop, gas stations, a guy in a Taurus SHO that looked over and gave the thumbs up; this car has generated more admiration in two weeks than the A8 used to in several months. It is still discreet and unobtrusive compared to other offerings from Merc and BMW, but not as quiet as the A8. When I come back to this car in a parking lot, a one word description keeps cropping up: Strong. The A8 will always be a fine-looking car in my book, but this thing looks and sits strong.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_dash.jpg">
3) Performance and Handling: As PaulW said in his previous post (and as can be seen in the pict above), these cars are geared too low for the highway. When I got my first full tank of gas, it showed a range of 480 miles, where the A8 would have given from 590-600. As my trip went on, that actually crept up to a high of 580 after one fill-up. When I reset the computer to only take highway driving into account, I am sometimes seeing 24 mpg or so, a far cry from the 26-29 mpg in the A8. One very interesting difference I found from reading Paul's account is the punch above 75 mph. It is not quite what I expected in `Drive,' but in `S,' it pulls hard. It really does change the character of the car. This is the `In Case of Emergency, Break Glass' gear, and it is rare that I use it. Doing about 80-90 and flooring it in `S' gear, it pulls a good deal harder than my old A8 did. But I have also noticed what others said that, at higher speeds, the weight transfer seems to be the same as the A8. It gets a little soft at those speeds. While on that subject, the car has very nice, sharp turn-in and steering response at lower speeds. I put a new set of shoes on it before setting out, Toyo Versados. Because of very positive experiences with the Toyo Proxy TPT tires on my A8, I went with these. They are good, but not as good as the TPTs were. They have occasionally squealed when taking sharp turns at speed (somewhat cured by bumping up the air pressure), and last night when giving it some gas in the rain, the car briefly hydroplaned, something the A8 rarely did. This is the first car with traction control that I've owned, but other I've driven would have activated in that instance, so I'm not certain if I should have pressed the ESP button to turn it on or if it should be left alone; will check the manual. In any event, on a scale of 1-to-10 (for light to moderately aggressive driving), I would rate the TPTs 8, but the Versados only a 5. The ride is noticeably firmer than the A8, but not a problem for me and hasn't generated any complaints from passengers.
4) Mechanical Aspects. I took my car to an indy shop for pre-purchase inspection and it was in pretty good shape. It needed tires, there was a torn boot on one of the tie rod ends and a leaking connector on one of the headlight washers. I fixed the latter myself and replaced the tires. Was informed that the car had brand new brakes all around, and new CV boots up front. The engine compression was consistent across the board. The tranny is in good shape and has never hunted or thumped, but due to all the tranny problems with A8s in general, I still use tip when climbing moderate to steep hills at low speeds because I believe it cuts down heat buildup; I think climbing hills in drive is not a good idea with these cars. Anyhoo, this S8 has yet to leak anything except for the aforementioned (and resolved) windshield washer fluid. When fixing this, I noticed that the lower right and left grills come off very easily, but do not fall off when driving. A great improvement over pre-facelift A8s. As I recently hit 80K, I believe it may be time to change the spark plugs (will have to check the manual), so if that is the same or similar procedure to the 98 A8, that will be an easy job. I've done the tires and tinted the windows, so the next major mod may have to be an extended warranty; the gift that gives up to the cutoff point. Other than that, I most likely won't do too much to it.
So that is all I have for now. Even though it's not a perfect car, I am actually quite pleased with it so far and am definitely glad I made the switch.
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/62836/s8_on_a1a.jpg">
08-21-2007, 12:38 PM
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Re: Looks exactly like my car....what percentage tint did you get? I like it
35 percent. I had a metallic tint on the '98, but was told I couldn't do that to this one because it might disrupt GPS and cell phone signal. It's actually green, but I need to catch it in the right light for it to show. Will post more picts after she gets a good detailing this weekend.
08-21-2007, 01:00 PM
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I really dig the green they used on that, yours is the only one in these circles yet.
There are 1-2 green ones local to me that I see like 1x a year, and I always smile when I see them. No one else seems to like it, which is odd. F them.
Esp. dig with the tint.
Great write up / impressions. I'd slap some spacers on there to rid the insipid ET48, also helped crispen the turn in slightly.
But talk about a "strong" look - goes from "strong" to ****** f'n "STRONG" just with simple spacers. I went 15mm, could likely use 20. I figure I'll add beefier rubber to make up the difference once I spank my current SPSport9000s.
Kudos, enjoy!
Esp. dig with the tint.
Great write up / impressions. I'd slap some spacers on there to rid the insipid ET48, also helped crispen the turn in slightly.
But talk about a "strong" look - goes from "strong" to ****** f'n "STRONG" just with simple spacers. I went 15mm, could likely use 20. I figure I'll add beefier rubber to make up the difference once I spank my current SPSport9000s.
Kudos, enjoy!
08-21-2007, 02:27 PM
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Re: I really dig the green they used on that...
I love that, even among an already rare car, it makes it even more special. Spacers, yeah? never gave it any thought, but I will have to look into getting them. And I just remembered, next time you do a group buy on brake blocks, I'm in.
08-21-2007, 02:31 PM
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Re: I did 35% on my 97, thinking of that or something a little darker
In person, it actually is not that dark, probably because of the ecru interior color, but the sunshades help out a good deal. Since your interior is black, it will look awful purdy at 35%.
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08-21-2007, 03:21 PM
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Re: Sweet! So give a ring and come on by wouldya?
Will call soon. Wanted to try to meet up this Sat. or so if possible. I've only seen one other D2 S8 since I bought her. 