[A8] Hello !?

[Etdmail at cs.com]

Hi Mike,

The 99' your looking at, sounds good on the odometer miles.
Except, you may be bumping into the timing belt service soon if 
it has not just been done .. Check carefully for oil / coolant leaks. 
there has been some issues here ... 

Also transmission .. Check for smoothness and noises.
Many reported problems here (See Paul Watwerloo's pages)

http://www.audipages.com/usedA8/usedA8items.html

Have the car checked carefully by an experienced A8 mechanic if possible.

Market prices for wear items are high on these (all Audis) 
as compared to other makes like $1000.00 brake service

The price of labor is high due to the complexity of service
and the already high parts prices will be getting more so due 
to the dollar loosing value - on the world currency markets.

Same would apply to the high test we must burn .. It's not
going down either .. 80 does seem to be one of the MPG 
sweet spots .. However most metro areas none of us get
up to that kind of constant speed much.

Also note that the qualified shops that can handle the 
aluminum body and structure are not found everywhere.

At a minimum I would try to get a sizable price adjustment
due to there likely being little documentation to verify services.

Enjoy!

HTH,
Ed
(Cambridge)
   </HTML>