a8

[Mark R]

We (my father) owned 2 A8s and I drove them quite extensively.  One a 1999
(old dash) and a 2000 (new dash).  Overall, great cars, but high maintenance
cost, huge depreciation.

Repair of the basic AL body work is straightforward (like replacing panels),
but once you get deeper, there is a lot of bonding and specialty
techniques.  Last time I looked into it for a friend (2002?), the closest
major repair shop authorized by Audi was in CT... and I'm in central NY!
If they get damaged, it's expensive no matter what.  If there's "frame" type
of damage, it's REALLY expensive.

The older cars are likely a bit more reliable.  The 2000 cars had a lot of
new electronics which were quite flawed.  You'd expect most of that to be
fixed by now in their life.   With an A8, a pre-buy inspection MUST have a
full scan done (VAG-COM).  In contrast to my 2000 S4, both the 1999 A8 and
the 2000 A8 ALWAYS had intermittent codes in many of the modules.  Some
manifested themselves in actual performance, some we couldn't tell anything
was wrong.

Bottom line was the 1999 was likely in an accident before it was sold to us
as a new car.  The replacement from Audi (the 2000) was also a lemon because
Audi couldn't get the check engine light to go out (EVAP problem) despite
being in for that issue almost 3 full months out of the 5 before we gave up
on Audi's lies to us.

Wonderful cars to drive, same weight as an A6 with the V6.  Expensive to
maintain.

Mark Rosenkrantz


On 5/10/07, thejimrose <thejimrose at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> i've thought the same thing. i'd LOVE an a8. big, quiet, comfy, smooth,
> etc.
> the ultimate tahoe express. if i had to guess why they're so cheap it's
> because of the cost of maintenance and ownership.
>
> my perception is that they were not very reliable, and a nightmare to have
> repaired in the event that they got hit [alum body] so maybe insurance was
> prohibitively expensive?
>
> post up what you find, id be curious to know what the 411 is on them.
>
>