[V8] 4.2A6 Pros and Cons

[John Cassidy]

Dave,

You obviously have great taste in cars!  The '02 S8 (is that a D2?)I was
considering sold new for $76k, had 49,000 miles, and looked showroom
fresh and had records.  Guy was asking $22k.  It was the most beautiful
car I'd ever driven, and the quality was out standing.  Then I started
looking through the records and saw just how expensive the maintenance
was.  $1200 to replace an exhaust temperature sender, 1 of 2?  That's
just one example.  I could have dealt with that, until I got an
insurance quote.  It was going to be something like $1800 for 6 months!
And I have a perfect driving record, and was 45 years old, no kids.  For
comparison, the insurance on my '01 S4 is $178.  An S4 is a far cry from
an S8, but when you are constrained by a budget, value comes into play.
I figured I'd need to set aside $500-$600 per month for insurance and
maintenance.  All the sudden the car didn't look so shiny.