[V8] V8 vs A8

[Dave C]

Howdy Q-heads,

My fleet of Audi's consists of two 1987 type 44's.  I bought one of them in
1992, and have been driving and maintaining these things for a very long
time, doing all my own maintenance and know them inside and out.  But they
are getting on in years and I find myself considering replacement with
something newer.  The question is "how much newer?"

I'm nervous about not understanding how a car works and maybe being unable
to repair it when things go wrong, etc.  I recently drove a 2007 A8 for the
first time and was in awe of the complexity of the cockpit with so many
electronic gizzies.  I've never driven a V8, or even sat in one for that
matter, but I'm aware of the loyal following they have.

It looks like I could buy a first generation A8 (D2) for somewhere in the
neighborhood of $10K but it would be a ten year old car with 100K miles on
it, so I would need to anticipate repairs from the start.  I don't want to
spend a whole lot more than $10 K on a car, but could go higher if I felt it
was worth it.

I'd actually like to have an avant, but choices are limited.  A 2002-3 S6
avant would be very nice :-)  Maybe I should consider an A6 avant.

Considering that I like to keep my cars for a long time and do my own
maintenance, would I be better off with the more familiar technology of the
V8 or an URS4/6?  I think there would be a benefit to getting something ten
years newer than that (A8) but it would still be a 10 year old car.  Another
upside re: the A8 is that there are a >lot< more of them available to choose
from.  Most of the V8's and URS4's are pretty beat by now... clean
low-mileage examples are quite scarce.

So ...  should look for a clean V8 or URS4?

Or should I look at something much newer and try to adapt to 21st century
automotive technology?

Decisions, decisions.
- -
David Conner
Columbus, OH