Re: V8 Quattro's

["Psychos 'R Us" <honge@creighton.edu>]

> I know, I know, its all the rage (so WE think) and high tech and everything
> else.  How many of us REALLY want an A8?  Someone (an afficianado of German
> cars from Munchen) made a good point about the A8:  If, god forbid, you get
> into a collision of some kind, where do you take it for repairs?  Our
> existing collision repair infrastructure knows almost nothing about all
> aluminum autos.  Can we say EXPENSIVE?  Wait till the insurance companies
> figure out their risks on this one!  Sure, there's the NSX, but how many of
> them did Honda sell?  Supposedly, the A8 isn't doing too well in Europe,
> either.  

On the contrary, Audi was very surprised at the sale of A8 -- people are 
buying more A8 than Audi can supply at the moment (not only that, most 
were 4.2 and not 2.8 sales as Audi predicted).

As for aluminum fixes -- yeah, that'll be expensive as hell. I heard 
NSX's repair is so prohibitly expensive that some owners just junk'em 
when they crash. If I recall, the aluminum-paneled Sport quattro will 
cost you $10,000 per body panel. Audi is hoping the low-production nature 
of A8 will keep the repair managable (whatever that means).

Since the three domestic car companies already incorporate some aluminum 
in the engine and trunk hoods, there must be someone who knows how to fix 
these. Although I think replacement is more like it...

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