What's an A8 like to live with?

[Scottishpedro]

Hi all

I currently have an 8p S3 with stage 1 remap. At some point I'm looking to replace the car and I'm tempted by an A8. Browsing the classifieds suggests you can get around a 2011 3.0 tdi with 50k miles for under £20k which seems like good value to me.

The big question is, how is it like to own and how are the running/repair costs. I get 25mpg from the s3 so fuel economy should be better in A8, but what about repair costs, recent repairs I have had in the s3 include cv joint for £200 and clutch/flywheel for £800 (independent garage), are costs/parts prices inflated for the A8? What about things like brakes/suspension?

Any info would be great, I'm just testing the water to see if it's a car I could afford/justify as my daily

Cheers

Pedro

 

[rad79]

Hi Pedro,

I don't know if info from my experience will be relevant as I have 2006 D3 4.2TDI. I have been using car for over a year and only work I have done was to replace battery (£85) and front lower wishbone (£125ish for part and £75 for labour). so it doesn't sound that bad. I guess it would be much more costly at Audi garage.

I found that rear lamps for D4 are cheaper then for D3, don't know why, was looking at ebay the other day.

Air suspension is expensive if needs to be replaced. Regenerated one for front cost £350-£450 per piece, rear are a bit cheaper. Don't even want to know the price of new ones;-)

My friend needed to replace side mirror in his 2013 A8 D4. The one with 360 degrees camera. Audi told him it will be over £1,000 job! at the end after some negotiations he paid around £600.

 

[cocain]

I've got a D3 so try this as you are looking for a D4

http://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...ooking-11-13-a8-issues-i-should-look-2896118/

 

[c3nturi0n]

I had D3 and it is a dream to drive (4.2tdi engine)... Cost to own is significantly higher compared to all cars i had before, eg. X5's, 7 series bmw, Jag XJ etc.

Service record/s is a must for proof of work done on the car.

It's a premium brand with top of the range model hence expect higher cost to maintain.

Hope that helps

 

[the_cueball]

I have a D2 shape S8... it currently costs 60 pence per mile to run, including 20" tyres and using seperate winter wheels.

It runs on super unleaded fuel, with an average of 19.2 mpg.

I do the servicing and brakes myself - really easy to do on these cars, and use an Audi specialist for anything else.

They are great cars to use, very comfortable, well built and can sit at 120+ all day long.

Only real 'issue' is trying to park it in some newer car parks where the spaces are too small... I had a fight with a council after they gave me a ticket for example, which was dropped after I proved that their spaces were too small for it...