Sam's stupid ideas, part #1232: Audi A8 4.2

[Carrotchomper]

....Prospective purchase of large V8 vehicle.

I saw this the other day on the Pistonheads "Barge Bargains" thread, and mulled it over for a few days. Whilst down at my mum's in Somerset at the weekend, I gave the matter more detailed thought. Having rung the chap, by coincidence he was less than 5 miles from my mum's house so I went over to have a look. It was an omen!

The car is pretty much mint, it's been parked for a couple of months whilst he was abroad so needs a good clean, but started first time when the battery was boosted, and everything works barring the issues in the ad. Will have a year's MoT.

Is this a bad idea? I thought so until I heard the bark of the 4.2 V8 and felt the acceleration . I won't be doing a lot of miles in it.

The car is virtually mint, and the guy is clearly very genuine- An old boy who now has a CL500 as the "daily" car. Bit of a petrolhead too.

I'm waiting for him to get back to me, thinking along the lines of £3000 including the plate, which has got to be worth a bit.

What's the worst that could happen?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Go on, you KNOW it makes sense!

 

[tromppost]

A few years ago I had an A8 3.7. Great car and great drive. If this ones falls through go for the sport model as you get bucket front seats smart alloys and its a bit lower so looks a bit more edgy.

 

[crockers]

Seems to have a detailed service history ( I would ignore the 50 mpg @ 60mph) bit......but if you are doing low mileage - fuel consumption isnt a major problem...sometime people get too hung up on mpg -

Worse case scenario - car goes wrong and costs more than £3k to repair -
I do like the A8

 

[lynall]

Pretty certian i read a while ago A8 engines not the toughest.



Lynall

 

[Carrotchomper]

How exactly does one sell plates? I see all the online sites but presume they need a buyer themself. The car's been on sale for ages so am aiming to have plate thrown in- It's of no significance to seller.

The sat-nat unit generally sells for about £500+ on eBay too..

 

[C240Sport97]

love the colour

 

[peterg1965]

Only one thing to say............ GO FOR IT!

 

[BaldGuy]

Thats allot of car for 3k... go for it.... join the V8 gang!!

 

[James Rothwell]

I used to have an A8 4.2 40v in that colour also, very nice car. Was my most missed car until I had and got rid of my S500.

They are usually pretty reliable, check and ensure the cambelt AND tensioners has been done, the 40v engine also has a slight issue with oil leak from the back of the engine dripping down onto the gearbox and it stinks of burning and will panic you.

Speaking of gearboxes they are known to fail on the A8, Audi say you should never change the oil in the gearbox however you really should get this done.

Overall the cars are excellent, they are pretty fast as they weigh less than a 2.8 4Motion Passat, plus yours like mine should have the later 5 speed box not the 4 speed. Also the economy is pretty good, I drove mine from here to Switzerland to Poland through Austria and Slovakia and then home again and averaged 28mpg and I was giving it some beans to Swiss roads doing between 110mph-135mph and then home again drove at about the same sort of speed, it was only the middle bit I drove at 85mph so they are pretty good on fuel.

I'd say go for it!

 

[robert.saunders]

Love it Sam, go for it! Especially liking the EFfeminate Male registration

 

[gaz_l]

I think the view to take is that the £3K could disappear the first time something expensive goes wrong. If you can afford to buy it on that basis and throw it away if a cambelt lets go, for example, then it's a hell of a lot of metal for the money. It could go on for years yet with nothing more than routine maintenance.. VAG stuff of that vintage was pretty well screwed together.

You only live once

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[Spin_bowler]

That looks absolutely superb. I ran a 1999 A6 2.7 Twin Turbo for 3 years and 100K miles. Most reliable car I've ever owned and only ever needed routine servicing.

Go for it, seems a great car for that money.

 

[kbhogalW126]

DO IT!

KJ

 

[Carrotchomper]

There is the small matter of not really needing a car and having nowhere to park... Meh!

 

[jimti]

that is a lot of car for 3k, if you can afford to run it I would say go for it, you can always move it on if you don't like it!

 

[shorty]

I would go for it ! If we didnt have the insane road tax over here id have a big engined car , probably a V8 Jag or Merc .

 

[PhilG]

My uncle has a '98 2.8 Sport, he likes it but is forever spending £hundreds on it. At 3k its a bit too expensive just to give up on if something expensive goes (IMO). There are plenty of cheap barges out there for a grand which can just be disposable. How about a Lexus LS400?

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

I like it. On the rare occasion I see one, I think they're a damn fine looking car. Bodywork may be costly to repair if it's aluminium so pay attention for any damage, and haggle accordingly.

 

[Mudster]

A8's and more so S8's have always been on my list of autotrader/eBay browses.

Always struck me a huge value for money, but I've always been drawn to the sport model.

Still, £3K..you can't really go wrong can you and just look how clean it is.