You have upto £25,000 to spend...

[Dave Lister is great]

Yes you, with your experience of an A8 have upto £25,000 to spend on an A8. What model and what features would you go for and why? I only ask as I am looking a buying an A8 and your experience of this car could be really helpful so thanks for your help. Also, what problems would you look for and lastly, if you know a good place to buy one that would be brilliant.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Dave Lister is great

[entwisi]

£5K on a decent old model and chuck £20K off my appreciating assets wth debts against them. i.e. mortgages

I've just bought a 98 A8, cost new 56K, I bought my current house in 99, cost 51K, current house value 170K even in this depressed state, car cost me 3.5K.........

please don't tell me spending 25K on a piece of metal that will be worth 10% of this in 5-8 years is good financial sense

Nice cars are fine(I'm a petrolhead and understand your desires) but you don't need to spend 25K to get a nice car.

[craigyb]

But if someone wants to spend £25k on a car who are you to tell them they can't or advise them against it.

You don't know their circumstances, they may not even have a mortgage.

The guy asked for advise on what model for £25k, not financial advice based on your own circumstances.

[craigyb]

I think for £25k you could get a very nice 4.2Tdi with lots of toys with over 30 MPG

[RichardW]

Based on my own experience (facelift D2 S8 but now have D3 4.0 TDi). I would have to say get a 4.2 TDi (performance no less than 4.2 petrol, 50% better economy and lower depreciation). Comfort not Sports seats, 18 inch wheels (great bling with 20 inch but much worse ride and higher replacement costs). Keyless entry (once you have it you really appreciate the convenience), DAB radio (it really does work well and defaults to FM if out of coverage), adaptive xenons (you can see where you are going), 5 year maintenace plan (if you can find one with it),. Other bits like the lighting pack are nice to have but not essential. Bluetooth phone prep would be great - like other bits (ipod interface , TV) but can be retrofitted by CraigyB (who is a real expert) but quite expensive. I would buy from a main stealer to get the 12 month cast-iron warranty and haggle hard! Bear in mind that you could get an immaculate 4.0 TDi (or a 3.0 TDi) with the 'old' grill and all the toys for less than 15k! Let us know if you go ahead. I have never regretted the change, great as the S8 was, the effortless torque of the 4.0 engine coupled with a really quick tiptronic paddle 6-speed auto are addictive.

[cruiser647]

I think for £25k you could get a very nice 4.2Tdi with lots of toys with over 30 MPG

I'm with you on that Craig.

V8 soundtrack with enviable economy and speed!

Take your pick and haggle with those dealers.

[Merlot]

Good question. As a guide I paid just under £30k for an 08 plate facelift A8 3.0tdi SE back in October. Most A8's are now 3.0tdi's and there are loads around so £25k will get you a nice one from 07/08. Spot the facelift ones (Oct 07 production onwards) with square front fog lights and indicators on the wing mirrors. They added heated front seats, xenons and DAB as standard but most (not all) pre-facelift cars have these options.

You will either buy a Sport which has sports seats and slightly firmer suspension on each setting (very little in it) or an SE. Seats are very personal in the A8. I found the sports seats to be too firm (I used to own a 4.2 petrol Sport) but the SE comes with a very basic seats as standard. Thankfully most SE's are upgraded to comfort seats which are as they say.

Engine wise, I love the 4.2 petrol but there are so few around to buy. The 4.2tdi is a great engine but it weighs a huge amount more than the 3.0tdi which affects handling. The 3.0tdi is easy to remap and produces performance almost on a par with the 4.2tdi afterwards.

Great cars!

[xila]

Good question. As a guide I paid just under £30k for an 08 plate facelift A8 3.0tdi SE back in October. Most A8's are now 3.0tdi's and there are loads around so £25k will get you a nice one from 07/08. Spot the facelift ones (Oct 07 production onwards) with square front fog lights and indicators on the wing mirrors. They added heated front seats, xenons and DAB as standard but most (not all) pre-facelift cars have these options.

You will either buy a Sport which has sports seats and slightly firmer suspension on each setting (very little in it) or an SE. Seats are very personal in the A8. I found the sports seats to be too firm (I used to own a 4.2 petrol Sport) but the SE comes with a very basic seats as standard. Thankfully most SE's are upgraded to comfort seats which are as they say.

Engine wise, I love the 4.2 petrol but there are so few around to buy. The 4.2tdi is a great engine but it weighs a huge amount more than the 3.0tdi which affects handling. The 3.0tdi is easy to remap and produces performance almost on a par with the 4.2tdi afterwards.

Great cars!

I'm with Merlot! I got mine about a month ago - a facelift 2008 3.0tdi sport. It had well above average miles but came in very close to your budget. Spec wise - it has almost everything you could want in basic format. The only options I would even imagine I could want (that aren't in the sport spec) are Parking camera, Tyre pressure monitors, electric bootlid and TV. I didn't get any of them in my spec and don't miss any of them.

A truely great car with fabulous comfort, good power and handling, and very secure in the recent snow.

Xila

[garcon magnifique]

I've never owned an A8, and I've only driven a 4.2 petrol D2, but I was looking at them a year or so ago at a similar budget (£25k ish).

Partly depends on your requirements and your annual mileage. Awesome engine as it is, I think you really have to WANT the performance to go for the 4.2TDI. If you're more of a cruiser - and are likely to cover above average miles - then I agree with Merlot, 3.0TDI all the way. And probably an SE with nice spec over a Sport.

But here's a loopy idea. I reckon if you know what to look for and aren't scared of the auctions you could get a D3 S8 for £25k. Ish. But you need to be mad and/or rich to run one - just ask Chris B...

[craigyb]

Actually you don't have to be mad or rich when you can get them with 3 or 5 years servicing and a bonus if they come with the mainetnance pack too.

In four years or so of Audi ownership I've never yet paid for a service and it's cost me £140 for a front brakes on my 4.2Tdi as it didn't have the maintenance plan.

So besides petrol/diesel and tyres, they are pretty cheap to run.

[xila]

Well are we going to get any clues about your requirements, or is it purely budget driven? What is important to you..... Performance, comfort, economy, quattro, spec???

I think you can find a good mix in an A8, but of course depends what you are looking for.

Xila

[Dave Lister is great]

Some of your responces have been brilliant. To answer the above question it seems a great idea would be to have a diesel as the performance would be fine. With Quatto and some toys on it.

"RichardW" has pointed out some good ideas, Comfort seats, keyless entry, comfort seats, phone and sat nav would be good as I am planning on keeping the car for about 5 years once I buy it.

A tv would be a Brucy bonus!

Thanks for your help please keep it comng.

[alera]

Depends what you annual mileage is going to be, what you want to spend running cost wise and what you want out of the car. 4.2 tdi very nice cars good performance and decent mpg considering the type of car.

Great cars for the money they really are. Easily the best large luxury saloon. Personally I prefer the comfort seats, nav is standard obviously as is air suspension on the d3, sports suspension is nice as is digital tv, keyless go / biometrics, dab. Personally I wouldnt actively look for a car with wheels over 18", adversely effect ride although mines got 19" polished chrome and they do look nice.

I have to agree with Craig as well. Its a bit rude to tell people how to spend their own money. He came on here looking for advice. If you are going to keep it for 5 years definately try and get a car with a service / maintenance plan. Set of new tyres thats all I have spent on mine in 2 years and almost a year and half to go on it as well.

That said they seem to be very reliable. 2 sets of tyres, a set of new discs and 2 sets of pads is all my car has had in 47,000 miles.

Just for the nay sayers remember its £25k on a car that cost £60k+ new and will probably be 2 years old or maybe less. What do you get for £25k new a pretty bog stadard a6 saloon or 5 series. I know what I would be spending my money on.

Edited February 15, 2009 by alera

[eey_ore_9]

Go to bbc iplayer and watch the top gear episode where jeremy goes to scotland and back in a 4.2TDI A8 on one tank of diesel.....beautiful car fully loaded quick as hell but if you want to be frugal this is the motor to do it in. Listen to review form clarkson brilliant.... im definately going to get one as soon as i find the rifght one..

[RichardW]

The Clarkson return trip to Scotland was actually done in a 4.0 TDi - the 4.2 TDi is supposed to be slightly more economical!

[craigyb]

You can tell because it has the split grill.

[nebw]

At £25k I'd want to make sure I get a facelift car - easiest to spot by rectangular foglights as stated above. The ride and steering are better and the road noise has gone from low to almost non-existent. Audi's UK website "used car locator" shows facelift cars from about £25k upwards and they're not exactly flying out of the showrooms, so ring up about everything under £30k and see how far you get !

You won't get a facelift 4.2tdi for anywhere near that money yet - they seem stubbornly fixed £10k above the 3.0tdi's all other specs being equal. I've owned both and driven both hard and I wouldn't lay out the extra for a 4.2tdi again even if it was in budget. The 3.0 makes the front end lighter and keener to tuck into the bends and is fast enough 99% of the time in the UK, you can remap it very easily if you want more, and to my ear the V6 is quieter and nicer sounding than the V8. At full throttle and above 2500rpm the V8 makes quite an impressive noise, but at lower revs and when pottering around it can be a little bit grumbly and gravelly compared to the V6. For fuel economy there's very little difference on the open road, but round town the 4.2 is maybe 3-5mpg worse.

If you do get a facelift car, it will have as standard pretty much everything that's even close to necessary, except when it comes to the seats: make sure you get comfort seats if it's not a Sport model.

And as others have said, stay away from the big wheels if you can. Difficult, as Audi dealers seem ever keener to stick pimp 20s on their demo cars.

Good luck.

Edited February 20, 2009 by nebw

[Merlot]

My facelift 3.0tdi SE is on 19" wheels and rides really well IMHO.

[BillBlank]

Newest, lowest mileage, best optioned 4.2tdi I could get would be my personal choice. KEYLESS ENTRY IS A WONDERFUL THING. It was the only thing I missed about the wife's swift. The 18" vs. 20" wheel debate is one where I go for comfort so it would be 18's for me.

I'd probably go for the fastest one I could get because I'm still twelve though....

(Don't tell anyone round here but I like M5s very much but the wife would divorce me and mine gives most of what I need. Not as fast as my bike though, warmer admittedly.)

Bill