rodneywanabe

Im looking into buying a 1999 a8 d2 with about 90k on the clock... the car seems to be in great shape for its age and doesn't seem to require any immediate attention.

Im new to audis.... as ive come from owning a 2006 jetta... a ten year old A8 is an entirely different car. Im not too sure what to pay attention to in this car before I go ahead and make it my daily for the next two years or so. Also, assuming its well taken care of, how many more miles, on average, would i be able to get for such a complex car like this?

Any sort of info regarding signature, mechanical issues found in the A8 would be appreciated.

thanks a lot!!!

icsamerica

get a 2000+ car. There are many important upgrades after 99 especially the transmission

mAgnum8

I bought a 99 A8 with 88K about a year and a half ago, it has 127K now. 2000 or newer is the way to go. It's a better car with a minor facelift.

TwoTonic

Just scan the lists a bit for known problems. For the same money, I'd definitely get a 2000+ car, but there are great deals out there on 97-99s. They still are wonderful cars if you can deal with some maintenance exposure.

brittcrowell

I've got tranny issues. Need to do all the control arms.
I've sent in oil reports a few times to Blackstone labs that came back with excellent results.
http://www.brittcrowell.com/2007/2007-05-09_A8_OilReport.pdf
So if the price is right and your prepared for the worst, tranny rebuild.
Then there is always www.audipages.com , prebuy inspection list ect.

Britt

jfrahm

Unless you work on it yourself, then it'd be a lot cheaper. Then you'd need a backup car and a place to work on it.

They'll go a long ways but a pre-2000 probably will need a transmission and the other stuff is not cheap to fix, particularly at a shop or the dealer. $13k for a car like this for, say, 5 years is not such a bad deal.

There are a lot of cars that are cheaper to own but would cost more to buy. If not for the AWD (which I really like having) there are some Mercs and BMWs that I could see having instead.

-Joel.

rodneywanabe

It looks like the stories vary from car to car. The transmission seems to be the most common obstacle though. Its nice to hear about how audi made improvements from '99 to '00. I guess it all depends on how well the car was taken care of as is the story with all modern cars, but ill be sure to really look over this one before i go ahead.

this was the one i was looking at by the way:

(yeah i know, its ebay)<ul><li><a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Cars-Trucks___AUDI-A8_W0QQitemZ130284627722QQddnZCarsQ20Q26Q20TrucksQ QddiZ2282QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Cars_Trucks?hash=it em130284627722&amp;_trksid=p4506.c0.m245&amp;_trkp arms=72%3A317%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%

brittcrowell

So is it yours?