Xialater

Sold my '97 A8 today.....took her on a drive down to the coast for the weekend with my girlfriend before metting with the buyer, she'll be leaving me next week, kind of a bittersweet moment.....While I will miss the feel of the true perfection of how the car was built, it will also mean the end of the hassles from AoA and the service nightmares from techs who know less about the car than I do.....it will remain for a while the finest automobile that I have ever driven, and probably will for a while since I'll stay to a more reliable brand with mechanics I know and trust a lot better, that being Jeep (and I'm awaiting the flame messages for saying that) until the "golbal economy" makes it more possible for me to get parts from Germany cheaper and faster, and until AoA gets its head out of its a$$ and properly trains its techs before they let them touch a customers car......I'll still drop on the forum to lurk around, and maybe even post an opinion of two, and try not to be the angry ex-audi customer like so many here before me.......

Enjoy your rides everyone, and I hope you all have better luck than me at the service counters

skiracer

I understand your displeasure with AoA and dealer techs. One of the most important things to find to go with your Audi is a good, reliable, well trained independent mechanic that loves Audis as well as return business. I've found just such a mechanic- me for the little stuff and a local two-man outfit that specializes in Audis for the bigger items. I laugh out loud whenever the local dealer sends me a coupon for a $39 oil change that stipulates "up to 5 quarts" of oil included. I should take the other three quarts with me and make them stick to their offer!! The only downside is that a dealer monkey would have to touch my car- oops.

Best of luck with your future automobiles- you'll need it if you drive a Jeep product! ;-)

RCBENZ2

Why not buy a newer A8, one that hopefully won't have reason to need service work? Then you could stay with us! :-)

Xialater

I knew the Jeep comment would come......I stil lhave a '94 Cherokee sport with 148K plus on the clock, and other than brakes and the timing belt and water pump, it still drives like a dream, though a bit rougher than the 8.......

I tried the local independant route before going to my local dealer, of the three that I went to, only one had even worked on an A8 before, not exactly a comforting feeling when they are playing with your car......

Xialater

Simple......I don't have $70K+ to buy a new one with a warranty......

skater

you know I traded mine about a month ago. If AoA isn't going to take care of its customers why buy anything from them? Really, what is the incentive to change. We belly ache about things and do nothing about it except maybe support them by buying a newer model? Don't get me wrong I loved my A8, but the stupid little things that could break did, rear heated seat switches, rear shade, heated steering wheel, CD player sucked, memory on the drivers seat, wind noise, analog phone...... However, these are the things one remebers about the car.

Like I said nothing real major but $250-$500 here and there adds up. The integrity of the chassis is awesome and the oil looked like new after 3,000 miles. I just can't support a company that is not willing to address issues that have been issues for along time.

I still lurk on and off and have responded to a number of folks off line, regarding their interiors filling up with water.

lhmagma

For what it's worth:

For those who haven't read Kacher's (in Automobile Mag) take on the Phaeton - it's short but interesting. Also interesting is the interview with the new top dog.

Anyway, after having read Xialater's farewell I couldn't help but think of the coming castrophe for Volkswagen - Customers who just "dropped" 62+ on their 5000 lb., W-12 powered, zillion+ moving parts, Phaeton than having it serviced at Volkswagen dealerships by mechanics used to wrenching on 4 bangers.

Xialater

I really hope your wrong.....I think the Phaeton is a step in the right direction, though I don't see why VAG is pushing the car through VW, they should be putting all their force behind the new A8 to beat the hell out of MB and BMW, which I have no doubt the new 8 will be FAR superior to both the new 745i and the current S class benz in all catigories......I'll still look at the new 8 when she comes out, maybe even test drive one if my dealer will let me touch it.....things did not end well between us, not that my complaints to AoA changed anything......

VAG needs to start properly training its techs before the new models come out, the fact that my dealer is less than experienced with working on the A8 is a bit of a suprise to me, since it has been out for almost 6 years now, and I can only imagine how bad it's gonna be with the RS6, new A8/S8, and the future A3 (which is supposed to be coming) and S4 still to come......they're playing catch up, and doing a poor job of it so far.....but I'm not gonna go off on a rant or anything here about AoA......just wish it was different, and I liked the service as much as I love the car

Xialater

what did you move into after driving the 8?? I didn't mind the $250 here and there, it was the big ticket items that were coming one after the other, and taking the car back to the shop the day after I got it back, cause it was still f*cked up.......I don't mind repair bills, but when you charge me $6,000 and change, fix my car.....

skater

Well I started at a landcruiser and got the ear from the wife, what you get another new car..... So got her a Honda Odyssey and took her jeep. The part that made it easier was I got my 71 280sl back from a complete repaint last week. 71' 58K real mile and looks pretty much like new. It doesn't have the performance of the Audi but gets the looks like nothing short of a F 355. If I was to buy another sedan I would look for a good E500, has the torque the A8 really misses.

I was real close to buying the H&R coil overs and had ordered them and 18x8's but the shop had the orer the coil overs. For some reason i alsway had a fear the the big ticket item would drop (something like your $6k) the 250-500 was just a pisser, I hate getting hte nickel and dime treatment.