Pk14

Greetings -

After walking away from a totaled '04 V70R Thursday evening, I am contemplating an '06 A8 SWB as a replacement. It would be a CPO (currently 26K miles) and is a local trade-in.

I really enjoyed my '01 A8L for the 3 yrs I owned it, but sold it with 45K miles staring at pretty pricy maintenance costs (brakes and timing belt) after the warrenty period, not to mention anything else that may have popped up.

For those that have taken their D3s over the 100k threshold, how has the car held up? Wear and tear on interior? Major components at end of life / replacement cost versus remaining value left in car?

Appreciate the help / perspective.

Pk

awdinut

away caused you to sell your D2 because the warranty was up, I would say my answer to your question would be to say that the D3 is not for those who are (that) faint of heart.

Mister Bally

Well, I have 106k on my 2004 D3, Still the original timing belt ( I know, a ticking bomb ) but I have chekced it several times and it looks fine. I do not abuse the car as I rarely floor it-maybe once a month. The first part that truly failed on the car was the WABCO electric compressor that provides air for the ECAS (Electronically Controlled Air Suspension) that was a $1500 bill ($1000 for the part and $500 for labor). It failed with about 70k miles. I have a brand new spare compressor ready for next time.

Interior is wearing quite well. Driver's seat outer "bolster" is showing signs of minor wear. All VW's and Audi's from 1979 forward seem to have this problem though.

Back to the timing belt; I feel it should last at least 150k miles based on previous Audi engine experience, the size (width and overall circumference) of the belt and how i don't abuse or even operate the engine up to its' limits. When somone asks why? Simple; Money. And, if I sell the car since I'm too cheap to pay to have it done and the procedure scares me, I will take a bath that I don't wish to take. I plan to get at least 300,000 miles out of it before I donate the car to a charity organization.

Audi S5 TC

For the MY 2004 and, to a lesser extent, MY 2005 A8/A8L, you are 100% correct, awdinut!

For the MY 2006+ A8/A8L and MY 2007 to MY 2009 S8, however, you are dead wrong!

Consumer Reports (or CR for short) solidly recommends the MY2006+ A8/A8L/S8 for the same exact reasons they solidly recommend the 2006+ A6/S6, 2008+ TT and 2005.5 to 2008 A4/S4/RS 4.

Because all of these Audi models have average or better than average dependability, durability, quality, reliability, satisfaction and service (all second only to all of the Asians) and class leading safety and security (better than everybody on Earth, including the Asians) with all aspects of performance at or near the top.

CR is 100% correct, FWIW.

And, for the record, unless every other automotive source agrees with CR for any vehicle (NOT just Audi, of course), all other automotive sources are complete junk and, therefore, should be ignored 100%.

Rowlie

Congrats on surviving the accident. That is an unfortunate reason to have to get a new car.

I'm at 87k on my 2004 A8L and it's holding up very well. I did change the timing belt on mine (I believe that isn't required on an '06), but haven't had to do much else.

My interior still looks nearly new and I haven't seen any of the hazing or cracking of the wood finish I had with my last Audi. I'd say with a cpo, your plans are good.