Faaz.Baig

Hey everyone! Still in search of an A8! I've never owned an Audi, only have experienced Bmw and Mercedes products... know my stuff on these D3s well but not well enough to avoid a hoopty car. Wanted to ask if I should steer away from first year Audi A8s? Narrowed down my search to 2 cars, a 2005 and a 2004. This particular 2004 A8L is extremely clean inside and out, only has 165,000 kms (around 102,000 miles) and has a 3 year third party warranty available. the other car is a 2005 with only 70,000 miles and has every single record and document from 2005 to now and was never taken anywhere else besides the Audi dealer until last year. Any recommendations or advice?

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Yes, stay away from 04, at least 06 or 07+
Cheers,
Louis

KevinGary

Skip the first year

91quattro

Both cars sound interesting - with the 04 you have the extended warranty option - unusual for a car that old - but the 05 has low miles. Is it an early 05 or late? Does it have Bluetooth phone or OnStar? I would check the VIN of the 05, early 05s were much like the 04s....having said that, I am very happy with my early 05 (mfg date 5/2004) - but I have done a number of mods to bring it up to 06-07 and later standards - removed OnStar, added Bluetooth, added A2DP Bluetooth for music, added rear camera, added speech recognition module, etc. etc. So my 05 now has the features that were not available in 05, but came in later years. I like to think I have the last of the great D3s, with the V8 port engine, which has been great. If it were me, I would go for the 05 with only 70K miles.

Faaz.Baig

Hey, yup it is unusual it comes with warranty, here in Canada theres this company in called lubrico, most dealers offer lubricos services for all cars. I think the 05 is a early 05 produced model. The issue with the 2005 is it looks like the current owner didn't take the best care of the car in the past year he had it. Air suspension is sitting on the car (front left slow leak) and doesn't look like it was driven lightly, just came back from seeing it for the second time. I think im gonna pay more money and go for a super clean 06 in my area. I'm also considering the 04 due to the warranty...

Faaz.Baig

Got it, thanks!

dvs_dave

For a bit of real world experience and balance (I have an 04)....At this stage in their lives, almost ALL D3’s are now well over a decade old. So any ‘04 that’s in good shape today has obviously been well looked after and any of the perceived early model foibles will have been long worked out/fixed. Speaking from experience, my 04 has been very reliable, and when it has broken, it’s not been anything specific to early models, it’s done the common things that all D3’s are known for.

Later models have factory phone Bluetooth, and the (arguably less handsome) fishmouth grill. But that’s about it. There are no massive updates other than incremental tweaks here and there which if you wish are all easily and cheaply retrofitted.

In short, it’s an old (verging in classic age) German luxury car so has potential to be expensive to run. So as with such things buy on condition primarily as MY is increasingly less relevant. There are many more much newer D3’s around than mine that have been neglected and I know which car is going to be the better one, despite its age.

Faaz.Baig

Got it, and of course its an older car so im not expecting it to have absolutely no problems. Here are some pics of this specific 2004 A8 https://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/...ationFlag=true

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

Don't buy car to retrofit, want something, buy one that has all. If you can't afford to buy a newer car with everything in it, chances are you can't afford owning it.
http://www.dognmonkey.com/audi/looki...sed-a8-d3.html
Cheers,
Louis

Faaz.Baig

Yes, don't plan to buy an 04-05 to retrofit it, doesn't really matter to me if its a facelift or not, or if it doesn't have this option or doesn't have that option, even if I have to buy an 04 to own a solid one so be it. Although I've never owned an Audi, I do know the expenses of owning a German luxury sedan and have owned arguably the worst one of them all, the E65 745i (2004).. and I usually tend to put money to the side just in case. High maintenance price is expected, and im prepared for it.