Jackler

Hello everyone,

I just purchased my first Audi yesterday, a 2002 Audi A8l with 186K miles on it. So far I love it to pieces, it's hands down the nicest car I've ever owned and I plan to baby the crap out of it.

This cars transmission was just replaced, dealer told me that it only needs it's fluid changed every 100k miles, so I wanted to get your opinions on that as well as what other items I should give my attention given its mileage. I read in another thread that a gentleman was hesitant to buy this same year and model in 91k car because of the timing belt possibly needing replaced; is that an item I should have replaced at 2k miles? What other items would you go over in a vehicle with 186k miles?


Second question is upgrades of all kinds. I really want to make this car the best it can be; I'm a daily commuter type of driver who will mostly use this car for work, but will occasionally play with sports mode and the shifter for fun, so any upgrades to improve the brakes, suspension, drive train, anything at all I'd like to do.

Third and last question, mine comes with the stock Symphony base head unit. I'd like the touchscreen navigation as an option. Could any of you recommend what I should get?


Thank you all!
Patrick

the_duke

Do you have the service history of the car? When was the timing service last done? If it has never been done you are on borrowed time. Suspension bushings are most likely bad unless they have been changed recently.

I'm pretty happy with the stock performance of the suspension and brakes on both my Audi's so I can't offer any advice there beyond regular maintenance to keep things in working order. Not really much in the horsepower department available for these cars either unless you want to spend a lot of money and time. The forced induction Audi's are another story. But your A8 doesn't fall into that category.

Aftermarket radio is your only option for touchscreen navigation. I've considered an Android stereo for my A6 but as I don't drive it often it's not high on my priority list.

twentysevenlitres

Opinions vary widely on transmission fluid changes, but if you're going to do it, do it a lot more frequently than 100k miles.
Read here

Apart from the transmission, the rest of the drivetrain is pretty strong.
Front suspension control arms are worth inspecting as mentioned - usually cause vibrations and front end bumps and squeaks when they're bad. Buy cheap at your own peril!

There's a couple of brake upgrades with associated expense:
S8 fronts - Brembo 4 pot calipers with 345mm rotors
D3 360mm disks with suitable carriers (don't know which model off hand) and D3 or S8 (D2) calipers.
I'm sure there's other options too, but they're relatively straightforward.

You're a bit limited for touchscreen, but you can upgrade to the RNS-E nav units with a bit of effort.
The units have a high level of features and plug in options, particularly the later units.

Jackler

Thanks for the info guys! I found out the timing belt was done at 122k miles.

As far as the rns-e nav units go, can you point me in the direction of what I should be looking for? Wasn't sure if I should get a 2005,2007, will an audi A4 or a6 radio fit, etc and what I'd need to do to make it work. I'd like to upgrade the speakers too but I'm not sure what kind of speakers would even fit.

When you say suitable carriers, what do you mean? Sadly I'm not too savvy, I'd most likely just be buying the parts and having someone put them on.

twentysevenlitres

A caliper carrier is the bracket which holds the caliper out from the hub - gives it correct location for rotors (disks) and must carry all braking loads through to the suspension. If you're increasing rotor diameter, the caliper will need to be repositioned to accommodate (until you exceed the calipers surface area or radius).
Check out these upgrades:
D3 A8
D3 S8
And although I can't find a right up on a quick search, a D2 S8 upgrade is an obvious choice.
For the sake of balance, you should also consider upgrading the rears as brakes are usually developed as sets by manufacturers.

RNS-E upgrades are quite common - do a search on this forum and on Google and you'll find info on what to do and how to do it. The later the unit the better as they went higher resolution and more powerful processor around '07 somewhere.
From what I've read I think the A4 unit fits best as it's surround usually slightly larger and can be trimmed to fit the A8 well. Colour won't quite match if that's an issue?