greginfinity

Loving my car, but I cannot help but lust after this one:

2007 Audi A8 W12 quattro, $22,995 - Cars.com

It has all the things I am missing, adaptive cruise (from what I can tell), the color combo I really want, ventilated/massage seats, B&O (why not!).

Carfax looks decent. Dealer seems to have reviews of a typical auction car lot. I am so tempted to upgrade....

Albatrossboss

I'd be tempted with that as well! Great color combo and has all of the options you want and didn't know you wanted. Living in Indianapolis, I'd even offer my services to go and test drive it for you, just to make sure it's on the up & up. Win/win for everyone, I get to take a trip in my 8 and test drive a W12.

Brozee

I really hate the interior color combo actually , but if you like it! That wood looks like an 80's tv table tray lol and that color doesn't wear very well. Well it wears better than any others I guess besides the S8 gray and the black. Standard tan wears the worst though.

Should have drooled all over the W12 I was selling two years back. Made this car look like garbage!

Drool away............

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...-sale-2853165/

Ended up just quick selling it for 30k two years ago with 70k on it. Total bargain....

zedbyers

IMO you are not missing anything on adaptive cc. I know the tech is taking us to a place that the car will drive itself, but for now I want to drive it.

Invariably I have found my 'trapped' behind slower traffic, not immediately recognizing it due to ACC. I rarely use it.

Same with lane assist. I think this one really promotes poor driving habits by adding confidence when attention is at risk for being lower.

Cool gizmos, but not something I have to have.

MP4.2+6.0

Up to you, but having a W12 and previously an A6 4.2, I would not go back. Have had mine since 2007 (as a CPO) and have put about 85K on it since I bought it; now at 110K. Phenomenal luxury and performance, bottom line. Huge torque delta, and there on demand in most any circumstance. On a D4 as another example, IF I just don't outright skip to a D5, I have likely settled on another post facelift (2015) W12 as they fall off the price cliff as usual in coming years. Hard to find super equipped 4.0T's with special interiors. No lag, no turbo debates, no 8 speed finicky shift crap like with everything from the 2.0T to the 4.0's or prior 4.2s; no excuses. If it weren't a D4 W12, it would be a D4 S8, but that is more as an empty nester I might now prefer SWB over LWB much of the time.

Be realistic that with the miles and year, you are walking into typical D3 issues like the upper control arms most likely--no mention in CarFax of work like that. Carfax says brakes got good attention (a good more than was actually needed almost certainly). TPMS sensors likely toast, battery would be near end of life except CarFax says recently replaced, etc. Beyond normal D3 stuff, be careful with a few W12 ideosynchrasies like the engine coolant sensor and engine torque mount. I have posted on both with lots of detail. Did the sensor myself; dealer spent into the teens of hours on the torque mount when it was under CPO. Worth getting an inspection for stuff like that. Find my old post on that particular one, because you can actually see it from under hood if you look in exactly the right place by the passenger side air box; I posted a pic. Be realistic you could spend a few thousand to fix some stuff early on, even with some DIY on easier areas. Your MPG's will drop by at least a couple of course too, but it's a good time gas cost wise again. For some positive stuff, no more timing belt (yay!!!!!!!!!), plus no early generation FSI teething worries that some fret over--that is, W12 is chain drive but ultra tried and true 4 valve port injection.

FWIW, I can't tell if it has adaptive or not. Is it in the listing somewhere? Just because it has the wide center display does not mean it automatically has adaptive. Likely in a W12 and more so since this one has a good number of the (pretty short list of) options, but not for sure. In contrast to a prior poster, adaptive to me is a definite value add. Any time I jumped back into my older A6 4.2 or my wife's 2013 Q5, the lack of adaptive came out pronto when I turned cruise on. If you live in areas with little or no traffic on the open roads, that's different. In traffic choked SF Bay Area and even coming up to Tahoe on somewhat more open roads but still crowded, makes cruise a lot more usable.

I also have the interior in the picture. Called Amaretto. I flat don't agree with Brozee's comments on it (whom I like as a fellow board member). It gets lots of compliments, and is way more interesting than your typical blah black or gray to me. I wears extremely well; again don't know where that experience came from. W12 leather is the highest quality, so if it was in a different grade or something, I suppose there could be some issue like that. At 110K, I feel like I can go to 220K with really good and comfortable and pretty darn unique upholstery. Frankly having looked a good amount at D4's, one of the turn offs for me is so many of the interiors are...so boring. Nice, but sterile, ***** house light show stuff aside. Amaretto doesn't photograph that well BTW; when I bought mine the pictures looked kind of orange. The listing here has color tones a bit off from what it really is too. Pics also look like it has full leather (dash, doors, etc.), so it will be very luxurious. Still smile any time I look around mine or detail it to still near new look.

I skimmed CarFax. looks like a late 2007, so check if it has AMI. It might for the late year ones. Also mentions some sound component installed in 2010. Could also be AMI, or something like the not uncommon front motorized B&O speaker failures. If they didn't just change tires again, looks like those may be coming up before too long too.

Last, that is an unusual D3 W12 in that it has 5 seat set up--like virtually all other D3's. Most D3 W12's are 4 seaters, even more so the "standard" black exterior and amaretto interior ones. Having lived with it, I would get a five seater next time. More common with D4's BTW, though still a definite minority. Comes down to with a big car, there are times seating for 5 makes sense. Also, when I carry some stuff in back, I find myself using more towels and such to protect the center console area and bulk. On the other hand, if you never seat 5, but rather fit either two couples or parents and two (tall!) teens or some such, then a really plush set up. As a 5 seater, it won't ever have the rear fridge novelty. I yanked mine ages ago in favor of the ski boot set up (it came with both if you got the fridge); really screws up trunk usability. As in, no loss on fridge gimmick beyond the novelty factor as part of a five seater.

blankhopp

I have the same interior colours in my W12. Just as mp4 said I also get alot of positive comments on the interior. My car is cambridge green with the amaretto interior. I also have the wooden steeringwheel. The finish is quite nice! I really like it.

If you come from the 4.2 to the 6.0. I don't think you want to drive anything else. That's the only reason Not to buy one, but the D4 W12 will probably be available at a reasonable price in 2-3 years.

And that car has the B&O sound system!

volvopentaman

Looks like a great car, but i would go for a facelift 2008-> for that money.

You can easily get a 2007 model with same mileage from germany for less money (I don't say you should get one from there, just think that one is expensive), i got my facelift W12 for considerably less money than what they ask for that, and with about same mileage.

Pros in that:
-Keyless
-B&O
-ACC
-AMI
-RSE
-Ventilated seats
-LWB
-MP3 changer & backup camera

CONS:
-Pre-facelift
-No neat rear-lights or
-Dull rims
-Relatively high price

So it has about every gadget available, except the **** expensive ceramic brakes to service, split rear seats (your preference again), coolbox.

Thinking about retrofitting stuff; rims are easy to swap, the ceramic brakes are easy but ridiculously expensive to swap, coolbox is easy to install, facelifting is easy, just need: rear lights, front bumper, mirrors and some interior trim chrome.

So to conclude, for the money it's a real temptation, it has all the hard-to install gadgets (acc, b&o, rse, backup camera and mp3 changer are all component-protection issued, and cost as much as the car together to retrofit).

So if the car rides well, and you want the gadgets, I'd get it, try to haggle a bit on the price. These cars are hard to sell for reasonable prices nowadays, so it's the buyer's market!

And about the engine, it's an experience to drive that machine. I'm on my second W12, and don't even think about anything with less torque.

My next car will be a D4 with TDI or W12 probably, 4,0TT is out of my price range for a few years (chiptuning to the TDI if i get one of those).

Issues with the W12 are few, torque mounts go sometimes, thermostat is a bit expensive, gearbox thermostat is cheap and easy to replace, engine temp sensor can blow on some of these, but no timing-belt hassle or other PITA stuff.

halik

FYI alignment for ACC car is about 200 bucks more than non-ACC car. Apparently they have to recalibrate the system if they're messing with the steering geometry or something.

The 3 across rear seat is something I haven't seen on W12 cars. I imagine the partition would be a huge pain in the *** in my S8, I've had 5+ people in my car before (hauling friends to our boat) - unless you drive clients around or something, I don't see the upside of it at all.

EHLO

I'll also add that Amaretto is attractive and wears well, especially with its matching Alcantara headliner.
It goes well with the Amber Sycamore wood interior trim, although I prefer the S8's darker Grey Vavona.
The advertisement has it as the similar looking Cognac instead, which may be true, as the black piping on the seats indicate an exclusive package where this color was available.
Compared side by side in brochures, Cognac has a red hue to it against Amaretto's brown, but to my eye in the advertisement it looks more like Amaretto.

EricVonHa

It appears as though the car does have the adaptive cruise. The exterior difference that is noticeable for a car with this feature is the access panel just below the front plate mounting area. There is a removable 5" x 5" access panel on the cars with the adaptive cruise control.

Cars without adaptive cruise do not have this grill insert from the factory.