A8bil

The time has come to sell my 2001 A8L. Two events converged to force the decision. First, I found out I cannot pass smog in CA because the left front CC is bad. Second, my last child is leaving for college in 3 weeks. With no more need for the car, I think I am just going to pass it on to another enthusiast to enjoy it, as I have too many projects ongoing (2 E-type jags being restored, etc.) It has been an incredible car for us, never leaving us stranded and always transporting us in style.

DETAILS

We are the second owners. It has been a west coast car all its life, having been purchased by the first owner in Scottsdale, who used it to go between his homes in AZ and the SF Bay Area. When he decided to part with it at nearly 50k miles, I bought it and have owned it since. It now has just over 160k miles on it.

The car is cashmere grey over biscuit interior. Nice color combination that is perfect for warm weather areas. With the solar roof, the car never seems to get hot the way my black on black D3 gets.

It was a very expensive car when new, as it is loaded. Here are some of the options:

Ski bag pass through
Tiptronic
4 seat heating
Heated steering wheel
Insulated glass
Dual zone climate control
Multifunction steering wheel
Automatic rear window shade.
Manual side window shades.
Navigation
Symphony radio with Bose
CD Changer
Solar roof
Valcona leather interior (very soft and durable) with comfort seats
Power front seats with lumbar support
Power seat belt adjuster
Power adjustable head rests for all 4 seats (rears do not appear to be working)
Power lumbar support in rear seats (not sure they're working)
ABS Brakes
Traction Control
Quattro AWD of course
Xenon headlights
Fog lights
Pop up headlight washers
Cruise control
Onboard trip computer
18" pie pan wheels

The car has been very reliable for us, with only a timing belt (tensioner, water pump, etc) replacement at 90k, and a transmission overhaul at 121k when the reverse gear went out (common on the ZF transmissions of this era). Transmission was done by Peter Schmid Transmissions, an authorized ZF rebuilder in Burlingame California.

I used this as my daily driver for a few years, until I bought a D3 A8, at which time I gave this to my kids to drive. I am very particular about how I maintain my cars and up until I handed it to my kids, it looked like it was brand new. They, however, don't share my passion for cars and unfortunately, it shows. The only significant injury sustained by the car was when a tile blew off my roof during a storm and the sharp edge of the tile poked a hole through the hood near the drivers side cowl. It pierced through 2 of the 3 aluminum layers, about the size of a quarter, making this a very difficult repair. fortunately, a friend was a master mechanic for United Airlines and knew how to weld all exotic metals. He welded the aluminum and built it up to nearly flat. Amazing work. When I then had the hood painted, the knuckleheads thought it was flat so they applied no skim coat to build it up, and just painted it with primer and the under/top coat. You can see the repair in the right light--I tried to photograph it but it is difficult to discern by camera.

There are also scrapes here and there that you would expect when 3 high school kids learn to drive. The rear bumper is nicked from parking by braille. The wheels have all been used as curb feelers, apparently. The side of the car got close and personal with a Toyota Highlander during a poor parallel parking effort (with the radio blaring apparently). The front license plate delete met my garage door on a stormy night, as my son simultaneously rammed the door and pressed the garage door opener. The bumper got the best of the door.

Aside from the niggly things like the power head rests not working on some seats, the only two issues I'm aware of are (1) the left front catalytic converter is toast (is the front right far behind?); and (2) I think the right front headlight washer hose disconnected. I think all it will take is to remove the front bumper to reattach, as when I fill the washer tank fluid just pours out under the passenger headlight.

Because the CC is toast, I cannot get it smogged here in California. With my daughter taking off to college, I don't want to pay factory prices to replace the CC, and so far I have had no luck finding any shop who wants to replace the CC with a CARB approved after market option.

For those of you outside California, there are cheap replacements advertised through numerous sources, and I am led to believe you could get the CC replaced for may $200. In the meantime, the car sounds like an S4...kinda cool because the A8Ls were tuned to be very quiet when operating normally.

Car has been very reliable. I would not hesitate to drive it cross-country, which is where it is at its best. Cruises effortlessly at Autobahn speeds and is very quiet with the insulated glass. Ride is much smoother than my D3. On long trips I have gotten as much as 28 MPG with this car. Truly an amazing car.

I have the front license plate holders, plus the plug covers. They're shown in the trunk.

California buyers note that I have to sell it as non-op because it cannot be smogged as is.

Please ask all questions.

Asking $5,500

Oh yeah, car is located in SF Bay Area, close to SFO

hopefully, this is a link to photos of the car: https://goo.gl/photos/bCsTRc7jrMP8V48dA