again, why are soooo many A8 owner having to rebuild their tranny???
 

you would think on a $70k+ car, the whole thing would be breakage/near failure-proof.

what's wrong with these trannies??? do other's, i.e. bmw, MB, acura, infiniti, have these kind of issues as well??

Maybe the quattro feature has something to do with it?
 

But then again, I suppose all wheel drive is commonplace in luxury vehicles these days, so...

Weak link of almost any automatic vehicle

This is same tranny model (-4WD) as on BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover
 

I do not believe it is any worse than others cars, just check consumer reports on BMW's and see what they say for the tranny's. I think this forum has people with 97-98 model years so they are coming up on the miles.

At 260k miles, the ZF tranny in my Range Rover has been trouble-free.
 

I gave the car to my sister at 150k miles. The ATF and tranny filter were first changed at 50k. Since the filter was spotless, the filter change interval increased to 100k miles (still spotless), changing the ATF with Mobil synthetic stayed at the 50k interval.

Still ... I vow to never buy another car with an automatic transmission.

I'm sure the control software in the Audi is a major culprit.

A non service-helpful design and some weak hardparts
 

On many trannies you can replace the actuating pistons and seals by unbolting side covers. E.g. AXOD. On the ZF the seal that most commonly poops out is apparently totally buried. Not helpful. A major drive component also fractures with some regularity. Re the latter, a tranny that eats hardparts is either poorly designed or has a manufacturing weakness. E.g. the unlamented GM THM 200.

An additional factor in my opinion is that most of them seem to last the warranty period, a great many A8s are lease cars, so who cares? Not Audi, I submit.

You may recall the Hindenburg was manufactured at Friedrichsafen with ZF components. When your tranny poops out, be sure and scream "oh the humanity", even if its just you.

My tranny is still fine after 188.000 miles (2001 model)...
 

The diesel engine in my 2001 A8 has more torque than a 2001 A8 with the 4.2 petrol engine so it has more "tear something to shreds capabilities" , but my Tiptronic is still fine.
I do refresh the ATF every 35.000 miles though.

I drive many high-speed trips on the German Autobahn between Holland and Switserland.
I do however, warm the car up gently and i let it cool down gently also.
It is also very well maintained (mostly by me).

But once the engine and tranny are warmed-up i don't spare them. I do suffer from "lead-foot-atitis" after all :-)

No, that's bull-poop