Road King

Greetings from NorCal.

I'm looking at (& coveting) a friend's 105K mile 2002 S8. He's owned the car for over 2 years now, and has had to do some work (new steering rack, new rear brakes, new Conti tires, front control arm bushings, etc + trans fluid changed at 85K miles).

I drove the car over the weekend. It runs and drives well, and the transmission shifts as it should, even during full throttle upshifts. The local boutique Audi shop that changed the trans. fluid said it looked good and that the trans is solid.

There are a few cosmetic items that need to be addressed, but overall it appears to be solid with documentation on all the recent work. There's one or two rattles in the interior, but I guess that's expected in a 10 year old 100K German car.

Everything electronic works except the driver's mirror won't fold in automatically and both headlight washers seem kaput. Other than that, all the electronics seem to work and it has a neat solar-powered sunroof that powers air circulation when the car is sitting.

The driver's door is a bit misaligned on the bottom, not sure what's going on there other than he said the front left fender was replaced early in the car's life. Lower molding on pass. front door is coming unglued as well. Some aging on the window trim moldings.

Based on what I've read here, it's really just the trans. that's glass jawed. I don't read about too many suspension/differential problems (other than seals).

He thinks that he's gotten most of the issues worked out and expects many more miles of relatively troublefree driving. That, or it could be one thing after the other. I don't mind a little work here and there, it's a small price to pay for the driving experience.

He's now looking for around $10K, but I think that's still too high given the limited market and what KBB and Edmunds both reflect for average condition.

I welcome your feedback, thoughts, and opinions.

Thanks,
Sean in NorCal
'10 Harley Road King
'07 Subaru WRX STI
'97 Lexus LS 400

Road King

I failed to mention that the timing belt, tensioners, and H2O pump were changed at 86K miles. So that expensive job is covered for the next 4-5 years.

silverd2

NOT as limited a market as you may think, considering the S8 is a very limited production version of an already very limited production A8...only a few hundred USA S8's per model year and a very loyal following.

Depends on how much you think you'd need to put into it to be happy with it. In my book, a car that is mechanically sound and up to date on major maintenance, but only has minor cosmetic issues is above average condition.

With that in mind and what these cars are getting at that mileage (low compared to most available), the price doesn't seem to far off(?)

KBB:
http://www.kbb.com/audi/s8/2002-audi...=private-party

NADA:
http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/2002/...dard-Equipment

Road King

Thanks, I've looked at both KBB and Edmunds, but not NADA.
I hoping for a better than average deal of course, but I don't think we're that far off.