massimovisconti

I mean...actually I am a car lover,I haven't got much money but I own an Audi A8 and I am always scared that something can give up in the car and that would be impossible for me to fix it because of the price, I'm pretty good in mechanics and I got a lot of friends that are mechanics as a job(unfortunately not Audi official mechanics). It will be impossible for me to take the audi for servicing to audi dealers because they want 50 euro/hour of work and the pieces are double the price than oem ones.
Should then consider myself stupid or rather naif in owning a car like an A8? (if I were more responsible I should drive a Chevrolet matiz, that's the car that I can afford...) Are you all rich men? Someone of you feels like i feel?
Massimo Visconti

PaulW

I have spent a lot on my car, and lately, I haven't spent anything.

I do the maintenance that it requires, and it provides an awesome car.....I wouldn't be worried about it.

I look at ebay.de sometimes and there is always somebody completely parting out an A8, and you're right down the road!

Ciao!

Fulliautomatix

I have owned my A8 for just under a year, and particularly after reading this forum, sometimes I wonder what I have gotten myself into!

Although I have had no issues during the my time of ownership, other than changing oil, re-attaching the bumperskin after a rogue carstop ripped it off, and unplugging the A/C drainlines.

ex-a8drifter

it is coming up soon! You have to just prepare for it.

svxit

Massimo, I'm not rich either. When I bought my car two years ago, I found independent shops to do the work. It has never been to the stealership for service. If I can't do it myself or with the help of friends, I take it to one of the two shops I deal with. One thing to keep in mind, even though your friends are not certified Audi mechanics, there are many repair procedures outlined in www.audipages.com . With the step-by-step procedures there, your friends could probably work on the car with no problem. This web site and its members are also priceless; anything that is going wrong with your car has probably already happened to someone else here, and the solution is probably here as well.

One other thing: Do you own a second car? That has helped a lot in my case, as it takes the immediacy out of having to get repairs done. Also in my case (and I may really be in the minority here), I take public transport to work, sparing the A8 and my Subaru for evening and weekend duty. That has been a tremendous help.

Bvarghese

its only been six months i've owned my A8 and ive already spent close to $3000 to bring it up to shape... and every time i think its finally there... something else goes wrong... its crazy... i see more of my mechanic than my g/f.

and you know what the most surprising thing is...this car was maintained from 1997 till feb this year exclusively with the agency... which sounded like a fantastic deal when i bought it...

Everyday i think enough is enough....and i have to sell it off... and then i do something like drive her at 220+ km/h and i fall in love with it all over again.

massimovisconti

One thing is for sure, I never drove a car like this before(and the E38 BMW is crap in comparison), it's a fantastic car to have and drive, with your helpin' tips I'll try to take care of it as much as I can. Thanks to all of you.
Massimo

Acceler8

with my new timing belt kit, oil and Tranny fluid. Best car I have ever owned.

Younger

work through it in the first yr. It's helped me cover the cost of TB and Head gasket work. When something goes through the warranty I have the shop replace anything they feel should be done. The TB was covered by a leaking gasket that they needed to remove the TB to get at.
Unfortunately when the right Head gasket was leaking I picked up a noisy lifter that still needs to be dealt with.

BeanDoc 997

Stop scaring me. I have had repairs done on the 03A8 under warranty including a non functioning tire monitor and a nonresponsive headrest. The car has 18000 miles. I still enjoy it much.

As for wealth, with gas prices going up, economy slowing down, cost of utilities up 40%.....