Ok, I'm no neophyte to cars. I have owned dozens.

Last year I thought I had found the one I would keep. I bought a BMW 540i, sport. It was pretty 'right', as I like to say. Straight body, one dime sized bit of rust, strong motor. I drove it for a year, loved it. Great handling car, accelerated with aplomb. Later on last year I inherited a 04 Lexus GX470. It is a fine automobile, but it does nothing exceptionally. It was my mothers car, so I am loathe to sell it right now, the bimmer developed a transmission error (prelude to a $3k job) so I ditched it, and have been driving the GX ever since.

I have begun to hate driving it. It is clean, low mileage, and does almost everything in a satisfactory fashion. It is not exciting in any way. I miss the excitement I'd get every time I would turn the key in that bimmer.

I have been looking at Mercedes S and E class 500's as a replacement, but found the interiors seriously lacking. Is it just me, or does the plastic on MB's not age well at all?! One dealer happened to have an A8 on site, which I also drove- mostly because I have always liked the way they looked, and I was already there, so why not?

Wow, o wow. Interior was flawless. less than 100k. V8, quattro. drove straight and flat like an arrow. It's an A8L, with all the goodies. Sport package. Premium pkg, alacantra headliner, 20" stance works wheels. See it here:

2006 Audi A8 | ksl.com

I drove it for about 10 minutes, and spent another 15 checking it out. Couldn't get it out of my head and so I called them back up, haggled them down a bit and put $500 down to hold it for a full inspection on Monday. It has a clean carafx, 3 owners- all took to dealership for service. Lots of records.

Right now I am having those pre-buying second thoughts.

I am freaking out about the cost of winter tires for those wheels. Tire rack shows Blizzacks at $300 ea. Also, coming up on 100k miles, that service can't be cheap can it?

I have owned lots of Landcruisers and have gotten used to mechanical work. I can rebuild the front axle of any 80 series land cruiser pretty quickly now. I have always worked on my own junk, even the BMW ($400 for a fuel pump!).

The car is as clean and 'right' as anything I have driven in the last month. An absolute joy to drive.

Help me Rhonda, help help me Rhonda..... Help me make a truly educated decision. Yes, I've read the sticky- but other than the $350 tool and the manuals, what can I honestly expect in the next 100k miles? Trunk motor is already dead- and I don't really care about it that much. Never had a power trunk before, not a big deal to me now.

It will be my commuter car. I live 60 miles from work, the route traverses a mountain pass with 127 corners. Yes, I have counted. It is a blast to drive, but not in my Lexus. Life is too short to drive boring cars.

 

That is a very lovely looking car. The biggest expense on those cars that everyone runs into is the timing belt replacement. It looks like that service was already done on the car at 78,000 miles, but I would pop off the timing cover on the front of the engine to check to see that a newer belt is in place anyway. I would say it's priced on the high end, but with the timing belt done, that kind of evens it out.

As far as tire costs, the car has custom 20" rims, so you'd have to check for the cost of tires to that specific rim. The car doesn't have any huge worries beyond that belt, it's a pretty solid and reliable model. Built like a Deutsche bank, as one reviewer stated. Life's too short to drive boring cars. If the full inspection checks out, and you got them down to a price you are satisfied with, it looks like a good example of an A8.

 

Thanks for your opinion.

It is a very 'right' car. With all the nice to have options except the ventilated seats. Love the suede headliner.

 

PS, how do you know about the timing belt?

 

The CARFAX said the 75,000 mile service was done, and the timing belt is on the 75,000 mile service schedule. I would ask that as part of the inspection you have done that they double check that the belt and water pump were changed, given that it routinely costs over $2000 to have done. If it has not been done, the car is due for it.

 

The timing belt maintenance is one thing that you absolutely do not neglect in this car. Obviously, you can push it a bit past 75,000 miles between changings, but I wouldn't push it much. A timing belt failure leads to some tremendous engine damage, with no warning.

 

To me a minor item. You can find many OE wheels in 18 or 19, and a variety of tire fitments depending on whether you prefer narrower or not. Even in the 20s--where Pirelli and TireRack basically seem to price gouge due to a cross fitment to Bentleys--you can end around it to performance winter choices like 255/40 in a Panamera fitment that I run. Lots of aftermarket and replica choices for that matter. At times like now (Spring) sets of snow tires on EBay with modest wear and much cheaper than new; can make sense sometimes for an older ride if you are thinking 2 vs 4 years kind of stuff.

Net, focus on other elements--do you like it, is it in good shape, records in order, passes a good indy mechanic check, etc. If you are in mountain/snow country quattro is a strong choice at the traction and fun to drive interection. D3 was a big leap ahead for Audi interiors too, and you probably won't find that on its contemporary brethren. For that matter I'm still seeing D3 cues even on many new car intros they try to sell as new and unique.

Subtle BTW, but as soon as you drill into the CarFax you see it has been a "California car" its whole life, so little exposure to harsh winter conditions to date. It won't have the supposed Lexus repair record (which I am a skeptic about from my Toyota experience), but then it won't drive like a Maytag appliance either.

As others have pointed out, look into timing belt maintenance; CarFax isn't specific enough on what was done and I would be a bit skeptical. I see a prior serp belt change called out, but that's of course the comparatively easy one. That can leave you stranded, but typically not with a screwed up motor. A lot of stuff has been done though that fits the maintenance and normal issues profile for a D3. That's all good stuff. My watch areas from scanning the CarFax details briefly would be timing belt and related items, and front upper control arm bushing wear--done back at 37K apparently but with another 50K+ and almost 6 years on the clock since they will be coming up again. If tires are recent, you may not catch it via unusual tire wear either. A good Audi knowledgable indy can look at it on a careful inspection. Tire sensors must be changed by now too...or light is on or someone disabled the system. Not called out specifically in service entries either, but then neither is tire replacement which it must have been through a few times by now. Look for the TPMS (pressure and temperature) display on the MMI screen under Car to be sure it is there and working; aftermarket wheels could be another clue it may have been disabled. Not huge, but again a little more $ at the margin.

BTW, if your BMW 540 was a five speed AT tranny from the millennium era, this is the more reliable and satisfying 6 speed ZF (BTDT with my 2000 A6 4.2). If it was the ZF 6 speed AT, this is similar but AWD.

 

Thanks guys, all good stuff so far.

 

One more question- how often do you guys go through a set of tires?

I got 8-10 months out of tires on the 540i, but it was a staggered tire set up, which is rough on rubber.

 

Ha! my Michelin Xice winter tires have served me for the past nine winters! I've put 183,000 miles on the car myself. Bought it with 56,000 miles so it now has over 239,000 on the clock. Summer tires have been the newest Michelin Pilot Sport A/S with the highest speed rating available. I'm on my third set. Guessing I've put 70,000 on my winter tires. Might go for one more winter season on them. The other tires got me 50,000, then 40,000 and who knows how many miles I'll get on the third set. My little Bonneville run probably shortened their live somewhat. Look at my albums for the reason I mention this.