Omeletpants

Sounds like every car in the world, which is why there are warranty limits

markcincinnati

I have had 33 Audis -- ONE of them was an A8, I bought it new. Thank god for the Audi warranty. Of all -- LITERALLY ALL -- of my Audis, this one was the one I had to "visit" regularly at the dealer, it was in the shop so much. A friend of mine has an A8 and he says it is a money pit.

Now, I don't know if these are data points or anecdotes. I tend to think of them as anecdotes. But, this thread plus my experience and my friend's experiences seem to raise questions about the QC applied during the building of A8's.

On the other hand, I have one other friend and a neighbor who had similar "nightmares" with their BMW 7's, One of them had the heated steering wheel get so hot it "melted" the leather wrap on the wheel. My neighbor's first BMW was a 7 series: He commented, "One and done." He has a Mercedes SUV now (the big one, I don't know the model). I'll be talking with him soon and find out if the Mercedes experience trumps the BMW experience.

Maybe these "luxury land yachts" are too complex for their own good. My wife's boss has a 2016 A6 and loves it. His boss has a Q7 -- loves it, too.

Audi soured me on the A8, so I switched to A6's and ultimately to Prestige versions of the S4. Of course, if you need the real estate offered in the A8, the S4 won't do (but it is a blast to drive).

The S6, too, might be a good substitute for an A8 -- but, it still isn't as big as the eight.

This was a somewhat disturbing thread to read.

MY LAST AUDI!!! Yikes.

mhblaw

Sorry to read about bad luck with the 8 series. I have had 12 Audi's (no 8's) in the last 37 years and have had zero major issues with any of them. Last one before the current '18 S5 was a '13 RS5 and the only major repair to that one was to replace the front rotors at 65k.

/\/\ightar

I can tell you from personal experience that AMG is no different. If reliability and/or peace of mind is paramount, I would seriously look at Kia and Hyundai/Genesis. People may laugh, but a five year 60k warranty for base and 10 year 100k warranty on the powertrain is nothing to sneeze at. Vote with your $.

MP4.2+6.0

Likely + 1 there. From having first person helped a younger guy get into car wrenching and DIY on a used Merc E320 from same era as my D3 A8, I have not been impressed with some of what I had to help him sort, and that seemed sort of inherent in the OE design and parts/vendor choices. Car had been serviced by the book from prior personally known first owner too, and it is actually fairly sparely equipped. Expected wear stuff like bushings and struts and tires and all, but then oil sensor (sans dipstick a serious issue); a total piece of crap EVAP system with plastic galore that rots out and constantly blows CEL lights; fuel sender and pump (ditto with the plastics); engine speed sensor that left him dead on SF Bay Bridge spraying the ether I gave him; issues with basic connectivity on main circuit board (haven't seen that since my piece of crap 73 Audi 100LS); failed seat drivers seat track, and lots of others. All motor mounts fully blown too, on a lowly 3.2 N/A V6 at 100K. Yes, seems like motor, tranny and body will go forever, but many electronic and auxiliary system weak spots. Being honest, sort of reminded me of my C5 millennium era (one before my D3) A6. That one was fun when new and I liked the look back then, but not so reliable for any to the auxiliary systems (or the 5 speed ZF lemon tranny). Suble on the Merc, but lack of a rationally priced quality deep scan tool like VCDS for Audis has made it much more painful to DIY the Merc. too. Net, grass maybe no greener there. Have trusted friends with 7 series who likewise are saying never again, and in those cases are serious internal motor issues up to full motor changeout. I just take deep motor for granted as 99% + reliable on newer Audi's.

Having run many an Audi from new or near new, I still think in general it is not a car to own without a warranty long term (past 75 or 100K), unless you are either a pretty serious DIY'er or prepared to pay the maintenance freight. If not a DIY'er, transitioning to trusted indy is a good move, if you can find one who is comfortable with the larger body Audis and related subsystems. But to me same answer with most any luxobarge, or frankly almost any ride from many if not most manufacturers with lots of modern electronic toys and gadgets. As they get more complex, even the "appliance" brands can start to choke at times. Back it off to 200HP, likely no AWD and remove most electronics beyond a stereo and ABS and reliability goes way up. But then you are driving a Civic, Fit, Subie, up to about mid line Accord or Camry, and so on.

audia8NM

Great amount of collective experience coming together on this thread --striking a lot of chords. German engineering at least for the luxobarges has long seemed hellbent to outdo each other on bells and whistles while critical reliability and maintainability takes a back seat. Where's the headmaster rapping junior engineer knuckles when they come up with ideas like burying a PCV valve beneath a full day's worth of labor to uncover it ---$1500 to replace what most folks remember as a routine Mx item??!! Windshields that leak? Coolant leaks? Sunroof frames? Some of this basic stuff should have long ago been settled out and hard line put on parts suppliers to step up. Well stated already that reliability is simple math -- higher complexity = lower R. Until any maker proves themselves capable of climbing the reliability growth curve, well said by many here to move on to a fresh steed before warranty expires unless serious DIY is an option for you.

frybear

That completely sucks! Sorry to hear. I haven't had that issue on my 13 A8 as of yet. But of course I've had the car in the shop quite a bit but then again, it's a German luxo sedan, so I knew what I was getting into. Same thing with my last 7 BMWs. And of course, never own these out of warranty. Mine is CPO'd for another year or so, so I take my car in to the dealer for any little issue. Recently I had a rear suspension problem. First time they replaced something regarding the axle. Same issue popped up, Audi replaced the entire air suspension in the rear to the tune of almost $4k. Issue wasn't resolved. Just got it back yesterday and they said it had something to do with where something hits under the rear speaker area on the decklid, so they added sound deadening material there. The noise is now gone. They could've saved themselves $4k! Again, CPO is the way to go

A8youup

The funny thing about it is before this car I did all of my own maintenance. I had a 99 D2 for 7 years and no warranty for 5 of those years and not one major problem. Then I bought an 09 Escalade which I admit I got caught up with looking at the 22" rims, the remote start and automatic everything. Im embarrassed to admit I had the Escalade two weeks before I dropped the keys under the truck and had to get down on my hands and knees to reach them. I looked up and saw that the entire underbody was rust covered! I then panicked and realized that I had never looked under the hood. I opened the hood and everything was rusted, alternator, starter, everything. I then popped the hood on the 99' A8 and there was not one speck of rust! The next week I traded the escalade for a 09' A8l which was perfect! Never had a problem, did all of my own maintenance with the help of vag com cable. I kept her until she was totaled in an accident. After that experience there was no doubt in my mind that another 8 was going into the garage. Now I'm just uncertain about whats next, dare I say a Genesis? I already miss my 8 just thinking about parting ways.