I took delivery of my new A8L about 10 weeks ago and have put on 5400 miles. The 5000 mile service was performed today. With the exception of picking up a phone cradle, this is the first time I have had the car back to the dealer since taking delivery. That fact, in and of itself, speaks volumes!

Thus far, the mechanical and electrical reliability of the car has been outstanding.

I still have the original headlight sensors. As discussed on this forum before, these original sensors have been a problem and Audi has replaced many of them before delivery. Since my car was one of the early delivered cars, I did not get the replacements. During the 10 weeks I have driven the car, the headlight sensors briefly failed once. The dealer has ordered replacements. The only other problem I have experienced is a flat tire warning even though tire pressure was fine. I was informed that due to colder weather, it is necessary to reset the system - easy fix.

This car is an incredible thrill to drive. And, with the Bose system it gives you the opportunity to sit in the middle of a 200 piece symphony orchestra (or whatever else your heart desires) while driving down the highway. I normally drive 15,000 miles per year. At 5400 miles in 10 weeks, I have dramatically increased the pace - 80+percent. Wonder why?

I only have two complaints about this car and both are design issues:
1. The integration of the phone is extraordinarily poor - no caller ID and no phone directory on the MMI screen.

2. The speeddometer was designed to read about 5 mph faster than the car is actually traveling, so when the speedometer reads 40 you are actually traveling about 35. It is inconceivable that Audi felt the apparent need to deceive customers into believing they are accelerating and traveling faster than the actual speed. The '04 A8L is an extraordinary vehicle and Audi does not need to deceive potential customers into believing they can take hairpin turns at faster than actual speeds, in order to increase sales. Audi needs to be more concerned about building and maintaining a relationship with customers based upon trust.

Interim 5400 mile verdict: But for the phone and speedometer, I would highly recommend the '04 A8L to those looking for a reliable, high performance, incredibly comfortable and yet tremendously fun, vehicle to drive.

 

Its great to have you guys who bought your A8Ls before I did give mileage reports, especially when they are so positive. It is also good to hear that a launch car is relatively trouble free. Enjoy!!


greenie 6625

04 A8L silver/sabre

 

Thanks for the good report!! I pick up my 2004 A8L tomorrow (night blue/amaretto)

 

but there is a simple if a bit expensive fix for this.

My Audi came with the 255/40 R17 tires. By changing the tire size to 255/45 R17 I effectively corrected the speed error. Have a look at the attached link to calculate what size tire you need to give you a correct speed reading.

By the way, I believe it is a 5% error in the speed reading not 5 mph (except at 100.)<ul><li><a href="http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html">http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html</a</li></ul>

 

Others have posted that when driving through stationary radar systems they found their A8L displaying 40 mph while the radar displays 34 mph - that's a whopping 18 percent off. When I checked my car, the speedometer was off by the same mph at all speeds - a design issue rather than a tire issue. Perhaps changing tires would fix the problem if the error was the same percentage at all speeds, but it would not seem to be able to fix the error when it is 18 percent at 34 mph, 10 percent at 60, etc.

I'm happy that you were able to fix the error on your A6 with the different tires, but I think the problem will not be so easy to fix on the A8L. Thanks for the post.

 

...I bet that you will be able to reprogram it....or at least I would think you could. 18% is way too much!

pw

 

The 04 A8 has three different size tire/wheel options. The speedometer was probably only calibrated for one of those tire/wheel sizes. Audi hardly has the speedo recalibrated for each wheel option for individual cars.

 

except the max difference between any 2 of the 3 is only 1%

 

Hey, just think of it as built-in radar! Only problem is that youll be driving like the older crowd. LOL


greenie


04 A8L silver/sabre

 

I believe its A) a safety issue to help speeders think they are going 10 over insted of knowing they are going 5 over and B) part of the pact the 3 kings made, another part of that pact was that all their cars be limited at 155 for safety and so one can't say their car is faster aka "better." Don't worry about it, its not to increase sales...