What is considered "high mileage" for an A8? I know with Lexus, most folks say that at 100,000 miles, it's just getting broken in. The engine and transmission goes for 250,000 miles + strong without any issues. Would this apply to the A8? Would you hesitate to buy an 06 or 07 A8 with 70,000 or 80,000 miles if you could save a few thousand as opposed to buying one with 40,000 miles? Do higher mileage A8's still drive "new" at high mileage like a Lexus would?

Comments please. Thanks

 

My buddy has a a8 05 he is in the 80s range until now he had no issues, but they did start. Water pump, control arms, tranny acting up... In case u decide to buy, get a exended warranty , I think it's a must. It's save me over 15K on my 4.2 a6

 

I have 92k on mine, bought it with 54k. I drive a lot, I've only owned the car for roughly two years but it drives just the same as the day I bought it. With preventative maintenance out of the way the car should be fine. Every time I drive it I really push the car too, I love going out to my car in the winter just knowing that I won't get stuck and I will easily pass the rest of the people driving their 4x4 trucks.

 

My '04 (bought used, two years old with 56,000 miles) now has 138,000 miles and I fully intend to get 300,000 miles before it goes to the scrap heap. Still rides awesome.

Major items replaced:

WABCO ECAS (Electronically Controlled Air Suspension) electric air compressor.

Passenger front air strut.

Major maintenance of timing belt that included water pump (still good but would fail if I didn't replace), thermostat, idlelers, tensioners etc.

Two sets of front brake pads, front rotors.

One set of rear brake pads.

Normal maintenance items of plugs, air filters at the 55,000 mile intervals

Oil & oil filters every 10,000 miles.

I'd do it again but maybe I would have waited another year or so and bought it for 10k less. These cars are basically timeless inthe looks department so save $$ and get a one year older model with higher miles for the best bag for your buck, IMHO.

 

152,000 on our 2006 Audi A8L and its going strong. Still looks beautiful and sporty. Very few problems so far.

 

You give me hope Mister Bally! I was honestly thinking of trading it in but when i see posts like yours definitely gives me hope. I'm @ 108k brought it at 49k and just had my serpentine belt pop. Other items include radiator replacement, ball joints, second set of F&R pads, rotors, 1 HID. Overall im pretty happy the radiator(covered under warranty) was due to a high driveway the rest were just regular maintenance.

Need to get the timing belt serviced. How much did that set you back?

 

Keep in mind that this is a German car, and most Germans think a car is old when it has 100,000kms on it. So the typical German thinking is to engineer everything to last double what the average german keeps a car for. So anything "lifetime" on a german car means it will wear out at 200,000kms (124,000 miles)

 

I've got a 2006 A8 W12 with 218.000km on the clock. 203.000km when i bought it 7 months ago.

No surprises so far, the thermostat and driver's door lock (soft-close didn't work anymore) had gone when i bought it, but it went on the dealer's warranty.

The biggest problems are a few very small noises from the dashboard (can be found even in N E W cars!) and MIL light comes on now and then for "Bank 1 too lean at idle". But these faultcodes can come even on nearly new cars (had this on a 50.000km 2009 car)...

The car feels new, looks new and smells new, nothing to compare with my friends 2006 VW Polo that had 215.000km on the clock, that car was absolutely ready for the scrapyard (2000e in new parts under a year).

If you can get a car that's driven like a lot less for a couple thousand extra, take it, BUT a used car is a used car, so one that has 50.000km on the clock CAN be worse than one with 150.000km.

I was offered this 2006 with 203.000km and a 2004 with 98.000km, both W12. My 2006 was in a better shape, both paint and worked better. The 2006 cost me 36.600euros and the 2004 would have gone for 68.000euros!!!

We have high prices on "expensive" "luxury" cars in finland, due to the finnish import-tax system that puts ie. 48% import tax on a W12 due to it's 340g/km CO2 emissions. So if the car is 22.000e in germany (like mine) and it's rated for 45.000euros in finland by the customs, i'll pay 22.000euros tax = 44.000e, no idea to import it...

A car with 100g/km has a tax level of around 10% so a Polo 1,4TDI costs new only a couple thousand more in finland than in other countries. But a A8 W12 2011 costs 140.000 baseprice in germany and 230.000euros in finland!

 

These mileage threads are always interesting to me. Cars are made to be driven....period. We need to preventively (if thats a word) maintain but they are meant to be driven.

Would you rather have a 5 year old car with 50k miles or 100k miles? Me? 100k. The German flagships (in my experience, which include a 97 and 01 740iL and I sport, and a 03 CL500) seem to need massive amounts of work between 80-105k I bought my 05 A8 with 110k. I purposefully looked for that mileage range, and maintenance records of course, with the hopes that all of that crap had already been fixed.

And no offense to whoever said it, but to say Germans only expect their cars to last 124k miles is a ridiculous assertion.

 

Interesting point of view—I've definitely contemplated this myself. I bought my '06 A8 with 66k on the clock, right in the middle of a pretty big maintenance window (timing belt, thermostat, brakes, etc). I keep asking myself, should I have bought something with less miles that costs more, or found an older A8 like you suggested—one that's had all of these major items serviced.