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Coming back to A8 - looking for a D2 3.7/4.2


matt5791
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Hi all, been a while since I posted here, but I sold my last A8 in September 2012. This was a 2006 4.2Tdi. Great car, but I never really liked the styling or warmed to the car generally. And I always preferred the D2 3.7 sport I had before it.

 

I now need a car for my daily 10 miles to and from the office plus the occasional long journey.

 

So I am on the hunt for:

 

- D2 A8

- facelift 1999 - 2002

- Sport version

- 3.7 or 4.2

- really nice unmodified example

- With decent service history (I need to be able to see it's been looked after)

- Less than 100K miles.

- Preferably, dark interior.

 

Now, I know cars like this are not exactly on every street corner - but I am prepared to hang out for the right car

 

I know a lesser example will be less money, but really I would rather pay more for something decent.

 

So if anyone knows of a car like this for sale, I would be interested to know more about it!

 

Many thanks!

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Good luck with the search, there will be amny out there.  Keep looking on ebay and autotrader.

 

Personally, I prefer the D3.  Sold my D2 years back and only recently finally got my mitts on the D3.  But I do understand you!

Silver isn't the right colour for the D3, spoils the lines, and also not the best for the D2 neither.

 

 

Don't forget, with the D2 the issues are:-

 

Chocolate 5sp gearbox (get the fluid changed ASAP)

Bottom/upper front suspension arms - the bushes seem to go quite quickly

Cambelt changes with the possible resultant fuel leaks

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry, haven't been able to log back in for a while as I changed my email address and have to be re-verified.

 

So....I bought that car mentioned above.

 

They had originally wanted £3995, it was then reduced to £2995 as in the advert, but despite viewing the car, going away, coming back - the best I was able to do was £2800. they claimed, as dealers always do, that this is what it owed them - I probably didn't, but it might have been close. Anyway, they just weren't going to budge below 2800, do I did the deal.

 

But I think this is a bit of a bargain. To top it all, I managed to track down the previous owner who bought the car as an approved used in 2006 (for £25,000) and in the file I have the original Audi web page advert for the used car, which is nice. But what is really nice is this guy has serviced it every January/February regardless of mileage at Vindis Audi and it's all stamped up. Prior to his ownership service is evidenced from West London Audi. So it has a very nice service history.

 

I'm going to keep up the main agent servicing, so on Monday it's going to Birmingham Audi for a general service. I am then going to follow this up with a cambelt and waterpump later in the year.

 

Absolutely loving the car, possibly the best value car I have ever bought I think (as long as nothing major happens over the next 12 months!). It's just in such nice condition - it could pass for a 50,000 mile car.

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So....I bought that car mentioned above.

 

Excellent!  Do I get a finders fee?  :grin:

 

Superb news on the FASH every 12 months, thats a bonus.  As Cruiser mentioned above, do consider an gearbox fluid change which Audi do not include in the service schedule

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Thanks for that everyone.

 

Yes, I do want to get the transmission serviced - it would be a real shame if it failed.

 

The previous owner tells me it has never been done during his ownership, so almost certain it's never been done at all. He also tells me he rarely took the engine over 3000rpm....I think this could be true, it's in such nice shape.

 

From what I understand, it's not as simple as a simple oil change on this gearbox - it needs to be done - ideally - by ZF and this is probably the reason it is not a service item for Audi - maybe because there isn't the expertise available at Audi dealerships to do it as some of the gearbox has to be stripped out and cleaned. Or maybe because they don't like to be involved with this sort of "in-depth" work and prefer to just fit a new box if it fails. There seem to be a lot of reports of these boxes failing shortly after straight forward oil and filter changes only - this could be because it needs more than a simple change. I believe I can get this done in Nottingham, by ZF and the cost will be in the region of £300.

 

Does this make sense to anyone?

 

Also, I feel the throttle is very twitchy on this car - or is this normal? It's quite hard to drive the car smoothly.

Edited by matt5791
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Not been taken over 3000 rpm much?  Bloody hell - maybe he got scared when he did.  With the 5 valves per cylinder, over 3 or 4K this thing comes on song!!!!!

  That V8 is a peach!

 

The gearbox service - had mine done at an Audi dealer on my A8 4.2 (1997) with the 5 pd box.  The fluid is £10+ per litre and needs a lot.  The remove the belly pan to clear the swarf magnets, then refiill.

My next ones (there have been a few) have been at a decent VAG indy each time.  Even on my D3 V6 TDi.

So you don't have to be at the dealer.  Just ask them before you do it, and see if they have knowledge and you have confidence in it.

 

Twitchy drive?  You'd probably need to get them to check the throttle settings?  Any decent VAG indy will have the equipment to check it.

 

Whereabouts are you based?

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I'm in Birmingham, so I have a few choices - when I booked the car for the interim service at Birmingham Audi I was told it was sealed for life, don't touch it, etc etc. I did tell them that I could accept the sealed for life thing, provided I was prepared to treat the gearbox as a consumable component! So, I don't really want them to do this work. Saying this, about 10 years ago I had my A6 fluid changed at Coventry Audi - I had the same line about sealed for life then, even though this is a more basic regular 4 speed box and the car is a 96 model. However, I still have this car (bought in 1999) and it's on 250,000 miles now, still on original major components (turbo, gearbox etc.) (except steering rack, that had to be done recently)

 

There is an independent in Birmingham, Central Audi VW specialists, who have done work on my A6 too, and also previous 4.2tdi A8, and a Touared V10 I had. They are a very good specialist, in my experience.

 

However, I'm going to give ZF a call in Nottingham and sound them out, see what they say.

 

I'll ask Birmingham Audi to check the throttle thing when it goes for the service and see what they say.

 

 

On the performance of the car - It it quite a bit of fun having a higher revving car than I have been used to for years. I do love low revving engines with lots of low down torque, but the S8 certainly comes alive in the upper reaches of the rev range! with a great exhaust note.

 

Anyone know what the official power output is supposed to be for this car? I don't know if it varied over the cars production life, but if it did, this car was manufactured 2002, but is not one of the very final editions. 

Edited by matt5791
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You've had a good few good'uns!

 

The power of the S8 at that year was 360 bhp. :grin:

 

Thanks for that.

 

Yes, I have generally always been a fan on low down torque, hence the 4.2Tdi and the V10Tdi.

 

The S8 sharing a stable with a Bentley Continental R - and that flies past lines of slower moving traffic virtually at tickover - So this S8 really does behave very differently - but I'm really liking it to be honest, it's a lot of fun!

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  • 9 months later...

Bit of an update.

 

I had the cambelt and waterpump replaced by Birmingham Audi (the one in the centre of town, not in Shirley). Cost was £799 inc vat and they took a couple of days over it. I get the impression they like this car there and they do seem genuinely clued up, much better than I have experienced with other main agents. no teething issues afterwards, which I think is good, considering how much has to come off to do the work.

 

Since then the car has done 4000 miles. It's on 138,000 now, no gearbox issues, but I still want to get it serviced.

 

It will go back to Birmingham Audi inn January for a general service and some front suspension work - it's a bit loose and they did mention some bushes in the report from when they serviced it before.

 

Only issue I have is there was a water leak into the passenger footwell. I believe I have traced this to clogged drains in the wheel arches - you squeeze them and eventually the water runs out. They were totally blocked - I had to poke a piece of coat hanger up them, and squeeze them - but running freely now. Hopefully this will resolve the leak into the cabin. Drain under the fan box in the centre seems to run freely too. There may be an issue with the passenger door draining too - but I need to remove the trim to check this.

 

All in all, I think it's almost a perfect car. I love the styling of the facelift D2 (especially the rear), it's well made, easy to live with, doesn't even do too bad on fuel. And has loads of space. Plus I have always loved the classic recaro's which are fitted to this car - simply the best seats ever made. Much better than the "comfort" ones in the D3 A8 I had.

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