Just Bought a New Car - It's Your Fault

[mikeesik]

I'd love to steal that!
Very nice.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

It's in fantastic condition. I did ok.

It looks very nice. I have a couple of them and was curious what the market for them was these days. If you don't want to discuss the price in a public forum, I understand. I wouldn't mind a PM, if you want to share your experience. It's just a data point for me.

JR

[vash]

good lord matt!! hahah..i do love that car.

how does the topic come up with the wife? as you are buying the airplane tix? i need some pointers..unless of course you use some Jedi mind trick on her..

[mikeesik]

That particular vehicle with the amount of mileage and shape, is going for around $22500 over here.
That's dealership price.

[speeder]

He already said "under $20k". Nice private party score, the best way to buy a car by far. One owner, records and you get to actually meet the person who owned it and talk to him or her.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by vash

good lord matt!! hahah..i do love that car.

how does the topic come up with the wife? as you are buying the airplane tix? i need some pointers..unless of course you use some Jedi mind trick on her..

I just use my wily seductive charm.

This one was an easy sell, only having one family usable car was becoming an issue. After buying it she loves the thing. Not an easy feat, my RX8 has been her favorite thus far and the only car she has regularly driven.

[JavaBrewer]

Originally Posted by javadog

Looks nice. What'd you pay for it?

JR

LOL. Matt won't disclose the price cause it will be offered for sale here in a couple/few months. He is living his midlife crisis by being unfaithful to his automotive harem.

[aigel]

Well, congrats. I am sure a lot of car for the money. A lot of UGLY car. Sorry Matt, but that looks very dated. None of the local LA girls would fall for it being new or even new-ish.

You might as well have bought Higgin's old car?



But it is no big deal - I am sure it won't last terribly long.

G

[fanaudical]

Great find! Enjoy!

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by aigel

Well, congrats. I am sure a lot of car for the money. A lot of UGLY car. Sorry Matt, but that looks very dated. None of the local LA girls would fall for it being new or even new-ish.
G

I'm sure my wife is 100% ok with that. Besides, I've never been much on snobby chicks.

[Sarc]

Now that it's been a couple weeks, how's life with the S8?
Has it met expectations?
Any dislikes about it?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Thus far VERY happy. I bought a new car seat for the back, with the little guy in the middle we can easily and comfortably fit our family of 5. It has done a lot of around town family car duty, so it has definitely fit the bill from a practicality standpoint. Really nice to drive, excellent comfort but still handles well. Definitely feels smaller than it is, and it's fun to punch it mid-corner and let the AWD pull you through. The steering is a little over boosted at low speeds but weights up nicely, which seems to be a common complaint of the Servotronic variable effort steering. Excellent brakes. The inside is simply beautiful, from a quality and assembly standpoint it is easily the nicest car that I've ever owned. I love the engine though it's too quiet, I'm trying to find a good deal on a used cat-back because they run about $1800 new. The transmission is obviously a tiptronic automatic but it's very good, the sport mode does a great job of holding lower gears when appropriate. Thus far it seems easy to work on, I've done spark plugs and pollen filters which were both simple. Air filter, fuel filter, serpentine belt, transmission service, and diff service are all in the near term plan. I also found that the 3-stage adjustable intake manifold arms were broken (common easy fix and $80 for aftermarket billet arms), which will provide better torque after I receive the new arms. I also think the tie rods on are their way out, I get an occasional clunk in the steering.

Lots of musings, but the takeaway - I think for under $15k this is about the best big sedan you can get for the money. It's nicer and bigger than an E39 540i, nicer and sportier than an E38 740i, faster and more fun than a E500, and a much better drive than anything Japanese. The only real comparison that I would draw is with an E55 AMG and a a 500E, both of which I considered. The E55 is smaller and it's getting hard to find a reasonably priced nice one, the 500E is getting old and would have required me to swap back seats with another W124 to handle kid duty. I was pretty serious about this 500E, which sounded and looked (in photos) like a pretty spectacular example if you don't care about originality.

http://tucson.craigslist.org/cto/3323896678.html

Overall I'm very happy with my choice, no regrets.

[Sarc]

Cool. I’m looking at a ’03 this weekend and Saturday can’t get here soon enough. Original owner, Ming Blue/Platinum interior; 110 clicks, but looks to be very well taken care of. Really looking forward to it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Sarc

Cool. I’m looking at a ’03 this weekend and Saturday can’t get here soon enough. Original owner, Ming Blue/Platinum interior; 110 clicks, but looks to be very well taken care of. Really looking forward to it.

Nice! Oddly enough the S8 doesn't have the same issues as many cheaper Audis did. For instance, the LCD display fade problems in the A4 and A6 are a non-issue. With the exception of suspension bushings and the occasional transmission failure they're really solid cars. Also relatively easy to work on, unlike some of the shoehorned installs into the smaller models.

[nostatic]

My ex had an A8. They are brilliant cars and as you know, can be had for a song used.

But it will get expensive at some point. You've been warned

[Jim Richards]

Matt (Mr. Short Attention Span) won't have it that long. : D

[javadog]

Hey, if you find a used cat-back exhaust and you want to sell your original exhaust for a few bucks, let me know. I'm looking for one to modify for my kid's S8.

JR

[onewhippedpuppy]

Hey Sarc, did you get one?

JR, I'll keep that in mind. Just curious, in what way would you modify it? I may need a plan B as thus far I'm not having any luck finding a used one, and I can't stomach $1500-$2000 for a new one.

[Sarc]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Hey Sarc, did you get one?
.

I went to look at the Ming/Platinum one on Saturday. Unreal condition this car, no swirls in the paint, not an imperfection in the seats. The owner said he's probably had 5 passengers in the car since he's owned it. I couldn't wait to drive it, so we hopped in. I like to have the owner drive first on test drives which gives me the opportunity to get acclimated, ask question, etc.

Then 5 minutes in the transmission starts acting up. And actually popped into limp mode for awhile. I'm going to wait and see what the owner wants to do. A 6 speed swap would be the business, just don't know how much this guy wants to come down.

Helluva car though. Easily one of the best kept secrets of the car world in my opinion.

[onewhippedpuppy]

That's unfortunate. Could you DIY a replacement? If so, you could negotiate the full replacement cost into the price then pocket a few thousand. I've seen replacement cost in the $4k range, and I think the rebuilt transmission is about $1500-2000 of the cost. Have him get a super expensive quote at the dealership.