Is the D2 a 'Classic Car?'
 

Fellow petrolheads.

I know what a "classic car" is.

I've got a Sunbeam Tiger in the garage and frankly it would eat the S8 alive. It is a 'true' classic.

The S8 gets a lot of miles though, and I was just thinking, which is the real 'classic'? Is it the S8 or the Tigger?

OK, the Tigger's 45 years old. The speedo goes to 140 and then at the bottom it says 'MPH'. I've had it round to 'H'.
It's a car for escapees from the Carstairs home for the Criminally Insane. The State Mental Hospital.

My Chum's had it round to 'M', but he's braver than I am.

Both are 4.2 V8's and both are giant gas-hogs! While the Tigger was the lusted after thing back in the sixties (mine's a 1965) the S8 is quite well respected today, I think.

The Tiger cost a fortune to run back in 1965 and only those who careth not ran them. Bit like the Audi really.


The D2 is a total honey as long as you can fuel it, last fill up was £110, and I was just thinking, in that way you start thinking when you've had a few beers, that the old D2 has all the makings of a future classic.
You know, lousy fuel consuption, extravagent spec, high price, etc.


But is there a better car? And is the D2 destined for classic status, or is it just another old Audi?

It's the best car that I have ever owned, bar none.

A peerless, quiet, powerful car that has never elicited a bad word from any passenger.

I mean, what IS a classic?

You know what I think?.... It's a car that people like. And people like the D2.

Utterly, SonderKlasse!

Gets my vote. Not like the Sunbeam Tiger though; I think the D2 will become a classic along the lines of Mercedes and Jaguar saloons of the 60s and 70s. It's a good-looking car and it has the power, comfort, presence etc etc.

If I had a stable I would certainly have one in it! :)

Just one ? Why the diet ? :D

Having owned a Tiger, a Daimler SP250 'Dart' & a Jensen Interceptor, Aston V8, a modified XR4i, XJ12C , numerous other old 'powerful' RWD cars, and still in ownership of a rather modified 1968 Rover P5B Coupe, I understand where you're coming from.

Whilst I love my D2 S8, modern cars just aren't as 'involving' as the 'classics' to drive, I 'cut my teeth' driving powerful rear wheel drive cars on dodgy skinny crossplies :)

With that type of car, what I love is the ability to turn apparently terminal understeer into throttle induced oversteer - there's nothing quite like it to set the car up for the next bend :)

Most 'youngsters' of the FWdrive generation are terrified by my driving style when I get a little 'enthusiastic', as they've never experienced this.

To me Front Drive feels & is all wrong, it terrifies me when I wish to make 'progress' :)

I hate the inbuilt understeer in most modern cars, first thing to be addressed (rear roll bar upgrade etc) whenn owning one.

Modern cars just totally lack any kind of 'soul', even if it is the exhilarating kind that needs to be kept on a leash in case it bites you hard upon your A-R-S-E :)

I love my S8 D2 for a different reason, but its still possible to drive reasonably quickly and provoke the tail, even with the inherent understeer, what isn't so confidence inspiring is the braking when driven in that manner on the 'lanes' around here (same for the lighting at night). Its also very controllable & without any drama when its 'sideways' at 130, as I found out on the M4 when some **** in a VR32 pulled out on me before checking his mirror, forcing me up the central reservation (in the rain)

But I do agree that the D2 has classic lines, and is a potential future classic, everyone thought I was mad when I bought my P5B back in 1980 for £150, but a few years later prices went through the roof. I wish I still had my Tiger, and the rest of those I've mentioned that I sold for a 'song'

Hindsight is always 20/20 (or 6/6 in modernspeak)

It is a classic, a modern classic already and has a huge potential to become a real classic classic, and that's not a typing mistake with twice the classic. Most insurance company's let You insure cars over 10 years old as classics. Most desirable will be early 1994, early 1997 S8 and late 2002 and final editions.I don't think 2.8's or 3.7's will make it through but they just might because most people will think like me and because of that they will become extremely rare and more desirable but You cannot go wrong with 1994 A8 4.2or 1997 S8 or 2002 either A8 4.2 or S8. I have a 1997 S8 and I am holding on to it as long as I can, I would say for at least another 20 years or maybe more unless the price rises so much that I could not resist sale or petrol becomes unavailable.

I'd say its a classic or destined to become a classic, being uber rare and the star of Ronin kinda helps, being able to pick them up for peanuts and falling into the wrong hands doesnt... :-(

You, Sir, have exquisite taste :love:

+++

And so do you :love:

:)

BWUHAHAHA! That would be me :ROFL:

Brum, screech, pop goes the gearbox, can't wait to have an S+++ All those lovely invoices to hide from the wife....

Go up to your average joe public and ask his opinion of the Audi S8.
Betcha most will give the blank stare of incomprehension.

Wind back to the sixties and do the same with the Jaguar S type, and they'd be salivating.
Sunbeam Tigers (very rare even back then) TR's, Darts, E Types etc All tick the 'Fun weekend memory lane box. I can see why they and even MG B's are now classics.

The S8 has a following, and those in the know love them, and they deliver too. They also have a simple styling of the type to keep looking good when all the flashier stuff looks jaded.

In many ways they look a 'future' classic to me.
Amar, low prices and sus owners mean nothing in the longer term. I remember a pal scrapping a Daimler dart just to bung the engine in his hot rod. And for years the Jags were associated with bank robbers and wide boys.

Time will tell. 20/20 or 6/6 (whatever that means Night Train) +++