I had a mythical budget of under £10k back in 2010 to buy a car for when I stepped off the treadmill and became a full time stay at home Dad (initially planned for 2 years but became 2 3/4 years!) after commuting by train for many years and selling my previous car through lack of use.
Originally went looking at B6 S4s and the like, but the ones I liked were over-priced, or under-serviced. Got close to buying an E39 530i (even down to arranging flights to Scotland!) before finally spotting my S8 for sale through a dealer in Bournemouth shortly before Christmas 2010.
The wish list for desirable spec was decent engine, plenty of space for family protection, reasonable running costs.....
Man-maths and a conversation with the previous owner convinced me the £7k he'd paid for it, plus more than that again in re-commissioning costs after a period of virtually no use meant I could run it on a relative shoe-string apart from pouring petrol in as required! It almost proved to be the case - apart from a gearbox sensor fault nothing cropped up after buying it that wasn't expected.
Needing a pair of new rear tyres meant going back to work on a 4 day week to cover the cost 
Can't bring myself to part with it now I can afford to run it - even though the miles I do are fairly limited 
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===SOLD===2002 Audi S8 D2 Final Edition (yes, really) in Avus Silver with purple extended leather===SOLD===
2011 S5 Sportback in Phantom Black with black Super Sports leather, 9x20s, tech pack high, adaptive xenon plus, intelligent key, memory seats pack, sunroof, B&O, Audi Drive Select & quattro Sports Diff, DAB, parking system plus
2015 VW Golf GTI Performance Pack in Carbon Grey with black Vienna leather, tech pack (Discovery Pro nav & Dynaudio), DCC, factory towbar and retrofit RVC
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