I may now know why I have been suffering from headaches recently.......

great, so basically they are incompetent and possibly even complete con artists - or both. Either way the whole experience has left me thinking I'm just going to have to suck it up and go to the main dealer. Whilst the hourly rates maybe crippling, assuming they know what they are doing, it will actually work our cheaper!

We bought the Tiguan new from them, as well as our previous 2 cars for her (VW Polo and then a Mini Cooper - both new as well) so we are considered reasonably good customers - hopefully that means I won't get the run around.

Anyone spot the trend - wife keeps getting new cars whilst I buy used??!! Thats it - I'm going to buy something extravagant for my 40th - maybe not new but a 2 year old Quattroporte is actually within reach financially (if I save very hard and the 8 doesn't continue to be a money pit in the meantime).

[B@fink]

audi dealer rates crippling..........maseratti will be cheaper?

Originally Posted by B@fink

audi dealer rates crippling..........maseratti will be cheaper?

good point - I can always hope it doesn't fall apart.............plus that sounds exactly like something my wife would say, ruining my dreams by using logic and reason. If she had her way I never would have bought the 8!

I prefer to live in a bubble of optimism and unplug my brain when it comes to the purely (to my mind) emotional purchase of cars...........

[B@fink]

never one to trample a dream, and anything Italian is always bought with the heart (you really can't attempt to rationalise it) and not the head. And the service price (whatever it is, i'm guessing there will be several zero's in it) is cheap when everytime to clog it, it'll make the most wonderous noise!

[jayzee]

I had a Quattroporte a few years ago; I kept it for 12 months... enough said

Living out in the sticks, the bloody thing was constantly covered in mud and scratches

They say that you only live once, so if you can do it... er, do it

The running costs do make the S8 look somewhat like a Prius - I kid you not!

now all the oil leak problems have been sorted the 8 has decided to break something else........symtoms are a lumpy feel when at idle at apparent even worse fuel consumption. Managed to get it on vagcom and have a misfire on cylinders 2 & 4 and intermittant fault with the water temp sensor - this explains the engine management warning light coming on and off all the time..............so basically its running as a V6 at the moment!

Dreams of a masser are looking dim if I continue to heamorage money at this rate! I am desparately hoping this will be the last of the repairs for at least a few months and dreaming of the day its running properly with no problems as all I'm getting from the missus is "I said you shouldn't have bought it...blah, blah" (which I'm struggling to argue with at the moment quite frankly!)

Based on my experinces with local garages so far anyone fancy taking a guess at the part/labour prices I have been quoted? Starter for 10......main dealer has said £36.58 for the sensor and £56 for each coli + 2 hours labour. I can get the parts on-line for half the price @ Ignition Car parts but wondered 1) is this a good idea or should I go with the OEM parts? and 2) How easy a job is this to do - i.e. could I tackle myslef with a basic tool kit?

.....obvioulsy I meant 'coils' not 'coli'........although possibly a freudean slip as the symptoms of e-coli food poisoning bear a remarkable likeness to the general feeling of nausea I get everytime I get in the 8 at the moment a find something else is broken.

[Dezzy]

Each plug has it's own coil pack so you could swap them about and see if the miss moves with them if not then it's not the coil packs, and you can do this with basic tools.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

As Dezzy says. Screw driver to take of the air bog to throttle body pipe (2 jubilee clips). Allen key to remove the cover. 10mm spanner to take out no 4 coil and swap it with number 3. Replace air pipe and clear faults with vagcom, go for a drive and see if it moves to three. Do the same for 1. If it don't move, do the same with the plugs and see if it moves.

Which water temp sensor? You have 2. One in the head and one in the radiator I think.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

As Dezzy says. Screw driver to take of the air box to throttle body pipe (2 jubilee clips). Allen key to remove the cover. 10mm spanner to take out no 4 coil and swap it with number 3. Replace air pipe and clear faults with vagcom, go for a drive and see if it moves to three. Do the same for 1. If it don't move, do the same with the plugs and see if it moves.

Which water temp sensor? You have 2. One in the head and one in the radiator I think.