WANTED: D3 S8/W12 facelift
 

Not many decent examples at the moment, so if anyone is thinking of selling over next few months drop me a message please.

Sub 80k miles preferred with documented strong history
B&O is a must
Sunroof would be nice


Nils

Welcome to the dark side! I loved your widebody b5! +++

Good luck with the hunt!

+++

I would have taken your D2 if it was still available! Mint


Thanks bud, time to move on to a 'grown up' car!

Decent ones are not easy to come by however, the search continues...

One or two nice ones come up for sale sometimes, be patient and the right one will come along +++

Oooh Aqua Blue pearl?

Is yours open to an offer??:D

Everything is for sale for the right price ;)

I'll be hanging on to mine for a while yet though, sorry! +++

Took me 6 months of lurking to find mine, my spec was pretty much the same as your requirement, but without the sunroof as I don't like blocked drains!

Be prepared to travel - I went to Edinburgh, fun drive back though +++

Sunroof is a nice to have but not a must, history, facelift, B&O etc are a must!

Travel is not a problem, I flew London to Scotland to collect my current RS4, then drove same day 7.5 hours straight back!!!!

Absolutely shattered but smiling all the way :D

W12 facelift will only be around in Long wheel base....

W12 short wheel base is not really sporty. Quick, torquey, heavy nose and big understeer. The only short wheel base W12 known in the UK with B&O is pre facelift and doesn't have a sunroof..... and it changed hands about a year ago so don't expect it to pop up again for a while.

Look for an S8, but expect a compromise. I hate that word, but the reality is that top spec S8's are few and far between. Fortunately, B&O was a popular option, on top of a reasonable starting spec.

Facelift with B&O with solid history shouldn't be too hard to find, but expect to pay a premium. The tidy ones don't seem to be losing any value these days. The V10 is a joy and well sought after. Potential inlet manifold issues north of 100K, but otherwise very reliable. High mileage bargains are possible if the manifold is sorted.

Happy hunting +++

Thank you for your input IT, much appreciated, I'm not new to Audis, previous cars include a B6 1.8T, 2'x B5 RS4s, a B5 S4 which was a widebody project, and 2 x B7 RS4s, currently in one of them being an avant.

The D3 world I am new to, so all advice and pointers are greatly appreciated.

There are a load of prefacelift low mileage ones going for 15-17k...

Which is kind of my budget, having put aside additional maintenance costs when I eventually find one!

There was a facelift with 112k miles, which caught my eye

I spent a lot of time debating whether it was worth a look but the mileage and lack of history put me off (lost service book apparently!

Is the Bose and B&O worlds apart?

Apart from the real lights, front bumper and fogs, is there any differences cosmetically? Facelift and pre?



Finally, is there (I'm sure there is), a definitive buyers guide on here for potential owners?
This would be a great help if any one can point me in the right direction
I would love to hear from real world experience rather than a YouTube or magazine feature/reviews

No worries, happy to help....

Its a myth that dealer demos have decent spec levels. The dealers have x quid to buy a few tasty options, but in reality they make bad choices as they'll never drive them ! - Ex dealer / demo just means it got ragged a lot when new imo, but they're robust enough to deal with it.....

RS world and 8 world are a bit different. RS, you absolutely need 100% full dealer history or walk away. An 8 will almost always have been run in its first few years by someone who just threw money at Audi to service it. A call to Audi customer services will confirm any genuine Audi service history on a car. If it the first 3+ years are all Audi, that's a good start.

Then, if the last couple of years stand up to scrutiny, I'd generally forgive any gap in the middle if a bargain was to be had...

Galaxies. Both acoustically, and visually. Don't get stuck with an S8 without B&O, it might as well be <insert undesirable colour here> paintwork.

Extra chrome trims inside on the doors, different start/stop button, quad zone, dab, more standard kit generally. 3G MMI is the real one to want from 2009, which came a little after the facelift.

Done think we ever did a buyers guide, but there are plenty of real world owners on here who can give you the run down.... +++

You sir are a legend, many thanks again

It looks like I'm to up my budget slightly to get exactly what I'm after...


Really good to hear that the 8s are virtually bomb proof is serviced regular and well despite mileage

Personally B&O was a must, i've had two B6 S4's with Bose and it was good, but the B&O is super clear and was an essential for me.

If you are local to MK or Northampton, I have probably seen your wide body at one of the meets arranged by Ian or Buddies? If you are then you are welcome to sit in mine, have a tinker with electronics and listen to the system.

I would say common problem areas are:

- Electronic Parking Brakes / Rear Calipers
- Power Steering Pump / Hoses
- Gearbox issues are quite rare unless they have been serviced with the wrong oil or by the wrong garage (have a look at Turbo Tony's thread)
- Fingerprint recognition sometimes doesn't work for some people
- Rear boot motor can play up
- Batteries can give loads of phantom problems when they die
- Ceramics are a £1000+ per disc replacement, although, reading after buying, it appears a lot of people haven't had issues, in hindsight I wouldn't let this put me off, at the time it did though
- Inlet manifold flaps can break, I haven't had this problem, they were upgraded late 2008 facelift, but if they go, its either replace or remove

I had mine inspected by the AA before I went up to buy the car, cost £240 - worth every penny, got a 24 page report, they checked EVERYTHING, and so far, I have had no issues other than occasional draining battery (probably because she's parked at airports for long periods and there are a lot of electrics in there)

Some people have modded theirs with wheels and aftermarket facelift rear lights - so watch for a pre-facelift with facelift lights doppleganging. I was lucky to buy mine with only one mod - a perforated RS5 leather steering wheel, its a great mod, much thicker and swisher than a stock wheel.

Woohoo search has ended :yippee:

Congrats - what did you buy?

Thank you

2008 S8!!


Got a few issues to sort, but overall very happy


I'll post a few pics and say an official hello in the welcome section


Thanks to everyone who replied and posted answers to my questions, turned out to be very helpful during the search +++

Just seen your instagram, nice cars, the fighting element interested me too, you might be interested in one of my books, probably a lot of people you recognise in there :-)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blunt-Force...ce+trauma+book

Ah cars and fighting arts!

We're definitely going to get along!


I'm very passionate about both


I'll take a look at the book


Hopefully put a face and name to the username at one of the coming meets

:cheers:

Eagerly waiting :D :mexicanwave:

Just posted a little intro +++. (Finally)