FS: 2004 A8 3.7 (not sport)
 

I have reluctantly decided to sell my D3 A8, she is in need of some attention and due to not currently being in work I do not have the ability to give my car the attention she needs.

Purchased by me in December 2013 (4 ½ years ago), I am the 4th owner on the V5C but technically the third as the previous registered person discovered the issues I knew the car had when I purchased it and returned it to the dealer for a refund.

She has the following extras,

Solar Sunroof
Bose surround sound
Audi fixed phone in armrest, with sim card slot
4 zone climate control
Retrofitted Hybrid TV Tuner (upgraded from Analogue TV)
Electric boot open/close
Adaptive ACC cruise control with widescreen DIS
Keyless go/entry with fingerprint reader
Comfort seats with driver/passenger memory
Rear seats with lumbar adjustment
Electric rear blind, pull up rear side window blinds.
Front/rear parking sensors
19" wheels

Now on 164K miles which is increasing as I am driving the car occasionally.

MOT due date is 1st August 2020, * Update *
Interior is in good condition, all the seats have never really had anyone sat on them since I got the car. There is some minor wear on the drivers seat however.

Now on to the bad bits.

Service and cambelt change now due, cambelt is due because of time elapsed. The installed belt and tensioners have covered 30K miles.
There is a whine from the back of the car which is noticeable from 60mph upwards. The car has had this since I bought her, the cause has never been traced.
There is a small hole in the central section of exhaust pipe on one side. (now repaired)
MMI has the usual plastic gear problem, so open and close is a little jerky but working.
Recirculation flap motor under the bonnet is stuck open.
ACC could use a proper calibration as it does not always see small cars.
There are some cracks in the plastic of the bootlid lights, the lights work ok however.
There is evidence of some filler and painting on the passenger side lower sill cover.
There is only one key.

Lastly there is an issue with the MOT history dating back to 2007, the wrong mileage may have been entered on the computer. I cannot confirm or deny that, but if you plot the mileage history as a graph and draw a line through it its more or less straight except that small drop. Of course back then not a problem, as there was no MOT history website then, its an issue which as only recently become apparent. Hopefully given that it was 11 years ago its not a problem now.

Most issues are minor and do not affect the way the car drives, which is still perfect.

There is a thread here with some pictures and details of what has been done during my ownership.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7501

Sorry to hear of this mannyo, it clearly has been a trying time for you and I hope you find something soon and get back on your feet and are able to keep the car, you've invested so much love into it, I really enjoyed reading the project thread for the car.

GLWS, and with the job hunt!

The thing is, I have no idea how much the car is worth given the above, or if I should remove the AMI and freeview and sell those separately.

Here are some pictures from yesterday. The VIN plate looks weird in the engine bay picture as I pasted another part of the picture of the VIN and the MMI is much britgher than it shows, I was taking pictures into sunlight which did not help.

Yes the wheels also need a refurb, and the car was dirty but vacuumed.

I have edited the first post as the ABS fault is now repaired, I am getting the exhaust sorted and a fresh MOT in the next few weeks then she will have to go.

I have been driving the D3 regularly now since having the ABS fixed and the fault has not returned.

I am looking for £3500 with fresh MOT and the exhaust leak repaired in addition to the ABS fault which has already been repaired.

MOT is now passed, so my D3 has 12 months MOT.

The issues with the exhaust are now fixed, new clamps fitted and the split has been welded up.

Hey man sorry to hear about your difficulty, have you tried to sign up with some agency as there are various temp jobs buddy. Just update your CV and upload it to CV library.+++

Yes, I am registered with a number of agencies and I have been sent quiet a lot of job details but something worthwhile has yet to come my way. I am not interested in shift or weekend work, or working on a rolling daily contract for example.

I may have to reduce my expectations though.

To that end, I still need to sell the D3.

She still needs a service and a cambelt change, I maybe able to get the service done locally though.

£3250 is what I am after.

Hi All

The D3 is still for sale, and shortly I will need to sell her urgently. I would love for her to go to a forum member, but if I have no joy soon I will have to either put her through a car auction and take my chances or try and sell her for cash to a used car dealer.

I have a very temporary job that pays not much more than minimum wage until the the end of October so I am still eating into reserves.

A couple of weeks ago I took the D3 for a 350 mile drive, the furthest it has been for a very long time and it drove perfectly.

Hi.all

My D3 is still for sale, now on 166K miles and I have been the owner for more than 5 years.

Hi all,

My D3 is still for sale, having now almost covered 167K miles.

I used her over christmas and covered 500 miles without any problems.

Unemployment is looming again for me, so will accept offers of 2K+ for the car as she is today.

Alternatively I will accept less, but will remove the retrofit Audi AMI and replace the DVB TV tuner with the original analogue one.

The car must sadly go in the next 4 weeks barring a miracle.

Hi all, car is still for sale.

Hey Mannyo.....
Sorry to hear about your situation and apologies for not replying to a post you sent a while back (I rarely look on the forum).
Hope things improve for you soon - you've always come across as a top, helpful bloke after reading your posts and meeting you in person when I bought your D2.
That certainly seems a hell of a lot of car for 2k and if I were in the situation to be after a car - I'd snap your hand off - especially seeing first hand how you've nurtured your cars and applied your vast knowledge into maintaining them.
I remember when you picked me up in that car when I came down to buy the D2 - I was really impressed then!
Doesn't seem that long ago does it?
Surely it's got to achieve more than £2k?
Good luck Mannyo

Hi Chris

Seeing the car outside, knowing I cannot afford to give it the attention it needs really gets to me. I still take it out occasionally, but it needs to be used more to keep it tip top as they do not like being left undriven.

Sorry to hyjack but would you consider selling the AMI?

Is this still for sale? Did you get locking fixed or?

Yes still for sale

Locking issue remains, however using the remote key there is no problem. Only the keyless system is non functional.

She Still drives well, I did more than 300 miles last weekend in her.

As you may have seen from a recent thread, the D3 suffered an issue with the air suspension, so now has a replacement front strut and air compressor.

The strut is a rebuilt new non OEM unit, and the compressor is an aftermarket item.

As you can see from these pictures taken Sunday it looks perfectly fine.

Mannyo, I have not commented but have followed your threads closely. I was happy to hear the suspension was finally sorted but I' gutted to hear it may be to no avail. I hope it doesn't end that way mate. Good luck

I had a similar crack welded up in Big Red by a local tig welding specialist. He commented that it was exceptionally hard aluminium and quite hard to weld, but it came out well.

Bear in mind that the sills on these are full of flammable expanding foam. For Big Red we had to remove a body grommet from inside the rear wheel well and fish all the foam out with a wire hook before welding. Worth checking that its not in, or next to, a void. The heat travels a long way in aluminium - Big Red's hole was about an inch diameter and I'd cleaned up 2 inches around it. The welding burned off another inch or so of paint so I ended up with a larger area than expected to refinish.

Car is still for sale, have now removed the AMI.

Current mileage is 168,500.

I'd completely forgotten this was for sale.....

Can you recap the current price, your location, current faults and mot expiry ?

Hi Ian,

MOT is due in 3 weeks,

Recent new front air strut, air compressor and fuse/relay. I've done 900 miles in her since replacing these, after she was off the road for 3 months and the new parts are working well.

Issues as per first page in this thread, plus Keyless no longer working as it says No Key detected on the DIS when you try to start. The ECU is working and shows an electrical fault when scanned, but the memory retrieval all works from the fingerprint reader.

This car is not perfect, but still drives really well.

Happy to post VCDS scan for anyone interested.

I'd take £1900 ONO for her as she is, she still has the Audi hybrid TV tuner installed.

Will include a good front air strut,

Really Sorry..... Just saw you're in Dorset which makes it a non starter. Sorry, I was on a tiny mobile screen and missed the location on your profile....

Quick update

Car is still for sale, she passed her MOT on Friday with no advisories, so now comes with MOT until August 2020.

Right as of today (24/8/2019) the car has developed a fault with the blower motor, I have replaced the control module with another used one which made no difference so the car needs the blower motor itself replacing.

I can no longer throw money into a car I am not using, so will accept any reasonable offer for her to go.

I am happy to deliver anywhere in the UK, as long as the buyer covers fuel costs and my travel fare back home.

Last month she got a full 12 month MOT until 1st August 2020 with no advisories.

Current mileage is 168,635 and the mileage at MOT was 168,563 so in the last month she has done just 70 miles.

The car will come with some good used spares including front air strut and some compressor parts and the blower control module.
The car will also come with a brand new rear number plate lamp holder with bulb.

Please someone buy her otherwise I'll just have to scrap it locally or to the forum sponsor.

Manny,
1. Is the car fitted with towbar and electrics?
2. What's the annual car tax please?
3. If I come to collect it, what's the best price please?

Many thanks,

DailyMike.

Hi DailyMike

There is no towbar or electrics fitted.

Current tax rate is £325 per year, I pay monthly by DD and at renewal in November 2018 it was slightly less.

£1900 is the lowest I would go, that would make it by far the cheapest D3 anywhere I am aware of. Please read this full thread, and my more recent ones for recent work done and still outstanding.

Manny, apologies for the delay in replying to your prompt response to my questions.

I've had a bad fall aggravating previous back, neck and shoulder injuries. Subsequently, until I can return to "normal duties", my interest is on hold.

Best of luck with selling your D3 in the meantime.

Kind regards,

Mike.

Just for comparison a car I was considering biddinng on because it had LPG https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-A8-4...torefresh=true

Just to update this, I have now sold the D3 to a dealer and bought another car. Watch this space for more info.