Hi there,
Some real world views from a current S8 V10 owner after for 46000 miles on 2006 model with 60,000 miles.
1. Fuel consumption 22mpg motorway cruise at 85mph, 18 mpg around town or going quickly on country lanes.
2. Audi dealer service costs high (£1000 for 60k service, vs. local specialist at under £500.) Parts were £350.
3. Electic rear brake calipers not very reliable, £600 to replace each side.
4. Ride is fairly firm, but given 35 section tyres on 20" wheels, shouldn't complain. I use dynamic suspension setting most of the time, could drop down to comfort when road surface poor.
5. Performance is Jeckell and Hyde. In D mode, transmission wants to get into 6th gear as fast as possible, but is still responsive. In S mode, like a scalded cat and never wants to go into 6th even at silly speeds.
6. Interior quality is superb and go for B&O stereo & DAB radio, it makes a big difference. Lovely place to be for long distances.
7. Brakes very powerful (mine are steel which is fine for UK roads and speeds). Full set of discs and pads from Audi all round £700 fitted, given 450 bhp, seems reasonable to me. Note rear brakes need VCDS/dealer software to retract caliper pistons for pad or disc change.
8. Paint and trim very resilient, comment from my detailer, paint is as hard as nails (see pictures at GemClean Detailing)
9. Prices still seem to be dropping. 2006 cars without B&O now around £16k or less, but some dogs out there. Nice cars around £20k retail for 60k miles. Facelift cars 2008 onwards not yet below £20k. B etter nav/stereo display and hard disk based rather than DVD based nav.
10. Excellent forum here at
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/index.php. They do parts at reasonable prices vs. Audi dealers.
11. Known failure points: rear brake calipers, front suspension arms, power steering pump (engine out job at £3k!!), but not as prone to carbon deposits as the S4, RS6 models are far as I can discover. Brakes and tyres are consumables (£320 per corner for Bridgestone OE tyres) not surprising, given 2000Kg weight.
12. If it does go wrong, it will be expensive. I took out a Warrantywise most extensive warranty and very pleased I did!
Hope my view helps others. I am glad I jumped in after 200,000 miles in an E38 7401 sport. Doing 25k miles per year and plan on keeping for at least 3 years. Good luck to those thinking along similar lines.
Richardracer (Bracknell/Ascot area)