D3 Pre-Facelift A8 4.2 QS Vs D2 Facelift S8?

[Nollywood]

I'm looking at going back to the D-platform.

I've previously owned a '96 D2 A8 4.2 QS, a '98 D2 S8 and lastly, an '01 D2 S8.

Now I've looked at the last of the line D2 S8, I went to view a 2003 car on a '52 registration. It looked good in the advert, but was rough in real life. Drove reasonably well, but the interior was tired, looked like it had been to the moon and back, towing a caravan. Touched-in chips in the paintwork, and a couple of parking dings.

The sloshing sound coming from behind the dash, water spilling into the passenger's side footwell with each right turn, water spitting out of the central vents, and pouring out of the rear vents made this a no-no. Of course, the wooden board covering the relay board in the passenger footwell was so wet, it was swollen, felt like a sponge.

"Final Edition" cars with 20" wheels seem to be specified lower than my old '01.

Now I'm looking at the '03/'04 D3 A8 4.2 QS. For those who've driven (or even owned) both, how does this stack up against a D2 S8 facelift? The figures online would suggest the D3 A8 4.2 QS is quicker. Is this true from a driver's perspective? What is the ZF6HP26 transmission like, when compared to the D2's ZF5HP24, in terms of reliability?

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Nollywood]

No one can advise? I'm going to look at a 2004 model later on in the afternoon, so I would really appreciate some input here.

[ulfilias]

Hi There,

I've wondered the same sort of thing and with my car being off the road I've also been looking. I did ask a similar Q the other year (http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5612) and there is some info on there, though I feel that quite a few people are biased towards the D2.

Lee

[PsYcHe]

The D3 gearbox is much more reliable by the looks of it.. But still needs regular servicing to last properly.

I felt that my D3s are a bit less 'connected' to the road than the D2, but they're at least as fast, just that the air suspension takes away a bit of the feedback.

In terms of performance, they're pretty similar, the gear ranges seem to be similar up to 5th with the D3 having 6th on top which helps with motorway cruising.

[Nollywood]

Sounds good. So just the same regular trans fluid changes (circa every 60k miles). I read somewhere about battery replacement. Are there any codes that need to be reset? Is this the famous Power Management module thing?

Thanks guys!

[PsYcHe]

The codes are simply to change the serial number for the batter in the system so it resets itself.. Nothing major.

The power management module is usually only an issue if someone jumps the car using just the batter terminals. You need to jump with +ve on batt and -ve on the big terminal point just above the battery.

[Nollywood]

^^^ Thanks, PsYcHe. It looks like the D3 4.2 QS it is.