A4 steering wheel in A8

[carrotchomper]

Hi,

I'm new here, have recently bought a 1998 A8 4.2 Quattro, loving the car in general but recently picked up a steering wheel (sansairbag) on eBay. It's a beautiful polished wood finish, with the 3-spoke Sport middle.

Having checked the part number, an Audi dealer tells me that the wheel is from a 2001 A4 Sport. They were pessimistic about it fitting the A8.

If I were to purchase the appropriate Airbag unit for the wheel (not from Audi, obviously... £600) then is the steering wheel wiring likely to be completely incompatible? I genuinely can't see that it would change much between models but stand to be corrected

I badly want the wheel to fit because it's the right wood for the car and looks amazing... But I would rather like a functioning driver airbag too