Proud owner of a new 8

[Oli18]

Hi,

Well, I've been a little quiet on the forum as of late and that's partly work related and partly pre-house renovation related.

As many of you know, I've been driving 8s since 2007 and made my first post on Tyresmoke in may of that year. My first 8 was a Santorin Blue 3.7QS ... i loved that colour and - with the help of A8 Parts - the spec was beautiful by the time it died from a snapped cam-chain at 170k miles.

I then bought my current Silver 4.2Q in Jan-09 from Ian..it had a fantastic spec and low mileage...with some special options that could be fitted. A8 Parts again helped, turning it into a Sport, replacing all the seats, adding sports suspension, rear seat entertainment, and the RS6 flappy paddle sports steering wheel...possibly the best bit at the time. Since then adding things like the S8 exhaust and the brakes (the upgrade i love the most) have really made me love this car. I've had almost 5 years of utter joy out of it and it still looks as good as the day I got it.

It is fair to say that i LOVE the D2 and I still smile every time i walk up to mine. It was my teenage dream car from the moment i saw it and I'll always have a soft spot for it and i've really enjoyed driving a D2 for the last 6 1/2 years. For that reason, i've always been quite hesitant in stepping into D3 territory as it never gave hadn't given me that 'wow' factor in the same way...

...until april of this year that is.

Ever since I saw Ian's 4.2 TDI D3, I was hooked. The Audi exclusive blue, the B&O, Fridge, ACC, AMI, DVB-T, glass sunroof and tanned leather made me look at the D3 very differently. When he bought it, i sent him a note asking if when the time came (and the niggles were fixed ), he could give me a nudge if he was thinking of selling it on. He also let me drive it at the A8 Parts open day and the 4.2 twin turbo is simply stunning ... it doesn't sound like a diesel in the way the 3.0 tdi does and the power is delivered beautifully. And so Ian sent me a PM on Sunday and I yesterday became the proud owner of this special car.

The drive back from Yorkshire was amazing...the D3 electrics are a serious step up and i have honestly never heard audio perfection before until last night and i'm not quite sure I ever will again in another car. Where do you go from here really I also managed to do 38.2 MPG which is simply amazing The torque is something special too and I genuinely can't wait to own this beauty for a bit longer.

Overall, i'm really pleased with the purchase and i'll be looking to put a few touches on this one in the way I have on the D2s i've owned....subtle, in line with OEM looks finished with a cracking clean detail (when weather permits). I felt like a king driving it home last night and even had a guy come up to me in an empty motorway services saying this was his dream car...when I told him about the spec, he actually screamed

I hope to be putting a few pictures up over the weekend after i've given it a good polish and will be posting the D2 up for sale over the coming week.

Thanks again to Ian for his help and for selling it on - albeit begrudgingly with Fridge

Oli

*Edited now with pictures: