D2: A8 or S8

[sarg]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

if you drive like a nun

I'm always pleasantly surprised if I see average economy that starts with a 2 (unless that's the only digit!) - it's only happened to me twice in over a year. I see more like 16 average.

Have to agree with this, you might get 27-28mpg out of a 4.2 A8 at 70mph constant on a motorway, but do you drive like this at all times. What happens when you get off the motorway?

And don't believe a thing the DIS tells you, they are way out.

For example, my 4.2 QS showed an average of around 21.9mpg, yet I typically got around 300-350 miles from a tank, depending on the trip.

The Porsche get around 275 miles from a tank, but it costs 35% less to fill it up due to the smaller tank - the Porsche doesn't have a fuel computer, so I've been working it out manually, and I'm getting around 25mpg on average, which means that in reality my 4.2 QS was returning below 20mpg on average.

Work it out yourself. Let's say when I refill the tank on an 8, I still have 10 litres left, so it takes 80 litres (roughly 17.6 gallons) - for that, my 300 miles range means the mpg from that trip was 17.04mpg. If I get 350 miles from those 80 litres, the mpg was 19.88 average.

If I am getting 30mpg, my 80 litres would give me a range of 528 miles, anyone ever got anywhere near that from any petrol A8? I think my best ever was around 450 miles from a tank on a long motorway run, which is just over 25mpg.

I've never had an S8, but no doubt the few extra HP and shorter gear ratios would make the consumption worse.

I don't agree that the prices are similar either. You could get a mint FL 4.2 QS for no more than 3k, a similar S8 in mint condition would make 5.5 - 6k.

I don't think there is much difference in maintenance costs, maybe a bit more for brake parts on the S, but not much else I don't think.

If I was in the market for a D2 right now, I would definitely only consider an S8 mind you, they are getting to an age where the S8 will probably retain a good part of its value now, but the A8 will continue to depreciate, the days of a decent 8 for less than a grand are not far away.