My first 24 hours.....

[IT]

Edinburgh to Harrogate.
Harrogate to Birmingham
Birmingham to Worcester.
Worcester to Harrogate.

Pulled up onto the driveway, and literally as I came to a halt, the fuel light came on....

Thats insane. 577 miles in the most relaxing, comfortable car I've ever owned, sucking up the B&O, relying on the radar cruise and wafting along without a care in the world.

I know the S8 would sound better, and on B roads would go better, but i'm oh so sure I bought the right engine for me now. I think even the 4.2 Tdi would have been a dispointing blend of thirst with diesel turbo lag and diesel noise.

Thats 39.3mpg on the dash BTW. I can cope with that....

You'll note the fuel warning has only just come on, so there is still nearly an eighth of a tank. The DIS shows 80 miles left at this point.

That makes an even more insane 650+ miles on one tank.

[Nollywood]

That's awesome! Very frugal for a full-size luxury sedan, with comfort to boot.

[briang9]

Originally Posted by IT

but i'm oh so sure I bought the right engine for me now. .

think thats the key part, I understand why its right for you now, but I can never really seem to wear my sensible head when buying cars, and unlike you appear to have done this time, let your head rule your heart, I clearly still need coaching on that part, and why do I still see diesel as evil devils fuel when the power output these days is often comparable with similar petrol units, with usually more torque, and way better MPG, answers on used fivers please

[kal_ay]

Certainly the right choice of engine there,congrats Ian.

[Adrian E]

Our next daily driver will defo be diesel - the A6 we have would've been diesel if only the old 2.5 wasn't (a) hateful, (b) not very efficient and (c) loads more expensive to buy anyway at the time, even given a and b!!

Shame there isn't an A8 Avant as the newer A6's are too small compared to our C5 shape one.

That's impressive economy for sure - I can remember doing Bristol to Edinburgh and back on a single tank or diesel in my Dad's old J reg Passat 1.6 diesel in the early 90's!!

[47p2]

I bought my daughter a low mileage A6 1.9TDI Audi almost a year ago. She stays in the Highlands of Scotland and with a new baby required something economical and safe. What a cracker of an engine the 1.9TDI is, the economy is 51mpg the engine is lively and eager to respond when you hit the accelerator. It is a very comfortable car and if I never had the A8 an A6 could have seriously tempted me. I have heard that the newer 2.0 TDI is not as good an engine but as I have never owned one I cant compare

[Singh]

Very very impressive, makes me want to cry. I am doing £500 a month in fuel currently in the plus. What would the 4.2 TDI do compared to the 3.0 TDI? Hmm, I reckon I'll go diesel D3 when I decide to 'settle down'.

[ainarssems]

the A6 we have would've been diesel if only the old 2.5 wasn't (a) hateful, (b) not very efficient and (c) loads more expensive to buy anyway at the time, even given a and b

Why hateful? And it is not bad regards efficiency either. They are more expensive but you get what you pay for. We bought ours last April and at that time you could get 1.8 petrol for £1k, 1.9TDI for £1.5k but 180HP 2.5TDI's quattro sport with manual gearbox were going £2.5k. We managed to get one for £2.2k in good nick and full ASH with recently refurbished fuel pump and injectors troubleshooting vibration which was then tracked down to DMF and also replaced- all at the dealers. Turbo have also been replaced at dealers not too long ago. It has saved over £2k in fuel costs so actually paid for itself. No common camshaft wear either and as far as I know it's still got original camshafts at almost 160k miles.

[IT]

Originally Posted by briang9

let your head rule your heart, I clearly still need coaching on that part, and why do I still see diesel as evil devils fuel when the power output these days is often comparable with similar petrol units, with usually more torque, and way better MPG, answers on used fivers please

The odd thing is here that I had no yearning for an S8. I just didnt want a W12, and with the spec I wanted, I concluded that an S8 was the most likely motor to give me that.

I always found the D2 S8 dissapointingly expensive to run compared to its A8 4.2 brother, and the extra performance and kudos just didnt seem value to me really, but again, typically, you got better spec on an S8 than an A8.

The S4 I'm currently selling is like a rocket ship, and i confess I find it tough to obey her majesties little round lollipops with numbers written in when they're 50+ as it just wants to go so much faster. Driving like that for much long wont do my license much good.

So, I actually prefer something a little slower, and, as I do pay for my own fuel, I'm delighted to have found something more frugal.

An S8 with 51K miles, B&O, Radar, sunroof etc would be way the wrong side of 20K and im not prepared to sink that into a car right now.

Tax discs are grating at me, they have for years. The whole Band M thing where they're really trying to stiff the upper classes is fine, until it reaches the 2nd hand market and it goes up. If they decide to double the Band M from 460 quid to £900+ next year or the year after, what could we do about it ? Everyone would cheer that the government is doing its environmental bit getting gas guzzlers off the road, meanwhile your S8 value goes down the toilet and it costs you more than your insurance just to park it on a public road.

I think, without checking, the 4.2 Tdi was Band M - Which was a major turn off for me. that combined with its economy not really being hugely better than the petrol V8, means you've gotta want lots of Torque, but not want the nice V8 petrol noise. That wasnt really me either.

We all know I'm a spec junkie, and i've got it in spades. Yes, the diesel smells on the way in, and smells bad on the way out too, but i've got every creature comfort I ever wanted in a D3, in my D3.

So, I'm happy as a pig in poo. I really, really am. For the first time ever, I want to hunt down the man thay ordered the spec on this car, shake his hand and buy him a beer. It is the ultimate motorway mile muncher in my eyes, the autobahm stormer of all autobahn stormers, and before you point out it wont even reach 155 mph, thats fine, coz I'll overtake you whilst you're filling up......

[ainarssems]

and before you point out it wont even reach 155 mph

I am sure it will with a remap. What's the top speed on paper? 150 ish? Our 2.5 A6 TDI is 137mph stock on paper