Every once in a while, I watch Ronin and lust after an 01-03 Audi S8 ...


Anyone here have/had one?

Would it be boring to drive despite the power? I understand it's a highway cruiser (doh!), but is it going to be painful to drive on the twisties?

Any reliability issues? Electronic glitches (yikes) or mechanical stuff (easy to deal with)? It's a 2003 at best, so it's almost getting old-ish.

For the record, I'm also considering a B5 or B6 S4 (totally different animals, I know), a Jag XJR ... or the oddball Honda S2k

 

I remember someone trading in their S8 of same vintage and complaining about the resale.



it was cool though because it was a 6speed manual gearbox.

 

We used to have one, it was fast for its time and was highly reliable.

Go for one if you find a clean example, The one we had was a 00 model S8 in Dark purple with grey interior and it looked very posh.

 

they look really good with BBS CH wheels.
i like it this car a lot.

 

That was me!

Had a 6-speed. By far the best car I've ever owned.... Miss it like hell. Very different from the tiptronic. While it's not a sports car, it's pretty damn tight in the twisties - miles ahead of the same era S6.. and the B6 S4 I had. the manual is quicker in a straight line than the D3, too.

Never, ever heard of any electric glitches on them, but the tiptronic... while I absolutely love Audi - those stink. Avoid tiptronics like STDs, becuase they ALL break sooner or later. A friend of mine runs a shop that ONLY rebuilds VAG auto trannys . . . If you must have one, have it inspected as if your life depended on it. Becuase your wallet does. They are incredibly cheap right now, and can be in the hands of people who can't afford the pretty costly service.

Like Mohammed says, find a clean one and you'll enjoy one badass machine.

 

Did you have to feed my hatred for slushboxes again? FWIW, we can't get the manual trans in NA. ****tronic or nothing.
This being said ... if you say they all break, I might as well put my hands on a busted one, and swap a manual trans from europe! Or wait until the trans busts to do it.

It was better than a B6 S4 in the twisties? Dayum, I thought it would be the opposite, as the S4 impressed me quite a bit! Now you just made me want an S8 even more!!! hahahaha. Looks better, same price, and handles better? That's close to perfection!

 

I always loved these cars.

 

Humm... From what I know, I've driven an S8 2 times, and it didn't feel as nimble as the S4 in twisties. BUT, there's something "magical" about the S8, a kind of rush that makes your hearth pump 10 times faster than normal just because you're driving something so big, so fast with so much confidence. It was ****tronic thought. Another thing that you must consider is that if it brakes, everything cost sooo much to repair, specially the suspension (from what I've heard, never owned one). Overall, I prefer the S4, because it's smaller, lighter and cheaper.
I had one of the best race in my life in the S8, the road was **** (Montreal roads heh!) I was sure the suspension was damaged hardcore because I saw sparkles in my rear view mirror when I hit a pot hole, but everything was fine. It's a tank!

 

Had one for three years and I miss it as well. Never had anything go wrong with it mechanically. Excellent highway cruiser with good power and understated elegence. Cheap now and well worth getting one provided you do PPI on it. They can get expensive so do your homework.

 

There are a couple in so cal for lo 20's///

 

hi, first post.... i'm also looking for one, don't forget that these cars are made out of aluminium, check the body lines for proper alignment.... if you find a good clean unbranded vehicle it should last you quite sometime... also no manual transmission models were ever shipped from audi to north america..

tom

 

Great call on this - I too am looking at these and Jaguar XJRs as a cheap respectable DD...let me know if you come across any other good ones in SoCal...