Hi, folks!

I'm a long time Infiniti driver and my lease on my M37x is about up. I've always considered Audi when shopping but the leases on A6's were never that favorable.

As such, I'm used to the gadgetry in the Infiniti's (lane departure warning, automatic cruise control, reverse camera with guides, etc). I've had most of these since 2005 and have become quite used to them. The A8's are a son of a gun to find with these features, the there seems to be ample S8's out there on the secondhand market that are fully loaded and have these features.

That said, I am concerned about long-term reliability. Even though I personally plan to keep the vehicle for 2-3 years, since these are used European cars which have the stigma of lower reliability. Any notes that folks can share, I would appreciate.

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, what are my options for an extended warranty? There's an S8 with about 55K miles that I've been eyeing for a few months. It's a 2007 model. (It's funny how I'm considering a seven year old car when my first vehicle was barely three years old when I bought it and it was a complete mess of sh*t with the power steering failing on the drive home, etc. Granted it was a mid-80's era MOPAR product, but still.)

Thanks, folks!

 

Dear God... nobody will offer an extended warranty for these things! Even Audi's own extended warranty won't cover it if it's out of factory warranty. Yikes! Regular A8's have warranties available for $6,000+... It was a nice dream, but I'm not paying 20% of the purchase price for a flipping warranty. Dang!

 

check out carmax...i hear they write an excellent warranty on ANY car they sell,it's just a little costly.

 

I did, but no S8 is available through Carmax.

I did find one warranty provider that I trust that will cover the S8. Of all warranty providers, it's from Nissan: the "Quality Guard Plus" warranty. It's administered by NESNA ("Nissan Extended Services North America") and not Fidelity or any of those other operations.

I made sure and had my contact triple-check: "That's the S8, right? Not the A8..." and was assured "Yes, it's right here on the NESNA screen, S, as in Sam, 8... there's also an S7, S6, and corresponding A-series."

Their Supreme plan can add 2/24k to a 100k mile car, or 4/48k to a 75k mile car, etc. Lots of options. Reasonable $100 deductible. It's an exclusionary warranty and the exclusions aren't too bad at all. Typical wear items: brake pads, shocks, wipers, headlights, etc. and some other oddball items like hydropneumatic suspension, which is a Citroen thing.

To add another 48,000 miles of "next best thing to new" coverage to such a rare car for $4,300 is not a bad deal, IMO.

There's an inspection checklist that I'm waiting to receive...

 

I don't know about the 2007 S8, but I have the 2013 model and it does have issues. These issues are minor (thankfully) but I can't help but think that the more advanced the Audi, the more issues you'll have. I also have a Q5 and haven't had a single issue with it.

If you can get some kind of warranty, I would highly recommend it. The German cars can start to cost a lot of money once the initial warranty runs out. That's been somewhat true in my experience.

That said, I love my S8. It's just a phenomenal vehicle and drives like a bat out of hell. The gas mileage is atrocious, but I never bought this to be green, so I don't give a s**t.

Note: I don't know if the older Audis have a lot of the internal tech options like the Infiniti/Nissan (I had an old G35 back in the day as well). The new ones do, but I would recommend you check them out in person before buying.

Just my two cents. Good luck with everything!