Is this A8 a good deal?
 

Hey everyone. New to Audi Forums and have been looking for a size upgrade from our VW Passat for a couple of months now. I've narrowed it to either an A6 or an A8, used, of course. I just found a 2005 A8 4.2L V8, locally, from a private seller, and had a test drive the other day. Very smooth shifting, and ran great. Cosmetically in extremely nice shape, inside and out. Has a silver dollar-sized hole in the hand-sized plastic body panel at the back base of the driver-side front fender, closest to the driver's door. Not sure how easy it would be to replace, or if using bondo on it and fixing it in place would be better.
The tire pressure warning message comes on constantly, with no pressure or temperature values being displayed. The present (3rd) owner replaced the expensive main module, but this did not fix it. He was told to replace all 5 wheel sensors next, but that seemed odd that all could go bad. He has updated both the MMI and GPS software to 2013 specs. It comes with a VAG kit - minus the software. The valve covers on the engine seemed to have been repainted silver. Does not have a solar sunroof, nor the cooled front seats. Doesn't seem to have a power trunk lid, or power doors, or power rear sunshades. He's not sure if, and when, the timing belt service was done - I'll find out later today. It needs new brake pads all the way around. 18" tires are at about 60%. He's asking $11,500 for it, though I think there's wiggle room in the price. What is a fair price to offer for this car? P.S. It has 135,000 miles on it.

Maybe not.
 

I'm new to the forum and the brand, but from my research before buying my own A8, the asking price seems a bit high. I didn't notice mileage, so I'll assume 120K and with the things that need fixing I'm putting the cars condition in the rough category. That being said $7K is realistic (maybe not for the seller). If the timing belt answer is "I don't know, or probably" then assume it hasn't been done and plan on dropping $1,500-$3,000 on day one. Use this as a negotiation tool to get the price down.

An A6 would be a subtle size increase, but you will really notice the size on an A8 (And your passengers more so on an A8L).

These cars are plentiful, so keep looking for one with a stronger service history. It's a great car, but when it needs service you'll be reminded that it started its life as a very expensive premium automobile.

Happy hunting!

Thanks Crisis for the reply. I just edited my post to include the mileage of 135,000 miles. I was thinking of offering around $8K, but you got me thinking that that may be a bit high. The other thing that is gnawing away at the back of my mind is the fact that this guy has only owned it since January of this year, and he's already selling it. I do like the idea of finding an A8L, for the additional room. What sites did you scan through when you were looking for yours? I'm looking on Ebay, Autotrader, Edmunds, and Craigslist, but am finding the selection to be sparse and expensive. I am hoping to get a D3 platform, so a 2004-06 is were I was looking. Do you know much about the older D2 platform? What are good years to look for in that line?

My familiarity is with the D3, but I used cars dot com for my search and kept it within 75 miles. I wasn't comfortable buying one off of a private seller unless they we're a well informed enthusiast. One local dealer had A8s in every corner of the lot, but they all showed a lot of wear and some unrepaired accident damage. I went with an 07 because of the change over to a chain from belt. So far new fuel injector, need wheels ( want big ones!) Took me 2 years to find the right one.