Am I missing something?
 

I currently own a Mercedes S430 (W220). I bought the car with 100,000 miles and currently have 135,000 miles on it (bought 2.5 yrs ago)

The car was a one-owner, babied, always serviced at same dealer, and came with $15k worth of receipts for work. Anything ever went wrong, they took it straight to the dealer and had it fixed.

Since purchasing the car, I have done the following:
-Replaced 2 lower and 2 upper front control arms
-Brakes / rotors / sensors all around
-Went over a speedbump and had the suspension crash to the ground. 9month old control arm broke. BUT this ended up shorting out wiring harnesses and took out $2000 worth of ABS computers and ESP (stability) computers
-Entire car has been painted, due to rust found on EVERY single panel except for the roof (early 2000 S-classes all had this problem)

Amazingly enough, I have had no Airmatic (air suspension) issues, even though they are common for this car. Have also not had any transmission issues.

So obviously as the car gets higher in mileage, I'm considering buying a 2006 A8L instead.

But here is my question:
Other than the obvious items posted on this forum, are the 80,000-100,000 mile A8's pretty much sorted out?

From what I can tell, if I get one where all of the electronics work properly (radio, lights, stability, etc, etc.) and the timing belt/thermostat has been done, waterpump replaced, front/rear pads & rotors inspected or replaced, tires inspected/replaced..... what else do I need to really worry about??

I am seeing so many posts of "at 70k-75k, do the major service" then nothing more. Other than routine maintenance, what can be expected to be replaced between, say, 70k-130k miles?

Seems that the transmissions are stable past 130k no problem, no issues with rusting, and not even any air suspension issues (compared to Mercedes struts going BANG and leaving you stranded. $800+labour indy or $3500 at a dealer if you are stranded away from home. EACH!)

Am I missing something? Or are these cars really really reliable???

I've had my 2001 for about 18 months and taken it from 110k to 160k. A few months back my thermostat stuck closed(according to silverd2 that's kinda common), but it was close enough to major (timing belt, water pump etc) service time that I did it all in one hit. I also has slightly leaky valve cover gaskets that resulted in a burning oil type smell shortly after shutting the car off. Aside from that I've had no problems.
Read the sticky at the top of this forum on maintenance, it's a pretty good overall outline of what you can expect for the life of these things, written by guys who know, and it's been pretty accurate for me so far.

My only regret is that I think I got an A8 too early in life, now I can't think of any other car I'd want to buy except a newer A8.

I've taken my '01 A8 from 35K to 105K miles (6.5 years)...do my own work (after it ran out of CPO warranty).

During warranty, repaired an armrest ($?) & a prop-shaft seal ($50 if I'd repaired it myself).

After warranty, $150 coolant fan, $50 prop-shaft seal/oil at 100K miles, $35 ignition coil at 95K, $60 outer fr CV boots at 100K, $50 repaired small coolant leak at 100K and regular maintenance: T-belt service & Brakes once = both about $1000 total (self-service). Other than oil changes, gas, tires...that's about it.

I've had much cheaper VW's (which I love, too) soak me for much more in much less time.