It drove like a dream on the hour ride home and was smooth as butter at 75 mph with the cruise set while yielding a solid 25 MPG. I picked up a 1998 A8 4.2 Quattro with 91k on the clock for $10k cash. It's already scheduled for the timing belt, water pump, and a tranny service next Monday at my local shop. Thanks for all the great posts that aided me in my purchase. I've lurked as a guest for a while, but now I'm a full blown member. I hope to pull the factory 17" wheels and replace them with some 19" wheels once the tires are worn and possibly go with the Eibach Pro-Kit to drop it a hair. If anyone has experience with the Eibach kit, please respond with your views regarding ride quality and before/after look. Also, does anyone out there have (or has anyone seen) wheels like this on an A8?




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Welcome!!! Where are you, btw?

What options/packages did it come with?

Now lets see some pics of the car

 

Thanks for the welcome! I had an '05 Mercedes C230k, but it was rather small and came with a payment. It was a fun car to drive once the supercharger got spooled up, but the A8 still affords me lots of German luxury and performance along with much better room and no monthly fees (other than maintenance). I hope to move up to a newer A8 in 3 or 4 years if this one works out as I absolutely love the styling.

I'm in the Northwest corner of Arkansas (Fayetteville/Springdale area). I'll try to post some pics once I get a chance to take some, but it's about as stock as they come in black with tan interior with the exception of window tint. I'm not certain exactly what the original options were, but it does have 17" wheels, disc changer, and the ski bag (not that I'll use it much!). Have you seen any pics posted anywhere of an A8 with the BBS type wheels I pasted into the original message? I'm just curious what they might look like on this car...

 

I'm pretty sure you're the only member of this forum with an A8 from Arkansas, I have lived in the south and in the midwest and entire years had passed by without me seeing an A8. I have a black/tan interior on my '99 A8 4.2Q MingBlue too.

Aftermarket wheels for the first generation A8 - IMHO, rarely enhance the appearance of the car in a positive way, but thats just me (I'm in the minority on this matter). If you want larger wheels, the 6-spoke ones from the S8 still look amazing 13 years on.

So how did you ditch a one year old C230K? 4dr or 2dr?

 

I definitely haven't seen many A8's around here. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the closest dealership is in Tulsa,OK (almost 1.5 hrs away). My mechanic said that there are only about 4 or 5 in the general area that he has worked on over the past few years.

That's one reason I went this route. I like something that you don't see every day. My wife was pushing me to just go get a slightly used Accord, but I couldn't do it and she seems to really like the Audi now. The C230K was a 4-door in white with light gray interior. When I first got it, there weren't many on the road at all. A year later, there are 3 more just in the parking lot at my work! The main reason for getting rid of the Benz was reduction of debt, though. I'm building a new house, and lack of vehicle payments helps me justify a lot of the additional things we wanted. It worked out that I had enough equity in the 230 to take the leftover cash and buy the A8.

I'm not big on "tricking" my ride, but I do like the appearance of a wheel that fills the fender gap nicely and provides a sporting appearance. That was one thing about the Mercedes that was right from the factory. It came with the AMG areo package, a slightly lower suspension, and staggered 17" wheels which were perfect for a car that size. The A8 is so much larger that I feel it needs a bit more wheel. Any ideas on where to find some S8 wheels like you referenced?

 

My wheels look almost EXACTLY like that! I'll post some side-view pics later on this evening, after I get home...

 

http://audiwheels.kjella.net/

here is a good site to compare wheels and height .the gap in front when it's bigger than the back that means it's eibach.when it's even it's H&R simple...