Does anybody here know about Audi V8s?

That's V8 as in the model, not the engine - the precursor of the A8, basically an Audi 200 with more luxury adornments, quattro drivetrain and the first incarnation of the Audi V8, aka two Golf/Jetta engines welded together as the quip went back then.

A couple of them have popped up locally and while I'm not Audi's biggest fan I did like the A8 I had. I also like quirky and rare cars, so the V8 appeals.

Unfortunately both of them are the earlier models so I guess they have the 3.6l(?) rather than the more powerful 4.2L but given that I've never seen one in the flesh I was wondering if anybody had any experience with them?

From another site I participate in: V8 quattro - avoid

I don't know much. I looked at them a couple years ago and quickly decided they aren't worth the maintenance to me. Something about a V8, manual, awd sedan has a certain appeal though.

As an ex-A8 owner I know about the maintenance aka "take off the front of the car to do anything".

I think the A8 that was turned up by the same search might be a slightly saner choice.

There was one that popped up here for CHEAP. But all of the "take off the front of the car to do anything" scared me away. They do look classy with some wheels and lowered.

I saw one in the junkyard a while ago, they do have really nice stainless headers, as nice as a $3k aftermarket set for any other car.

Well, the choice here is either one that's pretty cheap with a lot of miles, or one that's not cheap, but has been in storage for almost half its life and only has 65k miles on it...

I haven't done the "take the front of the car off" myself (yet), but according to a friend of mine with an urS4 it's really not that bad, and provides significantly better access to the front/sides of the engine than you get in most cars. A small number of bolts for the bumper assembly, some electrical connections, and the radiator is hinged on one side.

That doesn't sound too bad - I'm aware of the cost of the UFO brakes and all that, but I'm wondering if those are GRM-budget-able.

Anyway, here's the two candidates:

http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/2789963935.html http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/2754077940.html

Apparently the V8Q is not that hard to work on. I've heard some crazy sh*t about there being one timing belt on the front of the engine, and one on the back - one for each cylinder bank. I've only ever looked at/driven one, back when I was 17. It had the most obviously blown head gasket I have ever seen, and the steering wheel angle took some getting used to (it is tilted towards the outside of the car).

If I found a 6-speed I'd be all over it despite the issues. They are super cool and look the part too. Shame about the "Audi" bit, BTDT with a 200, a CQ20v, and a 5000...dunno if I can go there again, though a TT might sway me.

I actually had a look at audiv8.com and apart from the usual routine maintenance that needs to be taken care of (like timing belt changes per schedule and gearbox oil changes) they seem to be a little more robust than the A8. Oddly enough, the slushboxes seem to be more long lived than the manual boxes.

BoxheadTim wrote: That doesn't sound too bad - I'm aware of the cost of the UFO brakes and all that, but I'm wondering if those are GRM-budget-able.

Have you seen http://www.bira.org/index.html ?

Hm. The site doesn't seem to have been updated in several years. Dunno if it's still a viable option or not, but they made brackets for converting UFO brakes to traditional rotors using Porsche calipers. At the time I last looked there (early 2000s) they were substantially cheaper than the other aftermarket options out there.

I haven't. Doesn't look like a cheap option though, but it looks like I should price up the cost of replacement UFO brakes, too.

This photo is giving me really bad ideas:

Lucky escape, both have been sold...