The ad for today’s Nice Price or No Dice Audi claims it to have a Lamborghini V10, although it has more German engineering than Italian brio. Let’s decide what kind of cash such a combo might be worth.
While the seller of yesterday’s 2008 Porsche Cayman warned prospective buyers not to lowball the car, the comments and the voting showed that our collective castanets were dangling deeply when it came to the Porsche’s $15,900 asking price. When the dust settled, it ended up with a 65 percent No Dice loss owing to a lack of maintenance history and a janky headliner repair.
Before we move on, I want to let you know I’ll be off the clock next week. Instead, I’ll be on vacation to Ireland! That’s right. I’m going to the land of Shamrock Shakes and Lucky Charms. This means that we won’t be getting together for our enjoyable morning discussions next week. Don’t worry, though; we’ll get back in the swing of things on the first Monday in February. And maybe I’ll have tales to tell about fighting an actual Leprechaun! I’ve seen the movie, they’re scary!
OK, with that out of the way, let’s step up our luxury car game with this 2007 Audi S8 5.2 Quattro V10 saloon. You might remember the S8 as the sporty derivation of the A8, Audi’s intended competitor to BMW’s 7 Series and the Mercedes S-Class. Then again, you might not remember it since most luxury car buyers/lessees invariably choose to go with the Bimmer or the Benz.
That makes this an appreciably rare car, with reportedly only 1,144 imported to the U.S. this model year. It’s also remarkably well-equipped, as one might imagine, seeing as Audi’s expectation with both A8 and S8 models was to compete with the technological tour de force one-upmanship that BMW and Mercedes-Benz engage in with their top sedans.
But you’re not here for the two-tone, highly bolster leather seating, power everything, MMI infotainment system with GPS navigation, Alcantara headlining, or dual-zone automatic climate control. No, you’re here for that sweet V10 engine. That’s an all-alloy DOHC unit with fully 40 valves! Displacement is 5204 ccs, fed by dual throttle bodies and direct injection.
This is not a straight lift and drop from the R8 or Lamborghini Gallardo, as this engine features a wet sump, a different crank, and other changes to make it more of a cruiser than a bruiser. Still, it puts 450 horsepower in play and 398 lb-ft of torque. Combined, that can whisk the 4,600-pound sedan to 60 in just over 5 seconds. The rest of the mechanicals—six-speed ZF automatic, Quattro AWD, and big-ass brakes taken from the W12 A8—are fully up to the task.
This S8 comes with 96,000 miles on the ticker tape and a clean title. According to the ad, it has been garage-kept and family-owned all its life. There don’t seem to be any gremlins, either. The seller claims the car “Runs and drives healthy” and says it wears new tires on its factory alloy wheels. Based on the photos, it also seems to be in pretty nice shape. Yes, there is a sizable scrape in the paint on the back bumper and some minor wear showing on the seats, but other than that, it all looks perfectly livable and overwhelmingly bougie.
On the downside, this is a nearly two-decade-old German car festooned with technology and flying without the safety net of a manufacturer’s warranty. What sort of bold, devil-may-care crazy person would take that on? More to the point, who might pay the seller’s $15,000 asking price to do so?
What’s your take on this S8 and that $15K ticket to ride? Does that seem like a good deal when the car’s specs and condition are taken into account? Or is that too much to open Pandora’s box, even if doing so reveals a sweet V10 mill?
You decide!
San Francisco Bay Area, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to RevUnlimiter for the hookup!
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