Yes it says also in the owners manual that the Audi V8 engines can consume oil and it`s natural, no defect, a normal oilconsumption is up to 1,5 liters per 1.000 kilometers, not necessarily, but it is possible, that means you should check the oil-level from time to time! When changing oil in the engine count on almost 10 liter HIGH-QUALITY-oil to pour in the engine=pretty expensive, but it`s a MUST!!!
My best advise for those who want to buy such a car is TAKE YOUR TIME and CHECK everything with the car! First of all make sure the service-intervals are documented and done, take the owners manual and take your time to read it side by side and check everything, all options and equippment, remenber that even a defect that seems to be just a piece of cake, if you want to repair it or change that part it will cost you a FORTUNE! How about a broken side-mirror? Guess what!? In Sweden they will charge you about 50 EUROS, and that is just for the mirror-glass, and not the whole mirror!!!
If the catalysator is malfunctioning, which some owners who "just bought" imported Audi V8, experience at the BILPROVNING/TÜV-station, that will cost you in Sweden about 1.700 EUROS, if you don`t change them, you will not be allowed to drive with the car.
The car has seldom problems with the rust/corrosion, however the exhaust-pipeline can be coroded, which means there are NO pirat-parts to this model, and you`ll have to buy original parts, that is if you can`t repair the holes, that is Audi in Sweden will charge you with approx. 500 EUROS per part, that means at least 3 parts, the end-part, the middle-part, and the front-middle-part=1.500 EUROS!("GRENRÖR" NOT INCLUDED!)
The electric-power-windows have a complicated construction and by time they can be "used" and be defective, it`s just regular corrosion and fatigue of the materials, and Audi in Sweden will charge you approx. 700 EUROS to change 1 electric-power-window-control!
Changing camshaft in Sweden on this model varies between 700 and 1.200 EUROS depending on which Audi-verkstad you are leaving your car at for this service to be fixed. If camshaft brakes than You`ll end up with a totally useless car and a new engine will cost you more than the car itself!
Be attentive with the gearbox, some models can have problems, and that means also a reparation towards 5.000 EUROS in the worst case! Manual gearboxes are oftenly MORE exhausted and used than automatic, because of "SPORTY-DRIVING" which also is a harder usage than "normal-driving". My advize is take a model with automatic gearbox!
Also the QUATTRO-traction has to be viewed by professionals, because if something is malfunctioning it costs a FORTUNE to repair.
Best advize buy a car that has also automatic leveling control"NIVÅREGLERING", better comfort and stability on the road!
Leave the car at an M-station and let them check the compression of the engine, some cars run only on 7 cylinders;-)
That would be a shame, don`t you agree?
Test the car on a longer trip for example driving some 50 kilometers or more and listen to all noises, or lack of noises, be attentive if the car is tending to turn off the road("DRAR") to the left or to the right, it should be adjusted...and it is also a question of money. It should be neutral of course!
Check the climatecontrol very-very carefully, also that it really works so it blows cold air, best to do it wintertime in a garage, or in a parking-house and you turn the device to "LOW" and let it blow for some minutes, check eventually the AC-pump in the motorcompartment, that should be cold and condensed with water on the surface. Check the heating as well, and the heating in the seats, and the heating in the outside mirrors-pour some water on the mirrors and turn on the "DEFRISTERKNAPP PÅ INSTRUMENTBRÄDAN", not the airconditiondefrost! The outside mirrors should dry in a couple of minutes!
Check that the lightsreflector-wipers in the front"VINDRUTETORKARNA PÅ LYKTORNA FRAM" are functional!
Check the oil-level, let M-station check the oil in the gearbox, and they can also check the condition of the camshaft, and they will tell you if it is in mint condition, or if it is soon time to change it!
Check all those over 50 lights/bulbs on the car that should be functional.
Check the handgloves-compartment lights, they tend to brake often and on many models, annoying little detail, but if you wanna fix that little plasticlight it will cost you around 50 EUROS to change it!
Check the brake`s condition "PANIKBROMS", the var should still stear straight ahead and not to the right or left when braking hard!
Check the ABS-lamp and control, it´s on the dashboard"INSTRUMENTPANELEN"-KOPPLA IN OCH UT ABS LAMPAN BÖR TÄNDAS-LYSA, RESP. SLOCKNA I INKOPPLAT LÄGE, FUNKAR INTE DET BLIR DET ANMÄRKNING PÅ BESIKTNINGEN! DYYYYYYYRT ATT ÅTGÄRDA!
Make sure that the owner has ALL the BESIKTNINGSPROTOKOLL/TÜV-papers from the very first day of the car, because the instrument-panel on the dashboard brakes on many models, and of course if they will be changed they will show lower mile/kilometers than the car actually has run, and the only way to check this is by comparing all the papers from the yearly tecnical controls made by TÜV, or BILPROVNINGEN. By the way it costs about 1.000 EUROS to change such an instrument-panel!
The Audi V8 is so massively built so just judging it from the shape and looks you won`t be able to see difference between one that has run 200.000 kilometers and one that has runned 380.000 kilometers. Nothing wrong with a car that has runned over 300.000 kilometers as long as ALL services and reparations can be documented!!! I`d rather buy such a car than 1 that shows 170.000 kilometers and NO papers, or just some of the papers!!!
Non-functioning airconditionsystem and climatecontrol costs around 1.000 EUROS to repair, or more!
Changing brakes on the car costs around 1.000 EUROS!
If brake-pipes, brake-oil leadings are damaged, corroded it will cost you around 2.000 EUROS or more to repair at Audi in Sweden!
Fuel-pipes, leadings just the material costs about 500 EUROS if you`ll have to change them, these are things the BILPROVNINGEN/TÜV in Sweden checks at the yearly control.
If handbrake is non-functional, most likely it means that you will also have to change the "BROMSOK" at the rear-wheels, and just 1 "BROMSOK" costs 500 EUROS!!! Plus the handbrakewires! Plus the work with all of it, that is if you can`t do it yourself!
When battery brakes, it is a special battery you can use only, in Sweden this means for a "pirat-copy-battery" about 150 EUROS, and for a Quality-brand battery about 300 EUROS, and forget "BILTEMA", the only parts they have to this car is light-bulbs;-)
Some other typical Audi V8 problems that occur by time probably with all of them is the SERVO-STEARING-OIL-PUMP that brakes, it`s just a question of WHEN?..and such a repair cost about 1.400 EUROS.
Etc....the list is looooong and if you would have to buy the whole car in parts 100.000 EURO would not be enough probably;-)
If you are lucky you can maybe find used parts that are tested and these parts are of course much cheaper at "BILDEMONTERINGEN", however if you can`t do the job yourself, at the Audi service it is "SPECIAL-PRICE" when it comes to repair such a car, that means it cost the double compared to what they would charge you for repairing just a regular Audi model!!!
Finally the insurance of such a car...the cheapest insurance company I´ve found is called LÄNSFÖRSÄKRINGAR, but no matter what the car is in the most expensive insurance-class!
On the other hand if you find one Audi V8 that is in MINT CONDITION, be prepared to pay more than 5.000 EUROS for such a car, than you really will own one of the world`s best cars, no matter what if it comes to safe driving, or FUN-driving, the car will most likely feel like a "NEW CAR"...and that for many years if you will be taken care of it!
The ones that are sold for around 3.000 EUROS or cheaper BE CAREFUL!...something is not quite right with them, or the owners know that very soon they will have problems with the car, and they also know that it would cost them alot, so they often decide it`s better to sell them "cheaper"...but than again, buying one Audi V8 for 3.000 EUROS and just after a while having to repair it for another 2.000 EUROS, that means it`s wiser to buy one that is a littlebit more expensive, anyway over 5.000 EUROS, and DO CHECK that car BEFORE you buy it!!! It has so many "EXTRA-STUFF" that if you are careful and check by the owners manual than it will probably take you at least 3 hours!!! But hey! 3 hours can save you a lot of money and trouble so, my advize: TAKE YOUR TIME!!!
GOOD LUCK!
