S8 Purchase test, deficiencies detected

Hello, experts!

Sorry, I signed up with my first and last name.

I've been looking for an S8 or A8. The selection is very small with us in Austria. Anyway, yesterday I got a purchase test on a visually still very nice S8 Bj. 1997 with 176,000 km and 6 gear manual transmission. I'd get the car max. Drive 10,000 km/year (in principle only in winter or if I need more space) as I drive a roadster in summer.

The purchase test is actually quite good and the seller (private) has said he still looks if he can fix the following defects. I'd like to ask you a few questions.

1) When the examiner went (it rained outside), some drops of water under the steering wheel (at the bottom of course) fell on his shoes. The examiner said it could be the evaporator of the climate??? Or is any drain clogged? Do you have any experience of this kind?

2) Oil loss in the gearbox. According to the examiner, it drips quite strongly on the centre silencer. The examiner said it could be the simmering between the cardan shaft and the gearbox, so a smaller thing??? Sorry, if I might write a bullshit, I'm not a mechanic ;o) The seller is now checking whether it's really "just" that, but it could also be in bigger gear problems? Perhaps this also results in the light running noise (too little oil in the gearbox as the oil loss according to the examiner is quite strong)? The seller has it checked by his screwdriver.

3) The wheel suspension in front is over, I think he said the crossbars are knocked out? According to the seller, this costs "not so much", according to the examiner, in this vehicle in the specialist workshop is equal to EUR 1,000 when changing? How much are the spare parts for the front and how long does a screwdriver take for the change? I've already read that the suspensions are a flaw in the A8/S8?

Otherwise, no defects were detected except for light rust on the exhaust endpot and the servo lines. Error memory's okay, too.

Ask for answers if you can help, thank you!

Mfg
Peter