Guys, as you may know im trying to find a new luxury barge for my dad.

The 735iSE we bought was originally invoiced at £68k new, and we bought it one year old at a lowly £34k!! 50% depreciation in one year!! ouch... but good for us!

We thought that would suffice, and that the depreciation curve for this barge would slow somewhat, at the time 730d's were heavy under premiums still so we went for the 3.6 V8 petrol version, as this one was spec'd to the hilters.

Now two years on, and i started looking round to make a change, basically when we bought the car, i was not very in the know about car finance, and my dad bought this car in a rush as it had just come in and there were a lot of peple sniffing round on it, we were stitched up on the finance and stuck with a company called paragon finance who are based in solihull (funnily enough).. got the car from manchester bmw dealer. Unfortunately, the finance situation stands as this: Current Settlement: £25k (not all interest deducted and early exit fees apply), value of 735 = £21k book. Basically we're in stook..

New S class even though its a very fine car, is overvalued compared to residual future projections and with quite a lot of supply about we decided against wacking £64k down for one of these! when they are likely to fall to mid 40's before year is out.

Had a look at a 730d Sport on contract hire, got a wicked quote fully spec'd 730d Sport with 20" Y spoke alloys, tints, cd changer, heated seats and the rest standard for £574 a month + VAT for three years at 12k per annum.

To buy this, we would have to settle our existing finance, so approx £5k, and then put in 3x month installments on the 730d for the initial down payment, so about £7k down before we've started. Not something my dad would do quite lightly, as he doesn't really like cars that much and blames me for the whole thing!

But my brokers just pulled a deal out of their arse for me today..
They have a fleet of A8 3.0 Quattro Se's coming in, 2005/05 from a limo company, basically the guy (who has become quite a mate now) said we can have one of these for what it owes them, near enough low £20's for a £60k car new! fully spec'd, with choice of 10, rest they will knock out at £27kish. This means we can swallow the negative equity, wack in £0 and still have monthly installments of around the £500 mark, have a car within warranty and still have a large barge, were considering knocking down to a 530d or something..

Specially after the Bmw dealer who gave me the contract hire quote above which was unbeatable, offered me £16750 for the 735ise, which was nothing more then an insult! books at £21k, they are Bmw so will probably retail for £25k and he wants my business.. Prick..

But the question remains, whats everyones opinion on the Audi A8.. before you say it VA.. yes its a large Skoda.. its already lost most of its value so how much more can it loose? my dads used to 18mpg on the 735ise and with the audi being aluminium framed, it will probably be lighter on the juice. Apparently they aren't under powered like the 730 petrol is, but should we just keep the 735? the gap between settlement and value is only set to increase, so now seems a good time to get out, and get a newish car for good money.. he has oyster grey one, immediately coming in. Was owned by a limo company before so well maintained, and nice spec, everything is standard, apart from xenons which most have specified, and they are knocking around for high 20's at that age on the audi used car locator.

Hmm.. decisions decisions.. trouble is my old man is in turkey for a week, so its up to me to decide, it would be anyway, but still good to run things by him before i go off selling his car!

Oyster Grey looks like this: this is an oyster grey one on a 54 plate for £26500, so shows the 05 one we're getting is good money..

Kam all the motoring press rate A8's very highly, they are all Aluminium so corrosion isn't a problem and it makes them light, and you know how well put together Audis are. Conversely A8's are expensive to repair if there is body damage. The one they all go for is the 4.0tdi but the 3.0 should punt it along nicely and the multitronic gear box is also highly rated - it's not a conventional auto but a Continuously Variable (DAF-Matic steel bands!).
I'm not surprised at the depreciation your BM has suffered as they are the 1st of the Bangle designed cars and BM have lost a lot of sales because of them, they are just plain ugly, the i-drive needs an hons degree to operate and joe public doesn't want them when they are a couple of years old. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
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Tim, I have a masters degree and wouldn't touch the I-Drive, far too complicated at 85mph on the M4. Its one of the reasons we did not go for BMW 5 for wife's car.

Get wife's car today, a BEAUTIFUL Buckingham blue D3 that is to nice too be a van!

Last edited by DSL on Fri May 26 2006 11:00am. Edited 1 time in total

Any A8 is streets above BMW 7 series - Period

I was so close to getting myself [ few years back ] a new S8

I still have 3 friends around town who run S8's and a 4.0tdi. - they all swear by them.

Money aside - it's a NO BRAINER Kam  
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Kam, A8 is the way to go but the big oil burner is not as refined as the 3.0TDi.

Insurance is high on A8's due to cost of repair and the ride quality is the firmest out of all the luxo-barges.

They are widely viewed as the more discerning choice and these sound like great VFM.

Just remember that any petrol car this size will always depreciate faster than its D equivalent Runner up - 2009 Best Avatar Award
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The big oil burners are too expensive.. we are ducking out of the car game/cycle on this car, for about 1.5 years, so not too concerned about having the top model, more concerned about swallowing the negative equity from the 7'er.

So its either the 3.0 Quattro petrol or nothing in this model lineup.. A8 seems to be the way forward, but not looking like such an attractive deal as first mentioned, don't you hate it when they uturn on you! big it up, then try and hide stuff in figures.. im a damn trainee accountant, i'll catch you out.. he was trying to balance £35k on this car, meaning the car was costing £30kish.. and sorry but this is tag price at dealers..

asked him to think about figure again, and let me know, in the mean time im looking for one myself, seen one £27k with 5k miles on the clock.

Yeah im wary that Diesel will hold value better, but we're buying this second hand, therefore diesels are priced dearer right now.. so its swings and roundabouts really.. and my dad only drives about 10k a year, so will he make the savings running a diesel!! (i know i know.. the usual petrol buying spiel!! trying to persuade myself more then anything..!)

BTW both cars are ga*  
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Angel, you are getting less and less subtle every day!

Great cars Kam. If I was in for a luxo-barge, I think I would gor for an S8 or S-AMG. Runner up - 2009 Best Avatar Award
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eeewww  
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Supertrotter.. took the plunge, and while my dads away have sold his car, and bought an A8 3.0TDI Quattro in black with cream leather.
All the bits, 2005/05 with 18k on the clock. Beat some other guy to it and placed the deposit down this arvo, hoping to do the swap this thursday, bought the car over the phone from Harrogate Audi, and luckily they are delivering it for me on weds, be a nice surprise for my dad on his return on tuesday!

The salesman was such a tosser though, can't believe his phone manner and his crap dealing.. he kept trying to hide figures and kept harping on about cost of change, and i was like, no mate.. whats thee final price of your car and whats the price of the part ex! have managed to do it, with no deposit down, swallow the whole negative equity in full and only £60 more a month (which will probably be the fuel saving anyway, as the 735ise has been averaging 15mpg since ive been driving it this week!)

As always, never paid for a service on the 7 series as it came with 5 years service pack, and guess what, this A8 has 5 years service pack too! so service paid for till 2010 or 60k miles.. Sweet..
has 20" alloys, bose, 12 cd changer!! (WTF) and comfort front seats, GSM Phone, Xenons etc etc.. paid £33500 for it all in.. which aint bad in my book for a 1 year old £60k car..

Make sure your Dad knows it's a diesel........................... if he puts petrol in the tank its £££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
£££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££'s
to fix, otherwise he should ony need to refill it about every fortnight! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

I do like the A8s (quiet at the back) and you've done a great job benefiting from someone else's poor purchasing choice a year ago!! Nearly 50% depreciation, ouch!! As usual Kam, good work!! Your Dad's going to be well happy, I reckon.  

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