Early Audi A8 ? 2.8/3.7/4.2 which is best

[PWE]

Thinking of buying an early A8, Anyone here had experience with any of the above ? Which of the above engine choices is the one to have with regard to reliability and ease of maintenance ?
Anyone had any good/ bad experiences ?
Your comments are appreciated
Regards
Paul

[S2AVANT]

Engines aren't really the issue, it's the gearboxes that let them down.

[audidoody]

2.8 is front wheel drive not quattro

[schmalex]

audidoody said:

2.8 is front wheel drive not quattro

Not true. You could also get the 2.8 with quattro

[Plotloss]

schmalex said:

audidoody said:

2.8 is front wheel drive not quattro

Not true. You could also get the 2.8 with quattro

It's true.

When really pressing on I thought the 3.7 was the better handling car over the 4.2 due to slightly less weight in the nose.

However, this is a big car so dynamics dont count for much in the final analysis.

Buy the 4.2, its not that much worse on fuel than the 2.8 (suprisingly) and its a cracking engine.

As said though its the gearbox you want to pay attention to.

There are two schools of thought on the gearbox oil so it depends on the outlook of who has maintained it as to what has been done.

[AKA8]

I had a 2000 2.8 FWD. It had better build quality than my 2004 A8, but with the standard suspension, it was definitely a cruiser.

Fuel economy was pretty good on a run, I used to average 30mpg+ on a mixed drive even if I was going for it. On exactly the same run in my 4.2 I get about 24mpg. The best run I ever got out of it was 38mpg from Surrey to the Chunnel at a steady 70mph.

The 2.8 is not very quick off the marque due to the sluggish gearbox, but it has reasonable mid range given the car's size. It's light given the absence of quattro (if FWD of course) and the aluminium structure.

[AKA8]

by the way, reliability was very good although the A/C started to make a clicking sound when the car was about 5 years old. Bose stereo was great, better than the new ones for some reason. The electric aerial broke though and needed to be replaced. Other than that, nothing to report.

[stevethegreek]

[/quote]
Buy the 4.2, its not that much worse on fuel than the 2.8 (suprisingly) and its a cracking engine.

As said though its the gearbox you want to pay attention to.

There are two schools of thought on the gearbox oil so it depends on the outlook of who has maintained it as to what has been done.
[/quote]

Hi, sorry to hijack the thread...running a 4.2 A6 tip at present (yes, the engine is cracking) but starting to get some issues with the gearbox. I've just done a search on the forum but cannot find any threads on tiptronic problems and specifically servicing/maintenance. Any pointers to this please?

STG.