1997 Audi A8

1997 Audi A8

I really liked this car, but not many of my friends or family shared in that appreciation. In truth, this A8 was a fantastic machine but most people struggled to get past the color of this particular example - not really purple, but not really maroon either.

I had this car for years and drove it quite a bit. It had its share of rather expensive problems, but when operating as intended was a pleasure. The downside of owning these older Audis is the maintenance, or more specifically, the cost of that maintenance.

The car was loaded with advanced technology and options (for the period anyway), had a great motor, was all-wheel-drive, and had a rather comfortable and handsome interior. Unfortunately for me, when I stopped driving it much I agreed to owner finance it to someone I knew and that just never works out. The couple split and the car stayed with the girl, who I didn't know. I wasn't getting paid and then it broke down and I just went and towed it away. I was never compensated for any of the payments or repairs so I was out thousands. I decided to just dump it as-is and take my beating. It still looked great and only had about 50K miles but it needed a transmission and other items and I had too much going on to want to deal with it.  

Should you buy one today? Probably not. If you want an older and cheap luxury car to use as transportation, buy a Lexus or Infiniti - for the love of God don't buy anything German! Don't get me wrong, I love these things and I loved this car, but I'm kind of a different animal. I buy cars because they're interesting and I want to play with them, not because I have to. Sadly, it's not collectible and it's way too complicated and unreliable to make it financially feasible to own. That said, they don't cost much to buy, but there is a reason.