Buying Advice Audi A8 (D4) 2010–2017 Common Issues Engines Inspection

Hi everyone, thanks for watching another buyers review, today we start with a new brand, last year we covered BMW and between 2020 and 2021 we covered Mercedes-Benz. Today we kick of with Audi, and the very best Audi has to offer, the A8.

This third generation with the internal code D4 was produced between 2010 and 2017 and prices are beginning to drop. If you are in the market for a high class technological spaceship than this car if for you. Audi’s are well know for their high quality interiors and their top of the line technology. Not so much for driving dynamics. The Audi is usually placed between the Mercedes and the BMW and is sort of middle of the road, both comfortable with a sporty edge. However the German 3 are very similar on paper when it comes to engines, power, range, price and technology. Whatever you pick really has to do with taste. I would preferably pick an S-class over the A8 but I understand that if you are being driven around most of the time, great seats, enough technology to keep you occupied and enough legroom is enough. Enough of the sales pitch, I am not being paid for this so lets move on the reliability.

The car went out of production 5 years ago and the early models are now turning 13 years this year. Back then Audi had 1 4 cylinder and many 6 cylinders and a few v8 engines for sale. There was even a W12 engine for this generation, but only for the longwheel version of the A8. Top spec model for the long wheel base is the W12 and for the normal wheel base the s8.

Before zooming in on the weaker points, first the obvious, a car like this is not cheap to drive or maintain, prices for the parts and labor costs at the Audi dealer will set you back quite some cash. For the chassis of the car, air suspension is standard on all A8’s, this is a weaker point and replacement parts are expensive. Especially a point of focus on the higher milage cars. When it comes to the drive train, all A8’s have automatic gearboxes, Audi claims that they do not need any maintenance, but it is recommended to flush them once in a while, every 100.000 KM to keep it operating smoothly and without any problems.

There is a 4.0 liter tfsi engine that has some very specific problems, there is a vibration between the 1000 and 3000 rpm. This has something to do with the downpipes of the engine, this should be fixed by now but check if this repair/recall has been done if you go for this specific engine.

TFSI engines are direct injection petrol engines and they are well know for carbon dioxide build up, it could help if you fill up the A8 with premium petrol that this issue can be prevented. Also, every A8 has a timing chain, many issues have been fixed over the year but the high milage examples need extra care in this department, make sure the chain was replaced recently. Lastly, the A8 is a modern space ship full of electric gadgets, makes sure you test them all to see if they work. Not many issues are known but just make sure you test them out before buying the car.

Thanks for watching another buyers review, this video marks the start of our Audi buyers review series, in the past I already reviewed a few Audi’s so check out my channel for other Audi buyers reviews.