Francis007

Hi Nicola. Please ignore that last post of mine ! Just looked at your profile and I see you are situated in Glasgow. Hampshire is a long way to come to save a few bob! My bad. Hope you get your suspension sorted.

Hi Nicola I was hoping and waiting to see if anyone could reply as I'm afraid I haven't the technical knowledge to help you with your problem. It looks as though you have received some good advice from the other posters. Just one thing though. May I ask where you are ? If you do have an airbag suspension problem and that sounds pricey, I do have a Audi specialist garage who I use in Hampshire. Matt is a brilliant technical guy who uses genuine Audi parts but he charges half the rate of an Audi main dealership. Been using him for years on my previous VW Phaetons ( with air suspension ) my previous A8 and now my two new Q8's. I would thoroughly recommend him. Just a thought.

Hi Brian Cannot help you much mate as I'm not into towing but my first few questions would be how long do you intend to keep your new Q8 for and whats the price differential between a 50 TDI and the 55TFSIe ! I havent looked but I guess considerable and would you get that cost back over a number of years depending on the range that the electric motor in the hybrid gives you. The extra torque of a 3 litre TDI shoud be a better tower. When I picked my current Q8 at the Bury St.Edmunds Audi dealership, I was told by the Business Sales Manager there that the only people who were condidering the Q8 hybrid were business guys who were benefitting from the tax breaks. Otherwise it didnt make any financial sense. Just a quick point. I do hope you were able to get a decent deal with your impending purchase. I went to " Drive the Deal " a much respected and long standing Car Broker and was able to get a brilliant deal on my new Q8. Many thousands of pounds cheaper than the listed price. It has to be in stock but I have just looked up the Bury.St.Edmunds website and they have some 50 TDI's in stock. No 55 TFS IE's though . The key to obtaining a better deal was by taking out a PCP deal with Audi. By doing that I took advantage of a very substantial deposit contribution from Audi and a considerable discount on list price....but only if I took out the PCP. It really was a no brainer. Good luck with your decision and please let us know what you decide. Frank

Good morning Captain Threaders. Indeed the Q8 does come with a parcel shelf and on all versions it's electric. So, when you open the hatch, it automatically retracts and when you close it returns with a rather satisfying whirr of an electric motor

Doohhh. 70 plate !!!!!

Hi Harv and Gareth Firstly Gareth can I just say what a great piece of advice and info you wrote there regarding Harvs potential purchase. You are a much more technical bloke than I and it would have taken me days to come up with something not quite as good ! I think the point he made on tyres is a good one and is a clear factor in how a 6 year old car might drive. Before I bought my firts Q8, I was tye very proud owner of 2 VW Phaetons. Both purchased new. I ran them for nearly 14 years , one after another, with a combined mileage of 140,000 miles. And might fine bits of automotive engineering they were. Someone might correct me here but I believe the Phaetonplus the Toureg and the early versions of the Golf R were VW's firts foray into 4 wheel drive vehicles. They called it " 4 Motion ".....not so sexy as Quattro I think. I used to take both cars back to the Glasernemanufaktur in Dresden, where they were made, to get them serviced each year. Please dont ask how I swung that with my old Missus ! The technicians at the Factory were absolutely adamant that tyres on the same axle had to have a very minimum tread depth. Otherwise they insisted that the drive chain and steering geometry could be serious ly affected and could invalidate the new car warranty. So I think Gareth is correct in questioning the validity of the tyres on the same axle and also asking if you have tyres of the same manufacturer with the same profile on the rear axle. All that coukd seriously affect the " feel " of how the car drives. Also Harv, we both know you are a good guy because you responded to both our posts with thanks. I think Gareth alluded to it that in previous enquiries and requests for help, Gareth has gone out of his way to post good stuff in various Audi model forums including the Q8 Forum.....me not so much.....and he rarely gets an acknowledgement let alone a thankyou And in response to your decision to pull out. If you arent convinced by the records and the history of ths car ten it's clearly a wise decision. It's a lot of dosh to spend and then find out you have made a mistake. Isnt a shame that there isnt a process where private buyers and sellers cannot somehow find away to contact each other and make away with the Audi franchise network. I am an old school bloke of 76 years. I love 3 things. My missus, my cat and my car.....but not necessarily in that order sometimes ! One year ago I exchanged my previous Q8 for my current one. It was a 20 plate 55 TFSI and it was in perfect order I believe. I had had it serviced 5 times in its 38,000 miles.It had not s emblance of a scratch or a ding or any curb rash. I had had 2 ceramic coats ut on it in it's 3 years by a profeesional installer and the car had been wrapped. I also sold it with a Blackvue dash cam system with a seperate Celllink battery system and it was prefessionally installed by TTW systems in Nottingham. I decided to leav it in as it was completely hard wired and I thought it best to have an identical system fitted by the same company in my new car. Please be patient....I am coming to my point ! I exchanged that car for £41,000. Not too much more than you are looking at. Mine was a 3 year old car and yours was a 6 year old car. I'm not sure what price the Dealership sold it for but it clearly was alot more than the 41 grand that I recieved. It went in days .My point is that there's a lot of good stuff out there. Genuine cars that have had genuine caring owners. So, take your time dear Harv and I'm sure you will find something that you will like. And perhaps the 3 of us can then meet up for a chat and a beer and discuss all things Audi ! Good luck and please keep us in the loop. Frank

Hi Harv As an owner of two Q8's over the last 48 months I cannot really add to anything to what Cliffcoggin has suggested. Only to say that it is a big heavy car, especially so in 50TDI form so if the car that you are interested in has been driven aggresively by a previous owner I would suspect that that would take a toll on tyres and suspension systems. Not too sure what the metallic clinking sound is coming from the front end. It couldnt just be hot metal parts gently cooling down coud it ? It's reassuring that the car has full service history and I believe Audis plus warranty is a decent one that should cover anything that might be amiss. Apart from that I cannot help I'm afraid other than the Q8 is a night fine car and I hope you enjoy it if you go ahead with the sale. I'm 76 years of age and been fortunate enought to have owned some fine cars in my life and the Q8 is right up there with the best in my opinion. Big, comfortable,well engineered and put together, fast enough I think in both 55 TFSI and 50 TDi form.....although both engines have entirely different characeristics.......and finally, quite unique on UK and European roads. I did read recently somewhere that the Q8 outsells the Q7 in Europe but I'm notconvinced by that piece of data. Finally, I suppose if you are unsure of this car Harv, you could look elsewhere I presume. 've just had a look on the Autotrader website and there are over 230 pre-owned Q8s out there, mostly still in the Audi franchise network, so the Audi pluas warranty woud still apply. However , I do know what it's like ! If you like the look of this particular car....you know, right colour, right wheels, its hard to look for something else if you have set your heart on it. Whatever you decide, the best of luck and please let us know your decision. If its is thi particular car I wish you many happy,safe and enjoyable miles in it as I've had in mine. Frank

Morning Brad. I have a 23 plate Q8 55Tfsi. It has cruise control but not the adaptive cruise control that your friend has on his car. I suspect that the issue with the lane departure is to do with that. There must be an overlap of the systems somewhere. I would hazard a guess that you would need to disconnect the adaptive cruise control before you are able to turn off the lane assist. Just a guess but maybe you will have to delve deeper into the info folder that came with the car. On a general point I too turn off the lane assist whenever I drive my car. In fact it's the first thing I do! An absolutely useless piece of kit and I think I have read a survey recently that 83 % of all owners who have lane assist on their cars,do likewise. Frank

Just as an aside to my recent post on our road trip to Germany, thought I would like to just make a comment on Audi build quality verses other premium German makes. Whilst there,my Missus and I were invited out to a restaurant one evening by a good long standing German mate and his wife. We were staying in a hotel near the small town of Aerzen in Lower Saxony and the restarant chosen was located in the city of Hamelyn about 15 miles away....so a reasonable drive there and back. Our friend works for Britas, the water purifcation and the Company has recently suplied him with a new model C class Mercedes. It was ablack Estate model and I think badged c180D Our friend was rightly proud of it and it had most of the bells and whistles that all recent cars now have. Big tablet type screen in the middle that controls almost all functions, cameras and fancy lights with shutters. And it was pretty quiet too for a diesel engined car and had a reasonable amount of torque. However, the abiding memory for me as I sat in the passenger seat was how poor the build quality was compared to my Audi. And I know the 2 cars are in difeerent price ranges but I truly believe, being in quite a few model Audis from A3's to A6's that the integrity of the build in the entire Audi range is on a much higher level than the stuff Mercedes puts out The Mercedes switch gear was flimsy and made of cheap plastic, the doors must weigh half the weight of the Audi door. They shut with a terrible metallic clang. The door releases were cheap and plastic and the fancy round air vents were flimsy an didnt work with decent precision So, in my opinion.....and it is only a personal opinion, I think the Audi brand build quality far surpasses Mercedes and BMW at the moment. Which is a good job really as all of us here chose Audi eh !!! Oh and I didnt let on to our friend. The car was his choice and he was mightily proud of it and if we all chose the same brand car it would be a pretty boring world out there.

Glad to be of service Trev ! You have got to plan another trip and then tell us all about it. As you know,it's a different world over there.Driving is still enjoyable. One thing I forgot to write is that I was flashed 3 times by speed cameras whilst there. I await what will drop through the letter box in the next few weeks with interest 🤔

Not sure whether anyone will be interested in this but I just thought I would post my musings on our 4 week tour to Germany in our Q8. We just returned on Wednesday after crossing over on the Shuttle four weeks ago and making our way to Dortmund for our first overnight stop . Then we headed south to the little town of Parsbeg in Bavaria whjre we stayed for several days. Then up into the mountains of Bavaria to stay at Berchtesgaden for 5 days. We then crossed back to Berlin for a few days and then onto the wonderful city of Dresden where we stayed for a week. Finally we headed to a favourite Schlosshotel of ours in Lower Saxony whe re we stayed for 8 days. And then a leisurely drive heading for home for the same overnight in Dortmund before we spent 3 days in the little Belgian town of Ypres. I have a great Uncle who is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Cemery at Tyne Cot. If anyone wants to visit a site that will take your breath away visit this cemetry. The number of young British Tommies buried here who perished in the mud of Paschendale wil make you weep . I have to say that although my missus and I have been touring Germany in the car for many years the road network of the country has deteriated a little in the last few years. Not so much you understand as the apalling state that the UK roads are in now. Many more speed restrictions and repairs on their Autobahn sytem now. However the overiding opinion was that their autobahns, their A and B roads are still in a superb state compared to our roads. Great signage,billiard smooth surfaces, well engineered cambers etc. Also the standard of driving on the Autobahns is so much higher than here. Precise signalling to either come out in a lane or back in again and an almost 100 % compliance to speed restrictions . The only thing I would say is that if you do get in the big boys outside lane on the unrestricted stuff to overtake slower traffic, even though you are probably doing 120 mph, the fast boys behind doing 140/150 plus will try to bully you to get back inside ! And also just maybe the UK registration and sticker does provoke some just a tad ! The car went well. We ticked over from 8000 miles to over 1000. Comfortable and just about fast enough. We had theusual software gliches that any Audi owber recognises nowadays. Lost the top screen one time as it just got stuck trying to initialsie. Then I lost my user identity " thingy " at start up one time so when I started the car my preference didnt kick in. Nothing too nasty and all sorted by a quick reboot by starting the car up again. The most annoying thing was a repeated loud bong and red warning triangle and exclamation mark in the drivers panel warninf of " limited visibilty " ! This came onquite a few times on the Autobahn when the minimum visibilty was at the very least 300 metres and more. God bless the EU eh in forcing he manufacturers in giving us that. Hope ths is of interest. If not just ignore. Frank

Hi Will. That's a shame but a saving grace....maybe...is that the Q8 has a pretty big boot Also, a top box would surely spoil the lines of the car ! I've been mightily pleased with both my Q8's so I wish you many happy, enjoyable and safe miles in your splendid new car. Frank

Hi Will. Sorry to hear that. I am on my second Q8 now, the first was purchased in 2020 when there was a model called a ' First Edition ' I believe. If I remember correctly the model line up for the U.K then was S Line, followed by Firts Edition and then Vorsprung. I'm pretty certain ,roof rails and a sunroof were both extras on the S line and First Edition and only standard on the Vorsprung which had practically everything on the options list. I did have a look at a Firts Edition at a dealership in 2020 and it was a 50 tdi rather than a 55tfsi which is the model I had decided on. And I'm pretty sure it didn't have a sunroof. The Firts Edition models were replaced after 2020 with a Black Edition which I have now, purchased new in June 2023 Both the roof rails and panoramic sunroof were extras on the Black Edition and not options I required so didn't order. Audi are notorious on renaming models and adding small bits of kit. My Black Edition was model 23.5 which was soon followed by 24 model which did have heads up display, park plus.....and a panoramic sunroof ! Buto of course they raised the price ! Its a game all the manufacturers play to try and persuade you to buy the latest model. I'm not surprises that roof rails cannot be fitted retrospectively as it would involve drilling that could affect the integrity of the structure. Can you not go back to the dealer and explain and exchange for a Q8 with roof rails. Had a quick look at Autotrader and about half of the Q8's listed on there do have roof rails. Anyhows...Good luck.

Hi David. I had this happen to me twice on a previous Q8. .MMI screen just went completely blank. However, on both occasions, I did the factory reset as recommended by pressing for about 20 seconds on the radio on / off button and it worked both times. Screen came back to life. I replaces my 2020 Q8 with a new one in June 2023 and have had no problems with this current car....yet !

JSon. Sorry to hear about your problems with your Q8 and the 48v system. On previous posts I did write that in my first Q8 in 2020 I almost always turned the start / stop system off as I thought it didn't achieve anything significantly and it was a nuisance. It was only later that I was informed that in doing this, I was disabling the 48v mild hybrid system. So in my current Q8 I haven't disabled the start/ stop at all and therefore the 48 v unit is being used I haven't had any problems with it at all so could you please keep us updated in how Audi is responding to your fault. I hope its sorted for you soon. Frank