Happy belated New Year! I haven’t forgotten my CarMax collaborators. Will explain the delay in writing in a bit. But first, a unicorn I don’t want to miss – a 2015 Audi S8. Bargain price and low miles. Low profile. Fast. Luxurious. Tempting.
(The reason for not writing here is that I day-hiked the Grand Canyon Rim-to-River in the fall and spent weeks writing about it. If you’re into hiking, the Grand Canyon, my shameless links to my other webpage adventures are at the bottom of this blog.)
This is a third-generation, facelifted S8. The folks in Audi World are highly confident that only 697 S8’s were sold in the USA in 2015, and only a few thousand over the years. A rare bird.
The Audi S8 comes fully loaded – heated, cooling, and massaging seats, auto cruise control, heated steering wheel, heads up display, adjustable suspension, Bose audio, and all the safety stuff, including Cross-Traffic Alert.
Here’s a weird deal breaker for me. At 6’4″, my head is usually at or behind the B pillar in most cars, including this big Audi. Yesterday I tried to slide into an Audi S8 and an Audi S6 at my local CarMax, and bruised my butt in the process. Both cars have this protrusion, and I hit it every time I got in. I asked my favorite CarMax Car Dude Guru Service Rep Ryan about it, and he thought it might be a side airbag housing. Google AI agrees with Ryan. The photo below was mine from the Audi S6. The only way I could own an Audi, I guess, is to have my left cheek reduced. My insurance won’t pay for that.
The rear seat doesn’t look as spacious as I’d like, with the driver’s seat probably all the way back. Nice powered window shades, though.
Enormous trunk. Nice road trip car. Motor Trend thought the fuel mileage was excellent at 27mpg highway in a 500+ horsepower big sedan. Gives you almost a 600-mile range at normal speeds. A tradeoff for sure, given the sports car performance lurking in an S8. A “regular” V8 Audi A8 gets 30mph highway – a V6 only 29!
This 10+ year old Audi is not without imperfections, and CarMax has included photos of some nicks and scratches. These are the things that would not bother me for $36k, but would drive me crazy in a higher-priced car. Battle scars. But there’s more to the story. CarMax reports it was in one accident in 2021, with severity “unknown”. Must have been a doozy. The details in the Experian AutoCheck Report note:
Accident or Damage Reported
Left Side Damage or Repair Reported
Right Side Damage or Repair Reported
Rear Damage or Repair Reported
Damage or Repair to Bumper Reported
Damage or Repair to Wheels Reported
If there was damage to the roof, I’d be wondering if they rolled it! How do you damage both sides and the rear? It’s buyer beware, though the accident was years ago, and you have to believe it’s rolled into the price. If you want it as a bargain to drive it until it’s not worth anything, maybe you don’t care. If you’re worried about resale, maybe you do.
Above is the heart and soul of the S8 – a twin-turbo V8 making 520 horsepower. The A8 V8 pushes 435. With an eight-speed automatic and AWD, the S8 rockets to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. Top speed is 155 mph, governed. Remarkable for a 4,600-pound luxury sedan. Below is some dude’s video of the motor and a quick fast getaway.
The 2015 Audi S8 sold new for at least $115,000. It’s less than a third that now, leaving room for a must-have MaxCare extended warranty. It’s currently being shipped to CarMax Capitol Expressway in San Jose, California. Here’s the link if you want to track it.
StockNo: 28161877 VIN: WAUK2AFDXFN011633
Bonus: if a high-performance Audi S8 isn’t for you, for just $4,000 more, you can get a more refined, four-year-newer A8 with a V8! This is a fourth generation, so you also get the dash with multiple flat screens, and not the pop-up display in the 2015 S8. And this one hasn’t been crashed. It’s here in Sacramento.
Stock No: 27817906 VIN: WAU8EAF89KN024307
Wait, 6’4″ and you’re not fitting into 2015-gen A8? I haven’t tried, but same height and I was optimistic about that one.
Howdy. I fit very well…once in. The problem is to fit the seat has to be slid way back, and that makes me stab my butt on that protrusion on the lower b-pillar. Happened every time I got in.