VISIT- Pick Your Pearl White Audi Poison

Bradley Brownell

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Last weekend, I was visiting the Monterey area for obvious reasons.  While walking the parking lot of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, I found this demure D2 generation Audi A8 in the most sultry shade that the automaker offered at the time.  Now, I may be biased because my own C4 chassis Audi S6, lovingly known as Project Funf Zyl, is also painted in the same flattering shade.  

All wheel drive, a nice healthy 4.2 liter V8, and leather for miles makes the D2 A8 an interesting proposition for cross country cruiser.  It was certainly built for the autobahn, and offers comfort in spades.

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I left my apartment on Friday morning around 3am, heading west out of Reno on I-80 through Sac-town and down to the Monterey peninsula along the 101.  The rowdy Audi did the 700 mile round trip with no hiccups, averaging more than 24 miles to the gallon, which is a personal best.  My 2.2 liter 5 cylinder pulled quite well, and there was a section through the mountains where we coasted for nearly 6 miles on a 6% downward grade.  While the car is a bit dirty, it served me well, and deserved a bath when we got back home.

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The A8, also dirty, having stayed out in the sand all day at the race track, still looked quite nice in the setting sun.  As I left Laguna Seca and crested the hill to where Funf Zyl was parked, I noticed a pearl white vision stood alone on the hill.  I knew that I needed to drive over to have a little sibling photography session.  

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While I vastly prefer the A8L for the added panache, I would certainly not kick this big booty beast out of bed for eating crackers.  The D2 A8 is a little notorious for having poor transmission longevity, so I would certainly have to conduct a manual transmission swap, perhaps for the 6 speed found in the B7 RS4.  If added power is your bag, it is certainly nice to fantasize about one of these with the European C5 RS6 4.2 twin-turbo swapped into the engine bay.

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Interestingly, earlier in the day I also spotted an Audi Quattro Coupe in the same color, and had a lovely conversation with the owner.  Unfortunately, I was so enamored with its beauty that I neglected to take any photographs, so this reasonable facsimile will have to do.  So, which of the three would you prefer to have in your garage?

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[Audi Quattro Coupe photo provided by Motortopia.com, all other photos copyright 2013 Bradley Brownell/Hooniverse.com]

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Bradley Brownell

Bradley Brownell

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19 responses to “VISIT- Pick Your Pearl White Audi Poison”

  1. Jim Brennan Avatar
    Jim Brennan

    Sorry Bradley, but none of them. To me Audi is like a very beautiful Mistress… Delightful to the eye (Eye Candy if you will), and the white just makes it more so… Wonderful to be inside (Sensual if you catch my drift)… But very expensive in the end (The car will need everything, and it ain't cheap… The Mistress might cost your marriage).

    Reply
    1. LTDScott Avatar
      LTDScott

      Agreed. In fact my friend just sent me this photo today, showing how to change the alternator. Nein danke.
      <img src="http://i.imgur.com/6x1erlY.jpg&quot; width=650>

      Reply
      1. JayP2112 Avatar
        JayP2112

        Ah- the Audi Service Position.

        Reply
        1. dukeisduke Avatar
          dukeisduke

          Assume it!

          Reply
          1. FЯeeMan Avatar
            FЯeeMan

            Not necessary on the 1.8T. Just did mine a few weeks ago. But, yeah… :/

          2. Vairship Avatar
            Vairship

            Is the 1.8T the one that likes to catch fire when the coil packs start to fail and send high voltage everywhere EXCEPT to the spark plug?

          3. FЯeeMan Avatar
            FЯeeMan

            Good Lord, I hope not!
            That's not an issue I've heard about wandering about the VWVortex and other Passat forums.

          4. Vairship Avatar
            Vairship

            http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4607814 second comment from the bottom.
            A colleague's wife had this happen too: engine stumbles, she kept driving. Then smoke pouring from under the hood => engine fire. Although I thought in her case it was the plastic engine cover that caught fire, not the hood insulation (i.e. as the coil pack insulation cracks, spark tries to find the nearest bit of engine block metal, and the plastic cover happened to be in the way or nearby enough to catch fire).
            Note that this was a few years ago, so VAG may have fixed it.

          5. JayP2112 Avatar
            JayP2112

            Yea- they had a big recall a few years ago.
            All the years I had Audis with coil packs, I only ever had one to fail and that was after a Revo tune that forced the issue. Replaced the set with the updated packs. 6 months later I was alerted to the recall… but I'd tossed the receipt and was out the $$$.

    2. moorewr2 Avatar
      moorewr2

      Depends on the model, and the history of your particular car. My Ur S6, knock on wood, gives brand new cars a run for the money when it comes to maintenance free miles.
      I guess I vote Ur S4/S6, for decent fuel economy, an easily maintained engine, and lots of room and great performance. Date the D2, marry the C4.

      Reply
    3. JayP2112 Avatar
      JayP2112

      A late model Audi wouldn't be to bad- if you didn't have to rely it every day, had the tools and space to service it and had access to parts on a regular basis.

      Reply
  2. kingcrowing Avatar
    kingcrowing

    I've got an UrS6 in Emerald Green, that Pearl White is just tasty though. I'd have to say I'd keep my S6 over the A8 just because I love that 5-speed, it's the best transmission I've ever used after my old NA Miata – even better than my M3 had. Now if that last option was an UrQuattro coupe then I'd have no problem trading in my S6…

    Reply
  3. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    Audi isn't doing anything for me either, but I can fully understand your affection and attention for your car. That rear view pic is a bit like a teenager telling his little brother about the meaning of life.
    Like: Better drive a Volvo.
    🙂

    Reply
  4. FЯeeMan Avatar
    FЯeeMan

    I'd have fit right in with the little cousin B5.5 Passat in "some sort of" white.

    Reply
  5. david42 Avatar
    david42

    Ugh. My wife used to have a 2000 A8. She called it the "bad boyfriend," because it was always tempting her with illegal fun… but it was also abusive.

    Reply
  6. Rover1 Avatar
    Rover1

    Manual ones do exist, even in the US.This one might still be around.. .http://germancarsforsaleblog.com/1997-audi-a8-4-2-6-speed-manual/
    You can get the parts and do your own, this might help,
    <img src="http://autopartmaster.com/imgbank/cat/audi1/img..asp@mdl=152&unit=3A107180"width="500">
    and to see in action just watch
    <img src="http://cdnl.complex.com/mp/620/400/80/0/bb/1/ffffff/2bcb89eb6deb098637497fe64c542f4b/images_/assets/CHANNEL_IMAGES/RIDES/2013/08/car-movies-streaming-on-netflix/ayidf_ronin_683441.jpg"&gt;
    <img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/autos.aol.com/media/2013/02/ronin320.jpg"&gt;

    Reply
  7. ThirdPedalGirl Avatar
    ThirdPedalGirl

    Oh, that pearl white…. I've been swooning over that white since I was a 14 year old girl pinning Porsches up on my bedroom wall.

    Reply
  8. topdeadcentre Avatar
    topdeadcentre

    Heh, Pearl White. When my friend bought an achy, breaky, sold-it-after-eight-months-to-cut-his-losses-in-servicing-costs used A4 wagon, we referred to both the car and the color as Spoo White.

    Reply
  9. Darin Avatar
    Darin

    Just stumbled across this old article today. That happens to be my old 1990 Coupe quattro 20v in the last photo. 😉 Is your white UrS6 the same one featured in the recent RS7 Performance video?

    Reply