2018 Audi S8

Car and Driver (opens in a new tab) calls 2018 the last model year of the third-generation S8, since its A8 platform is all-new for 2019, and describes the car as an executive rally car with standard all-wheel drive, a taut suspension and a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 that Audi co-developed with Bentley. The standard S8's 520 horsepower had fallen behind the BMW 760i's 601 and the Mercedes-AMG S65's 621 by then, which is why the S8 Plus exists: CarBuzz (opens in a new tab) lists it at 605 horsepower and 553 pound-feet with a top speed near 190 mph.

Exotic Car Hacks (opens in a new tab) notes the front end was updated earlier in the run with a single-frame grille, matrix LED headlights and revised intakes, and that the 2017 car had no major changes. CarBuzz says the interior, unchanged in layout since the 2012 launch, is the place you could most fault the car. A 2018 S8 is therefore a 2012-era cabin around a still-very-fast drivetrain.

NHTSA lists one recall campaign for the 2018 S8, 20V397000, which covers the seal around the engine compartment on 2013 to 2018 S8 and A8 cars that may come loose and contact moving parts, and no owner complaints. The bigger costs are wear items described by owner reports rather than recalls. Au7o (opens in a new tab) ranks adaptive air-suspension multi-point failure as the most reported issue, at $1,200 to $4,500 to repair, followed by ZF eight-speed torque-converter and valve-body trouble at $2,500 to $6,000, turbo V-8 coolant-system degradation at $1,000 to $3,500 and an intercooler coolant leak that can put coolant into the intake. Treat those as things to have a specialist inspect on any used car, since the repair ranges are that site's own.

Kelley Blue Book (opens in a new tab) lists a used 2018 S8 sedan at a dealership Fair Purchase Price of $33,000, with trade-in near $26,000 and private-party near $30,500. KBB has few transactions to draw on for this car, so the numbers are a single-point estimate rather than a range. At that price the repair exposure above, not the purchase price, is the real cost of ownership.

EPA rates the 2018 S8 at 18 mpg combined with an annual fuel cost of about $4,300. The 2018 BMW 7 Series rates 16 to 27 mpg combined at $2,850 to $4,850 a year, the 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 16 to 22 at $3,500 to $4,850 and the Lexus LS 21 to 28 at $2,750 to $3,700. On EPA figures the S8 has the highest fuel cost of the four and the Lexus LS the lowest.