Category: Cars

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Road Trip Day 2

Day 1 of the road trip went well. Lincoln, NE to Saint Louis, MO. Nothing too eventful happened. We had a great dinner at “Tony”

Day 2 started off well after a good nights sleep and a great breakfast at the Embassy Suits Hotel. South of Mount Vernon, IL the Audi warned us that its oil was low. After stopping at a gas station a manual check of the oil confirmed that it did indeed need some. But not every truck stop stocks synthetic 5W-30. After a quick call to Onstar to locate a auto parts store and short drive to another town we purchased a quart of full synthetic oil and the car was happy for the rest of the day. Its getting great gas millage 23.8 mpg through the mountains at 80MPH.

Stop for Oil

Mountain Driving

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Audi Saga Part III

Well I have an update. The car was taken to the doctor yesterday and I must say service is very good when you drive in with the flagship car. It seems the dealer is the only one who actually know what the car is.

He called today and said that the reason the check engine light came on again was the catalytic converters were blocked with carbon. The reason for this was because the car was driven approximately 500 miles with the bad ignition. The dealer said he also suspected that the previous owner or the dealership we bought it from did not always burn premium fuel in the car and this led to the failing of the ignition coils.

Audi is replacing the cat’s which cost $1800 a piece under warranty. He said if the car was not under warranty he would of said it will burn off if you drive it. He also said it is a very long process of replacing them and the mechanic would spend all day or more on this. He also said that the car looks great and is in great shape and should have no more mechanical problem and he hopes not to see it back till it needs its normal service.

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Audi Saga Part II

Well last Thursday the car arrived on a flatbed truck from Topeka, KS having been repaired. The issue was the ignition coils. This problem plagued many earlier Audi/VW cars but not the A8L. With only 5 miles on the car sense repair the check engine light came on again. This is a rather concerning issue. The Audi dealer in Omaha does not have time to look at the car till the later part of this week. After talking with him he thinks that it would be very rare to actually have something mechanically wrong with the car. Instead he thinks a wire was not fully pluged in or something jiggled loose. I will keep everyone updated with this situation as it progresses.

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Audi Saga Part I

Saturday

Yesterday my dad and I flew from Omaha, NE to Houston, TX and then this morning we picked up my dad’s 2005 A8L with only 22,000 miles on it and started to drive home to Lincoln, NE. Before purchasing the car had been to an Audi Dealer in Houston to be checked over top and bottom. It passed everything beautify. Before getting out of the dealer at purchase, the automatic trunk would not stay latched. This problem was supposed to be fixed before the car was purchased. Once out on the freeway we noticed that the check engine light had came on. We need fuel so we pulled over and got some fuel and made sure the gas cap was on tightly and that the tires were inflated and that the caps under the hood were tight. The light was still on and with 880 miles left to travel, we called Audi roadside assistance. They said that the car needed service and that it was ok to drive it as long as the light stayed solid. This was all with in the first hour of travel time. Skip ahead about 550 miles and several hours of peaceful and uneventful driving the check engine light began to blink. The car lost power and began to run very roughly. As soon as possible, we pulled off the interstate and found a hotel.

Audi Service so far is fantastic. Audi’s 24 hour roadside assistance program is towing the car on flatbed truck to Topeka, KS to the closest Audi dealer tonight at 11pm on a Saturday. The car will not be serviced until Monday. While at service, they will fix the engine and trunk and then they will deliver the car to my doorstep in Lincoln when it’s fixed. They are also paying for a rental car so my dad and I can get back home tomorrow morning. As well as a the hotel for the night.

The tow truck driver was extremely happy to get up out of bed and get payed at least double overtime to drive the A8L to Topeka, KS at 11pm. It was about a 2-3 hour drive. He was glad to help us out.


Therefore, after a long day of driving I can conclude that this car is clearly a piece of classic German engineering. You know this is the case when you’re in a small town in Oklahoma and while your eating supper people look at the car going around back to look what it is or while people are taking a smoke break they trace the cars body lines with their hands. It’s a real head turner. A great looking car works well for the most part. The DVD navigation is fantastic. It guided us through Houston, Dallas, and every other town with 100% accuracy. Now if it only had an engine that worked well.

Sunday

After catching a cab to the airport to pick up the rental car we discovered that the largest available car to rent in Wichita, KS was either a Ford Taurus which my father refused to rent or a Toyota Camry. We chose the Camry. It was fine and got us home. Along the way we had a fantastic Sunday lunch with appetizers, drinks, and dessert all complements of Audi. I will write another post when the cause of the problem is determined.

Here are some other images of the car as of Saturday night.



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Lexus LS 460/460L Local Launch Party

Tonight I went to the Lexus Event for the Launch of the Lexus LS 460 and LS 460L. They had valet parking and they were a bit surprised when a friend and I pulled up in a first generation Mazda RX-7. I was also one of they youngest at the event by at least 15 years. They had lots of food like shrimp, crackers, cheese, a chocolate fountain and an open bar. They had an LS 460L in Obsidian and Alabaster Leather with Medium Brown Trim. The picture of the car below is of the 460L. Outside they had a Smokey Granite Mica with Black Leather and Medium Brown Walnut. It as demonstrating the new amazing self parking feature. It was truly amazing. The salesman pulled up parallel to the front vehicle put the LS in reverse clicked a button on the screen. Approved of where the car will place its self and hit ok. The car then turned the wheel and backed into position. The salesman then put it in drive and pulled up a little and that was it. Amazing.Here is a video from youtube that is demonstrating the parking of the car. (I did not take the video)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lc6U7JTkMXw

The pictures below are not great because there were lots of people around. The LS 460L was stickered at around $79,850.

LS460L
LS460L
I also got a goodie bag that had a Swiss chocolate, a Lexus pad of paper and calculator, Lexus Pen, and a very nice brochure with some very nice shots of the car.
Goodie Bag
Goodie Bag
The car was very nice. On the short drive around the parking lot it was extremely smooth and quite. I think the head room in the back seat has been reduced. The 19 speaker stereo system was crazy. There were at a minimum 3 speakers on each door. I did not like how the engine bay was covered up completely in plastic. I think the rear of the car looks a lot like a BMW 7 series that has been toned down a lot. I was amazed how small the windows seemed and how tall the body under the windows was. I also thought that the B pillar needed to be chromed and a set of 19’s would look a little better. Over all it’s a good looking car but not incredibly unique.