I missed my A8L so I finally got my 2019 A8L 55 D5 and skipped the D4 generation. I got this car after the market dropped (1/29/2023), I originally wanted the A8L 60 e but the price difference was over $10k which wasn’t worth the “e” that can drive with battery for 19 miles. The gas mileage on this 3.0 turbo is quite amazing, I clocked on the freeway at 70MPH at 27MPG. Driving around town and congested freeway is always over 20MPG.
I found this car at Monterey Audi one owner with 30k miles with all the service records. I did buy an extended warranty from Audi for $6k 4/48 to be sure since the car is out of warranty due to age.
So, why did I skip the D4 and got the D5, because of the technology they put in this car. There are quite a few options I wished I got but there are not many exist in the Sunny CA and I don’t really want to go out of the state to get one.
These are the options that one should look for: Executive, Luxury package, LED package, B&O 3D, I do like the LED light package but this car doesn’t have. Anyhow, it does have cold weather package and driver assistant package which is a must for me.
The ride and the quietness of the car won us over both my wife and I. We didn’t really care for the 20″ low profile wheels but they’re OK and came with most of the A8L we’ve looked at. We only looked for the 55 instead of the 60 because of the smaller engine. We’re not too crazy about speed and acceleration.
The Apple CarPlay and massage seats are the main feature that we buy this car over the D4.
The Satellite Map is amazing with all the speed check and traffic, download in real time. The search screen with writing is so good and works perfectly well.
The ACC and lane assist are great although we’re not too sure about the lane assist. The ACC uses more gas because it doesn’t know how to coast down when hitting the stop traffic, it just charges to the car in front and brakes, accelerates quickly to the distance designated. They need to have AI for this LOL. I seldom use this feature only when I was tired on the congested highway in the Bay Area and it works wonder.
The Massage seats are so good, they have so many different ways to massage and it does help when we’re tired.
The heated seats and steering wheels are amazing. Both of the arm rests also heated too. The kids love the rear heated seats just like the old A8L D3.
The rear privacy screens are motorized now, unlike the old A8L D3 which is nice. The kids love them.
The dual moon roofs are excellent.
The Stop/Start feature. Due to the that cause owners to be stranded on some of the cars, it was recommended to turn off every time we started the car although the system works quite well IMHO. This is officially guaranteed for 7 years unlimited miles. Not sure how many are affected.
The 3.0L turbos also have noisy lifter problems.
The Washer fluid warning light came on today after a month driving the car. . I’ll check this weekend.
After a month of driving this car, we both love the car regardless of all the troubles people were having on the audiworld forum. I’ll have review after driving it more. It’s a beautiful car and so well built.
The keys were so nice we bought the leather covers for them and replace the original carpet with Audi All weather mats.
