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Well. I have a 12 cyl now, this is a car that is so beyond what I thought I would end up in when I first began developing any interest in cars at all it's surreal.
Negotiations went well, got 10k off their asking price due to them having zero idea what it was/no interest locally in it at all. Not a bad deal for less than a base Camry lol!
I'm having the car shipped back to me, I didn't like the fact the tires are mismatched and would rather not drive it 450 miles. Should be here for a proper barrage of pictures shortly, I'm nervous since I've never had a car delivered to me before. I'm really hoping they took my instructions seriously for how it has to be transported in regards to the air suspension.
I'll keep updates coming as I work on the car, plan right now is just full maintenance and new tires and a simple stage 1 tune. Should increase wheel HP from 410 to about 475 based on everyone else who has done it.
No teaser or spoiler?
All I know is it's a V-12 so guess I'll have to wait for pics.
This is cruelty to animals and humans.....
Lol, the thread auto removed my capitals. It's supposed to say A8L W12, "CEJA" is the engine code for the 6.3 version that came in the D4 generation aka the final version that was imported to the US.
It's one of 327 ever made, and I think one of two ever in these colors with the sport TVD. Not sure on that since there are some holes in the registry. I'll add some pictures of the major distinctive features
Lol, the thread auto removed my capitals. It's supposed to say A8L W12, "CEJA" is the engine code for the 6.3 version that came in the D4 generation aka the final version that was imported to the US.
It's one of 327 ever made, and I think one of two ever in these colors with the sport TVD. Not sure on that since there are some holes in the registry. I'll add some pictures of the major distinctive features
Thermal/NV camera
W12…that is prestige and upper class. Really nice sir
Here are few pics from the dealer, I'll have my own once I have time to clean it up and finish servicing. Oh I should mention that the entire nose cone and leading surfaces are PPF protected and the paint is basically perfect. There is damage to the rear bumper but that is not an issue because it allowed me some serious price negotiation leverage lol!
Yes I know the weatherstrip is gone, I have a replacement on the way already.
Congrats! Can’t wait to see some detailed pics after it’s all cleaned up.
Originally Posted by Lwerewolf
FLIR. All you need.
Originally Posted by LexsCTJill
So impressive. I think you’re the only person in car chat that has a V 12.
Thanks everyone, I'll be sure to document it well and create guides for ownership etc.
I am very much looking to put the car mounted system up against my DTNVGs that I have OMNI 8 WPT tubes in, I doubt it will compete but it's still super cool a car has a system like that at all. It was not something I was searching for but when I saw it had the FLIR camera it was a nice added bonus to the two options that were my must haves.
I seriously doubt I'm the only 12 cyl owner here though since I am SURE there is at least one 599 on the board lol! I may however, be the only W12
I know nothing about these cars and didn't even know they came with a V12 as an option. What year is this and how many miles? Also, what are some of the unique features of this car? Usually a flagship like this has some unique features at that time that are pretty cool. While it isn't the most powerful car and can't be tuned like the turbo versions, is the V12 supposed to be much smoother and effortless to get up to speed? Also, I have to ask because I am curious, what is the gas mileage on something like this?
Super clean, what a find.
Engine takes up all the real estate under the hood, I hope they left enough room to work!
I don't see enough room for a belt driven fan with fan clutch unless it's hidden and tight so guessing it's running electric cooling fan but just a guess.
I know nothing about these cars and didn't even know they came with a V12 as an option. What year is this and how many miles? Also, what are some of the unique features of this car? Usually a flagship like this has some unique features at that time that are pretty cool. While it isn't the most powerful car and can't be tuned like the turbo versions, is the V12 supposed to be much smoother and effortless to get up to speed? Also, I have to ask because I am curious, what is the gas mileage on something like this?
It's a 2012, they only made these for a very short window of time in the D4 generation of A8 so options are severely limited, features are nearly endless......heated/cooled/auto bolstering/massage/24 way seats, rear 16 way massage/heat/cool/memory seats, rear seat entertainment system with ability to use any device that outputs to HDMI/RCA/DP plus several power outlets to run anything you may need, mine doesn't have it but there is a fridge offered that can cool to 20* but I may add one since it's easily removable, in addition to that the car has "autopilot" of a sort in the sense it will self center in lane and follow a car down to a total stop, plus the usual auto lane monitoring, auto brake, rear auto impact compensation, self park etc. The sunroof has a solar element in it that will run the HVAC fans when you are away to prevent overly hot air from building up inside the car in summer.
The rear has controls for both sunroofs and all power shades for both rear passengers and the rear also has a MMI system that can control car functions, the rear MMI system also has two separate audio streams so that each rear seat and the front can all have separate audio/video and not bother each other and it's all via bluetooth OR 3.5mm jack.
Front seat can be controlled from the rear via MMI if no one is sitting in it and the driver can control all 4 seats if wanted, there is a feature to "twin" the front passenger seat to be identical to the settings on the drivers so it looks perfectly symmetrical. I love this since normally it takes me a few min to get them "mirrored" and looking correct after someone adjusts the passenger side when I'm driving alone again. On this there is literally a setting to do it automatically, the keys also save ALL your settings to them including heat/ac, seats, drive modes, radio/MMI presets, NAV system info, phones, unlock order etc etc you get the idea lol!
As mentioned it has thermal night vision, the system interlinks with the front radar systems/cameras and will ID and highlight people, cars, and animals and auto brake if needed if you have the feature enabled. If you do not want it to interfere you can set it to tag only.
Suspension is also insane, front is a 5 link as is the rear with EVERYTHING being aluminum except for the front main subframe. The subframe is actually 2 separate sections and is STUPID easy to work on due to that, you can remove the center section and get to literally anything you need to with ease. On the LS430/460 you would need to remove the subframe for a huge amount of work that on these you just zip the center out. Air suspension is real time variable twin chamber plus the steering even being hydraulic is actually a twin system, the hydro system has a speed adjusted valve that reduces assist by mode and speed but also if you turn a particular amount off center (panic mode) it has a mechanical bypass to allow stronger assist RIGHT NOW. The second system is a continuously variable column rack that is able to correct your steering angle in real time to make the car faster in turns, if the car senses you are taking too tight a line for a front heavy Audi it will reduce your steering input angle without moving the wheel in your hands to allow a better tire slip angle and increase traction. At the same time it will also brake the inside wheels and use the rear TVD to direct more/all power to the outside wheels in real time and not reacting to conditions like most ESP systems do since the quattro system is mechanical, this make this massive thing literally feel like a 3 series in both size, weight, and balance. That sport dynamic package was one of my MUSTS since my 2015 doesn't have it and honestly it was ruining the car for me.
The engine feeling is unreal and it's actually faster than my 4.0 stock despite the numbers and lack of forced induction. It is a 200mph capable car....I'll be testing that later once it's ironed out. Real HP is well over 500 stock since these get around 420 wheel, they are just not well documented at all is the issue since less than 350 exist but I have found a tuner who is trusted to gain a 70 WHP uplift plus transmission tuning. MPG is acceptable considering the area I live, if I long term average 20+ I will be very satisfied since anything over 20 is the magic number to me since I started driving a 9.7 mpg car. Most of my family still drives 12-17 mpg cars (massive SUVs, and they do not care in the slightest about fuel costs and my dad drives 20-50 mi to work one way near every day) so anything in the 20s we consider outstanding.
The TQ curve is a rising tide that actually INCREAES in force when the turbo engine starts to fall off and it loves to just keep advancing, that the best way I can describe it. The power feels truly endless, think driving a V8 vs a small 6 or even a 4 and how the 8 feels like it just pulls endlessly....that's what this engine makes V8s feel like and I understand now why V12 buyers were willing to pay 40% more just for the fact it's a 12 cyl. The feeling is unlike anything else I have felt, it's a smooth but not perfectly EV like wall of force that still has very high amounts of personality and an ascending rush of power that doesn't fall off like a turbo car or EV does.
The other major advantage and one of the reasons I wanted the 12 is that the engine is not only seamless with zero lag like the turbo version can have issues with, it's that it's stupidly simple and reliable. There are less systems/complexity on this than on my LS430 yet alone the LS460, no variable intake, no twin injection, no VVTi-E, no multi material intake tract, no vacuum system, a more simple cam chain system with 4 less parts than the LS460, a much easier to access PCV, no coolant crossover/valley plate/coolant manifolds like on both cars....everything is on the front and easy to get to. Nearly all systems on this engine are partitioned away from the rest, nothing is scattered around the bay and each sub-system gets dedicated components that fail safe. Every single cooler on the car has a safety bypass in the event of cooler blockage and all can be bypassed externally with ease if needed......you get the idea. It's ironically very very simple to live with and most of the parts are shared with the 3.6 Porshe engines so I don't even have to pay a bunch for parts if I do need something that is not a game ender like a block/crank.
Base price back in 2012 was 136k ranging to 197k with this one coming in at 165k
Super clean, what a find.
Engine takes up all the real estate under the hood, I hope they left enough room to work!
I don't see enough room for a belt driven fan with fan clutch unless it's hidden and tight so guessing it's running electric cooling fan but just a guess.
Fun fact is that this engine is smaller than the 4.0 in my 2015 and also smaller than the 4.3 in the LS430, it's way more roomy than any of them and WAY better than the LS460. That's the party trick of the "W" class engines, you can fit a 3.6 "V6" in the space a 1.5L 4 cyl normally fits or a 12 cyl in just slightly over the space a normal V6 sits and well under the space of a V8 to the tune of almost 20% less length front to rear and 5% less width. Plus the wide and short cylinder heads are still only using 2 cams per side and they have 3 rows of head bolts resulting in EXTREMELY high rigidity vs even a V8 engine. It's a full bedplate engine with cast iron inserts to carry the crank bearings on the lower (thrust) half as well.
There is a belt there that is very easy to change out and doesn't have any odd drive systems like the rear of engine mounted multi-chain drive PS, WP, and AC the 4.0 has, just normal belt driven gear here. No clutch fan since they are too loud and you can't control their speeds like an electric.
12-14-22, 05:23 PM
A8l w12 ceja 6.3
