Barry, I used to have a 1998 A8 4.2 Quattro sport, but 12 months ago swapped it for a 2002 S8. All i can say is that they are 2 totally different cars, the S 8 is more responsive and handling is far superior, the fuel consumption is about the same depending on how you drive it and with mine being a later S8 it's on long life servicing which means it only wants servicing every 20,000 miles or when the computer tells you again this depends on your driving, I drive mine hard and with a permanent grin on my face. Buy the S8 you will not be disappointed.
