i am thinking of buying a used 2004 or newer audi a8 and want to know how much the cost of ownership is compared to bmw or lexus or infiniti

A good friend of mine has owned 2 Audi A8's in the last 5 years.... Although he thinks they are the greatest car out there I am constantly seeing him service them.... One thing I noted is he has changed the front control arms on each twice... It seems these Audi's aren't built to handle real bumpy roads... Yeah they hug the road and perform well but that goes to crap after a few good potholes.... I also have seen him messing around with replacing other suspension and steering components...

Its funny / sad watching him pull into our bumpy parking lot real slow because he doesn't want to harm the chassis parts....

Probably around the same as a BMW, expensive non the less, transmissions may be more than most