Good Find Friday features interesting vehicles we’ve found for sale while conducting market analysis or appraisal research. They are not for sale by Wolf and Mare and we have no business relationship with the sellers. We just think they’re worth learning about and sharing with our readers!

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The last car in our “Cars of Ronin” feature series is also my personal favorite. While I’m not usually a big car guy, Ronin forever placed the first-generation Audi S8 in my mind as a bucket list car. Naturally, it would have to be the Euro-only manual transmission. In today’s Market Monday, I’m featuring a three-pedal 1996 Audi S8 that might be the crown jewel in a Ronin film car collection.

Released in 1998, Ronin is a crime thriller set in Europe and directed by the legendary director John Frankenheimer. The story follows a group of professional mercenaries hired to steal a mysterious metal case, depicting their planning, shifting alliances, and pursuit across Paris and the south of France. It’s a fantastic piece of cinema with a terrific ensemble cast and is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Thanks to the movie’s extended and realistically staged car chases that eschew visual effects in favor of real action (aside from a somewhat pitiful use of digital smoke in one scene), Ronin has become a cult film among automotive enthusiasts.

The first-generation Audi A8 debuted in the mid-1990s as Audi’s bold reentry into the full-size luxury segment. Built in Neckarsulm, it was defined by its pioneering aluminum Audi Space Frame construction, which reduced weight while improving rigidity. Given the 100kg weight penalty imposed by the Quattro all-wheel drive system, the aluminum chassis was intended to make the car more competitive with its rivals. Engine options ranged from V6s to a 4.2-liter V8, and every model featured the Quattro system. Smooth, solid, and well-assembled, the D2 A8 earned praise from automotive journalists for its high-speed stability, refined road manners, and subtle design.

The Audi S8 took that aluminum flagship and sharpened it. Offered only in short-wheelbase form, it packed a hotter version of the 4.2-liter V8 with around 335 horsepower, paired with a firmer, lowered suspension and larger wheels. Visual changes were restrained with polished mirror caps, discreet badging, and a slightly more purposeful stance being the only indication that this was the sporting variant. Where the standard A8 excelled at effortless luxury, the S8 added real pace and composure, creating one of the era’s great understated performance sedans.

Several D2-generation Audis were used during production of the film Ronin, including S8s and closely related A8 4.2 models. Some of the picture cars were modified with reinforced suspensions and camera mounts to withstand the film’s famously practical, high-speed chase sequences shot on location in Paris and Nice.

Today’s Good Find Friday car is a 1997 Audi S8 currently on offer on Mobile.de by the selling dealer in Sweden with an asking price of €23,888 or $27,750. 

The car is finished in metallic green with a beige leather interior, and has approximately 114,200 miles on the odometer, which reads in kilometers, as the car was originally sold in Germany, but quickly imported to Sweden where it resides today.

No obvious flaws are visible on the exterior based on the photos and the condition of the paint appears to be very good overall, with good gloss and only minor blemishes visible. Detailed closeups are not plentiful, so it is difficult to know whether the car bears the knicks and chips typically found on a 100,000+ mile car.

Moving to the interior, you can see more evidence of the car’s regular use. Wrinkles and wear can be seen on both the deeply bolstered sport seats, with the majority of the wrinkles and color loss on the driver’s side. The door panel inserts show typical wrinkling from the adhesive failing over time and the door sills have some light scuffing. The burl wood trim, steering wheel, gear shift and switchgear all appear to be in very good condition.

Aluminum multi-spoke wheels were cribbed from the design of the Audi Avus concept car and match those used on the car piloted by getaway driver Larry in Ronin. The engine bay is nicely detailed, which is not typical of many of these cars. Like all luxury German automobiles, the S8 was expensive to maintain and many were abused or modified by subsequent owners.

The selling dealer, Garage 11, notes that the car was purchased by the dealership and has been treated to a full service in preparation for sale.

Prices for the D2 Audi S8 have been softening a bit the last few years, but even during the pandemic boom prices were a bit all over the map. The average price of a D2 Audi S8 is around $13,400, but that number includes both automatic and manual variants. The 6-speed cars were never imported to the United States, and most recent sales of three-pedal Audi S8s on sites like Bring a Trailer have been modified from automatics. In Europe, the manual cars are also pretty difficult to find, especially in the green over beige color of the car used in Ronin.

Values vary greatly, mostly based on condition. I’m not aware of any genuine six-speed Audi A8s having been imported and publicly sold in the US market, making it necessary to import one if you want a genuine factory manual transmission S8.

Is our car today worth the almost $30,000 asking price? It depends on your objectives. If you’re buying and importing the car for a Cars of Ronin collection, hopefully inspired by our series of posts, then it may be a fair price. If your goal is to import the car for resale, I think you’d need to aggressively negotiate the price to under $20,000 as importation costs will eat into your profit margin. I doubt too many US buyers would pay over $30,000 for a D2 S8, even with a factory 6-speed.

I definitely wish I had the disposable cash to bring a first-generation Audi S8 in a manual to our shores. Perhaps I should look for a high-miles car in a less exciting color combination, like silver over black, as they tend to go for a little less money. Then I can finally do that four-wheel drift on a cobblestone avenue like Larry did in Ronin.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!