Audi's flagship ... their greatest attempt at a big car the A8 stands to be a car that is probably the most bland looking flagship car out there. Looking at it and it doesn't specifically call out or shout lavishness at you. It looks sedate, calm and well ... uninspiring for that kind of money. What is even more boring is that Audi's high performance version of the same car, the Audi S8 is no better. More money... same bland look. You walk around the car and it looks like your typical Audi... nothing fantastic, it looks nice... but not shouty. The front looking simple and elegant, the side looks long as it should and the back looks well, like a German car. The only thing that gives away a bit of this car's character is the quad exhaust which is exposed under the bumper and a little badge denoting it is the S8 trim.
Get in and fire it up... and hmmm, it sounds different. Pulling out the sheet from the glove box and you will see that this car is powered by 5.2L V10 engine. Interesting... The paperwork claims that it boasts 450hp at 7000rpm and a monsterous 398ft-lbs of torque at 3500rpm. You sit there thinking to yourself... are they sure? The engine sitting beneath the bonnet is calm and quiet with a rock steady idle. You would start to think an engine with these types of numbers may have a erratic idle or may make noise akin to a performance engine... but nothing. It is calm, almost as if there was a sleeping bear under the hood snoring his hiberating period away.
I figure, let's set off and go for a drive and see what the S8 badge on the back of this car is all about. First, it is comfortable and smooth. The car soaks up bumps as a uber-large sedan should. Steering response as slow speeds seems to be right on par with the competition, throttle response while a little twitchy is acceptable and brake feedback at slow speeds is to be expected. However, we all know we don't by an S8 to lounge around parking lots and creep up on old ladies in the dark. Let's give this thing the beans and see what happens.
Foot to the floor and away we go. Remember that sleeping bear I mentioned earlier? Well, put the pedal to the floor and it is as if a child with no care for his life walked up to the hibernating bear and kicked him square in the face. The monster jumps to life making snarling noises and roaring right up to redline with a viceral snarl. Propulsion is sent to all four wheels and you are glad that it is to keep those tires gripping the pavement. The sound the 5.2L V10 makes sounds simlar to it's bretheren located in the Lamborghini Gallardo (that's right, it's that 5.2L motor). The speedometer climbs and climbs and climbs with no sign of stopping. Gear changes are ticked off with ease and smoothness and I have no doubt that given proper testing facilities, this one sedate pussy cat would turn into a lion at higher speeds. The motor just wants to go. A motor with this type of power, you would expect to see in a sports car and as you are gathering speed, you begin to think to yourself. The car that was huge just a few moments ago seems to have shrunk. Well it would have to shrink to be able to gather speed that fast, maybe it wasn't as big as originally though... maybe it was an optical illusion?
Through this monster into a corner or two and the Audi all wheel drive does what it does best. it moves the power around to keep you going forward and it keeps putting that power to the ground almost as if it is bending the laws of physics given a car of this size. Granted, tight corners do not do it justice due to the shear size of the car, but the bigger the corner, the better the car handles it. I'm sure if enough time in the car were available, finding the way to navigate those tight corners in a fast fashion would have become apparent, but in reality, how often are you going to throw a big uber sedan into a tight hairpin corner and slide out of it. It is a performance car, but nothing like what it does in the movies. If you push it thought and have confidence in the all wheel drive system, the laws that govern the traction of such a beast will be bent and you will find yourself wondering how you have managed to not just slide off the road and end up backwards... upside down... in a ditch... on fire.
Braking for a large sedan of this kind is good. It is nothing awe inpsiring like that of say an M5, but those brakes will get the job done. Not really much can be said about this because well, I was too busy enjoying the go to really feel out the stop part of the car. They do the job, they do the job pretty well, but let's face it. I spent majority of my time mashing the gas to listen to that harmonious 5.2L sing from beneath the hood.
To sum it up... while it may be sedate and a little bland to look at from the outside, the S8 is truely a awesome car to drive. I think many people over look it because it doesn't have the flying marks of the Mercedes Benz or the BMW or even the Jaguar, but it is a really good car. It does everything well and I think if more people gave them a chance, you would see them on the road more often. Well, that is if they managed to up the image to be more on par with the people who like to walk around bragging how they drive a Mercedes or BMW.
--- Side note, The S8 comes equipped with the Bang & Olufsen audio system. If you get this car, you must get this option. It is pricey for an upgrade at $7000, but if you are already spending $100,000 for an S8, what is another $7000 between friends? The audio that this upgrade puts out is absolutely astonishing. I could not find a piece of music that the system tripped over or sounded less that perfect trying to reproduce. At all volumes, the system was able to put out the lowest of lows and highs that almost sounded as if they could shatter glass.
Get this upgrade... you will love it.
No comments:
Post a Comment