TWO DISTINCT CARS IN SAME WELL-EQUIPPED PACKAGE
BARCELONA, SPAIN The executive super-sedan segment has a new entrant: Audi’s latest S8 is on sale in Canada right now for $151,600, and in the long wheelbase variant only. In the simplest of terms, it’s a full-sized ’Bahn burner with everything from a sharper style and sorted handling to a lavish interior.
The story starts under the hood with a 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V-8 that has been tweaked to give it a serious turn of speed. As used in the standard A8, this engine produces 460 horsepower and 487 pound-feet of torque. Cranking the turbo’s boost pressure to an astounding 26 PSI bumps the output to 563 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque at 2,000 rpm. To state the obvious, the extra 103 hp and torque make an enormous difference to the turn of speed.
The engine works with an eight-speed automatic transmission and Audi’s quattro allwheel-drive system. The transmission is a slick shifter that, depending on the drive mode selected, either slips up and down the cogs with a near-invisible shift quality, or it bumps up and down the gears with the speed needed to maintain momentum under hard acceleration. The all-wheel-drive system, under normal driving conditions, sends 40 per cent of the drive to the front wheels and 60 to the rear. However, it can send up to 70 per cent to the front wheels and up to 85 to the rear, should the need arise. The ebb and flow of power is seamless, and it’s superb at preventing the power from melting the rubber when the gas pedal is mashed.
The combination makes for one seriously fast car — the run from rest to 100 km/h comes in at 3.9 seconds. That’s very good, but it’s the mid-range where the S8 really shines — the 80 to 120 km/h passing move clocks in at 2.6 seconds and the pace doesn’t let up until the driver decides it isn’t worth having a roadside chat with the local constabulary.
The addition of cylinder deactivation and a 48-volt mild hybrid system improves fuel economy when the gas pedal isn’t buried. A test average of 11.1 L/100 km was much better than expected, given the S8 wasn’t exactly driven with an eye to conservation.
Another highlight is the ride quality delivered by the active air suspension. It’s about as good as it gets, in terms of delivering two very different cars in a single package. The key is the predictive nature of the suspension; at speeds up to 70 km/h, the system uses the forward-facing camera to “look” at the road. When it detects a speed bump or the like, it changes the load-levelling air suspension and damping ahead of time to ready the car for the impending jolt. The result is an impeccable ride that sets a new standard for comfort. Better yet, the new Comfort+ drive mode uses the active anti-roll bars that control body roll to lean the car into the corner by as much as three-degrees. The result is much less lateral force on the riders.
The S8 also comes with dynamic all-wheel steering and a sport differential with real-time torque vectoring. At speeds up to 60 km/h, the rear wheels turn as much as five degrees in the opposite direction to the front wheels — in a parking lot, this reduces the turning circle by 1.1 metres. At speed, the dynamic steering and torque vectoring point the long-wheelbase sedan into a corner with the precision expected from an RS 6. Factor in the all-wheel-drive system and optional P265/35R21 tires, and the S8 behaves like a full-on sports car — albeit one with a lavishly attired cabin.
The S8’s interior more than lives up to the high standards set by the rest of the car. From the buttery leather and high-tech accents, to the thin pinstripe-like ambient lighting, the sense of luxury and space is there regardless of where one sits. The L model stretches the wheelbase by 130 millimetres, which brings limo-like rear-seat legroom and superb comfort.
As has become the Audi norm, instrumentation is handled by the company’s Virtual Cockpit setup, which allows everything from conventional instrumentation to the map to be viewed. The centre stack is then dominated by two touch screens; the upper unit looks after the infotainment, phone, vehicle settings and navigation functions, while the lower screen is for the climate control. However, when inputting a destination into the navigation system, it also doubles as a writing tablet. The overall effect is stunning.
The Audi S8 has the look and ride quality of a demure limousine, but hidden behind that facade is a phenomenal turn of speed and the ability to carve a corner like a sports car, in spite of the extended wheelbase.
These divergent abilities deliver two distinctly different cars in a single well equipped package.