8:00am Friday 28th May 2010
AT-A-GLANCE Audi A8 4.2 FSi Quattro (372PS) SE Exec.
Price: £63,340.
Top speed: 155mph (governed).
0-62mph: 5.7 seconds.
Fuel: 29.7mpg (combined figure).
C02 emissions (g/km): 219.
Verdict: Superbly built and styled, strong and clean engines, ultra-smooth transmission, relaxing drive, impressive cabin with cutting-edge technology.
THOSE with a taste for the finer things in life expect the best. The boss of a big company, for instance, runs a luxury car that must justify its position and the demands made on it.
The car that fulfils this brief is the new handsome Audi A8, a superblybuilt machine which is a high-tech tour-de-force boasting as much wizardry as Dr Who’s Tardis.
Its impressive state-of-the-art technology might baffle some of the more traditional motorists at first, but once in the know it adds immensely to the relaxing driving experience and safety of its occupants.
While some manufacturers are really feeling the financial pain of the recession, Audi, with its considerable resources, is able to spend huge sums of money on development and this shows in a wealth of improvements to the A8.
The refined saloon is available now priced from £54,835 on the road to £66,450, with first deliveries during June.
For the present, the car has an enhanced 4.2-litre V8 FSi petrol unit with 372PS and a 4.2-litre V8 TDi with 350PS, with both engines combining power and torque increases and economy improvements of up to 19 per cent.
In September, a 3.0-litre TDi with 250PS arrives and offers a 22 per cent mpg boost to a class-leading 42.8mpg and an impressive 174g/km C02. This should be the biggest seller.
Then follows a new supercharged 3.0-litre TFSi petrol engine with 290PS and 213g/km C02 and an additional 3.0 TDi engine, which drives the front wheels only, with 204PS and the lowest-in-class C02 output of 159g/km – squeaky clean for a 3.0-litre.
Other important advancements include the new and smooth eightspeed tiptronic automated transmission and Audi’s latest-generation quattro all-wheel drive.
While all the models will feature engine recuperation technology, the 3.0-litre TDi will also have engine start-stop technology to provide further fuel and C02 savings.
But it is the way the A8 drives that is quite extraordinary.
The light aluminium build of the car and excellent aerodynamic profile helps to make it feel agile and satisfying to drive. It seems like driving a smaller car which is the hallmark of a good executive.
The air suspension not only provides a refined ride but helps control its body so that the car remains impervious to surface irregularities and can be hurried over a twisty and difficult route with the driver confident that the added safety of the quattro system will react faultlessly.
On the road it is hard to choose between the petrol and diesel models.
Both drive superbly but if diesel economy doesn’t bother you, that soft purring note of the petrol will be music to your ear.
The spacious cabin is beautifully crafted with the finest seats and leather upholstery in the business and while most drivers will find the standard car roomy enough an even more spacious long wheel base version will become available from late July priced from around £58,000.
Rather ingeniously, the advanced transmission can ‘talk’ to the next generation multi-media touch infotainment system, networking with the detailed route data supplied by its in-built navigation system to assess corners into its gearshift strategy and avoid unnecessary gear changes.
Then there’s state-of-the-art adaptive cruise control and adaptive light-cornering systems that are also influenced by feedback from the navigation unit. They do wonders for safer driving. As an option, a module will be available fed with news and a wealth of information from the web by internet service provider Google.
And drivers will also have the opportunity to plot detailed routes on a home computer and download them to the navigation system when they start a trip. Full internet connection will also become available.
And as technology prices are reduced the new equipment will be incorporated into vehicles within the wide Audi range.
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