Review: 2011 Audi A8
2011 Audi A8 NWB base price, $78,050. As tested, $90,975.
Bang & Olufsen audio system, $6,300; Convenience Package, $2,350; Premium Package, $2,000; LED Headlights, $1,400; Destination, $875.
By Mark Elias - LEFTLANEWS
In the pursuit of luxobarge supremacy, three prime players rise to the top of the velvet-covered mountain. Audi is one-third of the troika, and returns to the battlefield for 2011 with a new weapon: A redesigned A8.
Leftlane had a chance to experience the luxe-life with a car that lives the company’s motto of “Vorsprung durch Technik” – literally advancement through technology – for a week with the standard wheelbase version.
Is it going to be enough to sway high-profile customers away from the default choice Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the svelte BMW 7-Series?
As usual, let’s find out.
What is it?
Long and lean, our A8 tester is a standard wheelbase five-seat executive transport that thinks it’s is a sport sedan. Order the long wheelbase version and it becomes, well, longer still. In black metallic with double-chrome plating, it is like the around-town bon viveur that shows up in the middle of the afternoon, dressed in a tuxedo, for a Little League game. Sure there’s tons wrong with that sentence, but at the end of the day, there is still no denying that the car just looks right.
What’s it up against?
In this realm, the A8 competes against two other major players: The BMW 750i and the Mercedes-Benz S550. Various options can place all of these cruisers north of $150-large.
That’s not to confuse them with über-luxury cruisers like the Bentley Flying Spur or Rolls-Royce Ghost, both of which compete at the very top of the world.
Any breakthroughs?
Built around an aluminum space frame, the Audi A8 offers the advantages of lighter weight as well as a 25 percent increase in rigidity and strength, which in turn results in improved handling and fuel efficiency. Technology is everywhere in this new sedan including an available Driver’s Assistance Package, which includes radar/Night vision assistance located in the Audi linked rings logo in the grille, and a forward-looking camera located in the center rearview mirror. Add to that an adaptive cruise control with stop and go functions, lane assist, and Audi side assist for blindspot detection.
There’s also Pre Sense rear protection, which senses a rapidly approaching vehicle from the rear and pretensions the seatbelts, raises windows and brings seats back into an upright position for better crash survivability.
A new version of Audi’s ESP with torque vectoring Quattro all-wheel-drive is now in place, helping to keep the car within the proper lanes, and offering haptic feedback if the car should start to stray.
LED running lights and available LED headlamps burn at 5,500-degrees Kelvin, which is the equivalent of daylight color balance for brighter, cleaner vision.
How does it look?
Looking for all the world like a larger scale front end of the R8 Supercar, the A8 features similar LED lights that set it apart from most every other car on the road. But the A8 goes further by offering optional full-LED lighting, complete with LED fog lamps. The “horse collar” grille is now bigger and bolder than ever, but the look befits the status.
The sheetmetal has evolved to a smoother, more organic look that gently climbs up the A-pillar, and gradually flows over the greenhouse where it tapers into the rear end. Subtle flares hang over the wheel wells, because after all, this is an A8, not an S8. Audi of America VP for Corporate Communications, Jeff Kuhlman relayed to us how the take rate for the previous (3rd Generation) A8L was 90-percent versus 10-percent for the A8 NWB – or normal wheelbase, as Audi prefers – and he expects that will continue to be the case here. Coincidentally, the European consensus is about 90-percent for the normal wheelbase, and 10-percent for the long wheelbase model. For those with a tape measure, count off 202 inches for the A8 NWB, and 207.4 with the A8L.
Incidentally, a W12-powered version will be available in Spring 2011, but only in A8L trim.
And on the inside?
The best of everything. Leather, wood, aluminum, plastic, and rubber all make appearances in the A8’s interior in spectacular fashion. Panel fit and finish were as tight as one of Joan River’s facelifts, and placement of everything once again confirms that Audi builds a driver’s car. Our tester was fairly well loaded with driver and front passenger seats offering full adjustments including thigh and side bolsters, heating and ventilating, and five-way full massage controls, which were adjustable in intensity as well as location.
A center console is the main input area for driver controls involving climate, audio, navigation, and in-car entertainment (if equipped). A putter-shaped gear selector serves double duty here: first to select the drive-by-wire gear you would like to be in (more in a second), and secondly as a hand rest for using the MMI Touch Pad. Equipped with handwriting recognition, a driver can trace letters for destination input. The navigation system also uses Google map overlays and can be ordered with available WLAN options for backseat web surfing.
Bang and Olufsen engineered the A8’s available high-line 1400-watt, 19-speaker audio system. Designed as an integral part of the car, B&O design and sound engineers were teamed with Audi interior designers from day one to ensure the system was precisely tuned for the cabin.
Overall, the cabin with its quiet ride and commodious back seat is about as luxed-out a cruiser as we can imagine. With plenty of room for five (or four with the rear armrest in place) it can cruise clear across the state with no driver or passenger fatigue. In fact, the new normal wheelbase A8 model is nearly as long as last year’s long wheelbase machine.
But does it go?
If you follow the Audi brand at all, the A8’s drivetrain will seem utterly familiar to you. Powered by a 4.2-liter direct-injection V8 with Audi Valvelift (AVS), it is capable of 372 horsepower and 328 lb-ft. of torque. A new direct injection W12 engine will be available in summer 2011 for A8L models and will output 500 horsepower and 460 lb-ft. of torque. Sadly, we will not be receiving any big-boy diesel-powered variants at this time.
An eight-speed Tiptronic transmission with paddle shift levers gets the V8’s power to the Quattro all-wheel-drive system. As for the gear selector, it needs a touch more refinement before we will warm to it. We struggled several times finding the proper “touch” required to place the car in reverse. It could possibly hinder certain maneuvers, such as a three-point turn in the face of oncoming traffic.
The Quattro provides for an asymmetric rear-biased torque split of 40/60. As we have come to expect, grip was flawless. Speed dependent power-assisted steering offered excellent driver feedback without giving the feeling of being too boosted. We found that pre-visualizing where we wanted the steering to take us, generally did!
Acceleration was amazingly good, and with a sexy growl to boot, adding to the total experience. We thoroughly enjoyed the sensation of being pushed back into the seats while mashing the skinny pedal. Top speed is capped at 130 mph, which seems awfully low, and 0-60 times slot in at 5.7 seconds, which is none too shabby for a car that tips the scales at 4,409 lbs.
Audi’s standard adaptive air suspension is integrated with the A8’s drive select dynamics system. Made of a five-link set up in front and a trapezoidal-link rear setup, it veered towards understeer but only at the far reaches of its limits. Otherwise the car felt otherworldly in its abilities. Panic moves were accomplished with ease and in one case without the spousal-unit even noticing.
Fuel Economy is not a shortcoming with the A8, all things being relative. With EPA numbers of 17/27 and a combined rating of 21 average, it matches both the Mercedes S-Class Hybrid and the Lexus LS Hybrid. And this is with a conventional, naturally aspirated engine. Mr. Rich Guy, your green machine is here.
Why you would buy it:
You want your executive transport vehicle – and you want to drive it, too.
Why you wouldn’t:
You don’t want to rub shoulders with “mere” A3 and A4 owners at the dealership. Peons!
Leftlane’s bottom line:
Audi continues to evolve the A8 lineup to reflect the times, both in style and technology. Buyer taste drives everything in this segment, so Audi simply needs to convince buyers that its flavor is just right. That’s not simple, of course, but eminently it’s doable with a fine luxury sedan like this one.
Now, just how long do we have to wait for that stump-pulling diesel?
It just looks so cohesive in person. 
