2012 AUDI S8: Audi super-sedan worthy of respect
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/05/2012 (5268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
PAMPLONA, Spain — The first sign that Audi finally got how far pomp and pretension goes in North America was the last-generation, optioned-to-the-max S8.
Powered by a V10 and intended to be Audi’s quasi-answer to Mercedes’ S63 AMG, the 2006-to-2010 S8 was luxurious, sexy and, with 450 horsepower under the hood, oh so very rapid. It also had the mother of all stereos, a way-trick Bang & Olufsen affair so superior it was like driving along in your very own mobile amphitheatre.
Compared with its more established Teutonic competition, the S8 might not have generated quite all the pretension, but it surely had most of the pomp.
Now comes the 2012 remake and, if the first S8 was a slightly more than subtle nudge in the right direction, the new one is a giant kick in the hind end.
Like BMW, Audi has figured out that high-revving, mega-horsepower V10s may scream delightfully, but they also suck gas with an Obama-infuriating thirst. Better, then, is a smaller-displacement V8 turbocharged within an inch of its life that is even more mega-horsepower. Yes, though it displaces only 4.0 litres, the new Audi S8 boasts 520 horsepower, the German manufacturers’ recent fascination with twin turbochargers making a mockery of the old 100-hp-per-litre measuring stick.
Unlike the previous V10, which always loudly announced its presence, the new S8’s twin-turbo V8 is far more subdued. Subdued, that is, until the telephone poles start flying by at a positively alarming rate.
Audi claims the aluminum-but-still-a-tad-lardy 1,975-kilogram S8 accelerates to 100 kilometres an hour in just 4.2 seconds and, while some of that can be credited to the new eight-speed automatic transmission, know that this is yet another hell-for-strong turbocharged engine that spits out torque like it’s the cheapest commodity on Earth. Incredibly, like the CLS 63 AMG and BMW’s M5, Audi’s switch to turbocharging was necessitated by a search for better fuel economy.
More economical it almost certainly will be. Though Transport Canada figures are not yet available, Audi says the turbocharged V8 is good for 23 miles per gallon in combined city-highway driving, hardly exemplary by Prius standards but positively frugal and a 23-per-cent decrease compared with the outgoing V10.
The S8’s chassis gets all manner of high-tech doohickeys, foremost among them a variable air suspension system that can alter the ride height by as much as 30 millimetres. There are also five driving modes — comfort, auto, dynamic, individual and efficiency — to allow the driver to further fine-tune the ride.
Dynamic is the sportiest calibration and as evinced by my haring around hairpins, more than competent enough to see off all manner of smaller, supposedly more sporty cars. At a typical hot-dogging pace, the S8 feels nigh on perfect, the steering feedback rewarding, the brakes responsive without being touchy and the transmission calibration always keeping the 4.0L in the meat of its powerband.
Wick it up to seriously stupid, however, and there’s more body roll than you’d like, not to mention the typical Audi understeer. I know this because Audi actually let us beat up the poor S8 on a race track — the Circuito de Navarra — and the big Audi felt a little overwhelmed.
As befits an Audi, the S8’s cabin just reeks of quality. The Nappa leather is beyond compare and there are tons of carbon fibre and aluminum trim to remind owners how light the S8 is (at least compared with its luxury-sedan competition).
The seats are an incredible 22-way adjustable. And my favourite part of the S8, the aforementioned Bang & Olufsen audio system, has also been improved, now sporting 19 speakers and an ear-bleeding 1,400 watts.
If the S8’s interior lacks anything, it’s that certain je ne sais quoi — you know, something like a Cartier clock, a giant-screen TV or anything that might give prospective Audi owners a reason to boast why they shopped Ingolstadt rather than Stuttgart. As luxe as the cabin is, I just wish it had some standout item that would make those shopping in this segment take notice.
I’ve long considered the S8 my favourite Audi. The 2012’s massive performance, new interior and upgraded stereo have only enhanced that opinion. It’s very close to that magical blend of performance and luxury that so many of these hot-rod land yachts promise.
Somebody should notice.
— Postmedia News
