What do you get when you plonk a Lamborghini V10 in an understated luxury saloon? |
Road signs and enthusiastic drivers generally don't go together. But there's one sign on Germany's autobahns that no one who loves to drive fast complains about. |
It's a grey circle with three slashes that indicates the end of speed restrictions. And if you have a fabulous V8 or V10 nestling under your car's hood, you get evangelical about the car, even if it handles like it had M&Ms under its rubber. |
That's exactly what happened when I floored the 5200cc V10 placed just inches ahead of me. The Audi S8 didn't hesitate, as I flipped down two gears on the paddle-shift gearbox. From fifth to fourth it went from a purr to a mild grunt, but from fourth to third the mild-grunt made way for a high-pitched howl. |
It happened all too quick, the gearbox doing its job efficiently and before I could blink, we'd gone from 120 kph to 220 kph in no time. I could blame the new air suspension for doing such a good job of neutering the whole experience of going from simple momentum to full blat. And no, it handles like a dream for a car weighing close to two tonnes. M&Ms? They are meant to be consumed by the rear passengers. |
The S8 was part of a fleet of revised Audi A8s that were available to us Indian journalists on a trip to Munich earlier this month. Audi's mid-life enhancement to extend the lifespan of their luxury saloon involves more than just a chin and bum job. |
Besides the new air suspension, Audi have also borrowed the S8's fabulous direct steering and plonked it on all A8s across the board. And apart from the usual addition of new colours and trim, the A8 also gets a new 2.8-litre petrol engine option that is meant to keep the environment conscious politicos in Brussels happy. |
But today it was my turn to be happy. And why not, since this is the closest I have ever got to driving a Lamborghini Gallardo. Surprised? Yes, the same engine that does duty in that mid-engined madness from Sant'Agata was borrowed by owner Audi for their luxury saloon. |
Though it's 60 bhp less when it wears the four rings, it still does not make the S8 a slow coach. So what sort of person would want a saloon powered by a supercar engine? The sort who loves to drive than be driven, wants loads of performance and yet wants his ride to be understated. And of course willing to pay big bucks. |
Besides the chrome grille with its vertical chrome slats, the aerodynamic front lip extension and the five-arm twin-spoke wheels, you need to look very hard to find more differences between the A8 and S8. And in Germany, most drivers would rather do away with the S8 badge on the grille "" it's their idea of sleepers, by the way. |
Its performance though is far from understated. Find a clear stretch of road and the S8 will dispel all notions of being just another luxo-barge. Unlike Audi's RS models that come with a sport button on the steering that alters the exhaust note and clutches your bottom harder than a caning from your school teacher, the S8 goes back to the good ol' days of "there's no replacement for displacement". |
There's no electronic trickery to deal with, a mere step on the throttle pedal releases all its 445 bhp in an instant. On the cold damp day that I drove the S8, the booming nature of the engine felt like meeting the devil himself. Except that instead of sweating profusely, I was laughing my head off. |
Unlike AMG-fettled Mercs that pin you to the seat and virtually pull the hair on your head off its roots, the S8 doesn't do anything dramatic that will have you rushing to Berkowitz anytime soon. The engine is very torquey, the car pulling away very easily from 1500 rpm in sixth gear, despite the 55 kgm of pulling force available from as high as 3500 rpm. |
The gearbox too plays its part. It seems that the same engineers who developed Volkswagen's famous dual clutch gearbox, also known as DSG, had something to do here. Whether it's going up or down a gear, the shifts are precise without any lag, even when using the paddle shifters. |
Leaving the autobahn, on winding village roads with their hard turns, the S8 felt much smaller than its size belies. Utilising a 40:60 torque split, the Quattro system does a fantastic job of keeping the 5.06 metre long sedan on track. |
There's close to nothing for body roll, the dynamic four-link suspension in the front and trapezoidal link at the rear making sure that handling stays near precise. But you are sure of what the car is up to at all times thanks to the well-weighted steering that loads up progressively and the small doses of steering feel that transmits a fair amount of road undulations. |
That same steering also finds its way into the A8 4.2 Quattro I drove next, after sadly parting with the keys of the S8. The 4200cc V8 has gone through its third power bump ever since it featured in the A8 sedan nearly ten years ago. From 300 bhp then to 350 bhp now, the engine even powers the likes of the S4, while an even more powerful version of the same block chews up tarmac in the RS4. |
But unlike the S8, the 4.2 A8 does the 0-100 kph dash 1.2 seconds slower (the S8 does it in 5.1 secs) and only catches up with the S8 when both have hit the 250 kph speed governor. |
Even then, it is no slouch and the engine has its very own character, with a muted growl from the V8 accompanying you even as you work your way through the paddle shifters. Like its bigger sibling, the 4.2 too has fairly good levels of torque, rated at 44.5 kgm@3500 rpm. |
Back on the autobahn roads and the new damping rates make themselves evident. You no longer feel every bump going up your spine, something the pre-updated A8 would fail to contain well. |
From the captain's deck, the A8 is magnificent with soft touch leather and with well finished plastic bits that look more like they are cut from granite rather than something that finds its genesis in petroleum by-products. |
Drivers could opt to start their cars by either turning the key or by simply putting the fob in their pocket and pressing the start button. These are no longer gimmicks, but necessary paraphernalia in a segment that rests its success increasingly on techno bits. Looks like the A8 has this base covered too. |
With prices starting at Rs 72 lakh for the 3.0 TDI and going all the way up to nearly Rs 1.5 crore for the W12, the new revised A8 has nearly all the ingredients to rattle the likes of the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series that are currently doing very good numbers in this segment. They could very well do with a sales signboard that doesn't look very different from the one I encountered on the German autobahns. |