2011 AUDI A8
Speaking of Understatements
Credit: The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com)
BIG MOUTH The grille may look aggressive, but the 2011 Audi A8’s styling is otherwise subtle.
By LAWRENCE ULRICH
I RECENTLY drove 1,500 miles in the new Audi A8. But I’m not sure anyone noticed.
Audi’s largest luxury sedan has long flown below the radar. The A8 has been the nonconformists’ choice, for a select group that doesn’t care to join the prestigious clubs of the BMW 7 Series, Mercedes S-Class or Lexus LS.
The A8 was also the first mass-market car with a weight-saving aluminum chassis, the Audi Space Frame developed with Alcoa in 1997. But I wouldn’t expect you to remember that, either.
And while the A8 always drove well, its styling was clean and understated, as though Audi took aesthetic and ascetic pleasure in a machine that buyers might choose for its inner virtues.
Yet as Audi has risen to challenge the luxury kings directly, its expressive designs deserve as much credit as its cars’ steadily improving performance. With newer models like the A5 and S5 coupes, the Q5 crossover and the exotic R8 sports car, Audi has produced designs so tastefully appealing, inside and out, that even staunch Benz and BMW fans could be tempted to switch. Despite the weak auto market this year, Audi is on pace to set a United States sales record.
Considering all that, I expected the designers to swing for the fences, to distill everything they know about exterior styling into their flagship sedan. Instead, Audi played it safer than an umpiring crew backed by high-def replay cameras.
Either those designers took an extended lunch break, or they actually wanted the A8 to look like a Munich airport limo, a car designed to zoom the chief executive of Widget Welt G.m.b.H. down the autobahn without drawing a second glance from the citizens, the police or the odd lurking kidnapper.
The only gestures to drama are the oversize freight-train grille and signature LED eyeliner, tracing a shape that recalls Le Corbusier’s chaise, below the headlamps. Optional are LED headlamps, the first on a full-size luxury sedan.
Still, this A8 is as low-key as a Brahms lullaby, and gazing at it has the same Sandman effect. Climb inside, however, and the tempo picks up. For people who appreciate the subtle exterior, the A8 is a terrific drive: quick, engaging, rife with the contemporary luxury and user-friendly technology that have become Audi staples.
The A8 whisked me from New York to Detroit — for a test of the Chevrolet Volt — and back in sumptuous fashion. It made the trip in nine hours flat, revealing impressive highway mileage and range: just over 25 m.p.g., and a range of about 560 miles on a single tank. Audi says its improved 372-horsepower 4.2-liter V-8 — mated to a terrific ZF 8-speed automatic transmission — is 15 percent more fuel efficient. The result is a class-best federal rating of 17 miles per gallon in town and 27 m.p.g. on the highway.
And Audi is offering a turbocharged diesel V-6 in Europe, an engine that it may bring here.
The A8’s cabin may be the segment’s new luxury standard as well, as beautifully finished as any competitor, but with leading ergonomics from its easy-to-use M.M.I. (for multimedia interface) and ancillary controls. No automaker does graphics and displays with such consistent elegance.
The big ergonomic misstep is Audi’s first electronic shifter, whose by-wire operation replaces the conventional mechanical linkage. That shifter handsomely mimics the throttle lever of a yacht, but requires an especially steady hand to select the gear you want on the first try. Still, the lever shows design ingenuity with a leather pad that cups the driver’s right wrist, letting his fingers fall perfectly to the M.M.I. controller, as though it had been custom-tailored to his arm. The pop-up display screen is the thinnest I’ve seen in a car. Its motorized trick is matched by the stellar 1,400-watt, 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system (a $6,300 option) whose tweeters rise from the dashboard.
Ambient light, in a choice of three colors, spills over an optional Alcantara suede headliner worthy of a Bentley. On interior door panels, shapely awnings of wood and metal overhang a suede midsection so soft it might have come from skinned velveteen rabbits. With the Premium package, shawls of wood drape the shoulders of the front seats.
The optional Comfort front seats offer especially vigorous massages six ways; the chairs’ 22-way adjustments include pneumatic side and thigh bolsters, a cushion extender and an upper backrest control. An available rear entertainment system has generous 10.2-inch screens.
Come spring, Audi will offer a Google Earth-based navigation system, giving drivers a vastly expanded (and continuously updated) database of addresses, business names and phone numbers. That optional system will include a wireless Web hotspot for connecting laptops or smartphones.
Another industry first is a touchpad with handwriting recognition, which you can use to control the navigation system and other functions. While Audi’s description put me on full gimmick-alert, the device actually proved a useful alternative to scrolling the on-screen alphabet. If you trace one or two letters or numbers with a fingertip — you hardly need to take your eyes off the road — the system quickly calls up what you need.
At these prices, Audi is compelled to offer the full load of me-too techno frippery, including the optional Pre-Sense collision-avoidance system; night vision; lane- and blind-spot monitors; and adaptive cruise control.
Though the standard A8 is plenty spacious, the newly enlarged A8L becomes the longest car in its class at more than 207 inches, with 5.1 inches of added business-class legroom. For an estimated $125,000, the A8L will also offer a 500-horsepower W-12.
The only packaging penalty is cargo space: when I popped the powered lid I was surprised at the modest trunk within. At 13.2 cubic feet, the A8’s trunk trails not only its main competitors, but is about 3 cubic feet shy of the smaller Audi A6 sedan.
If the A8 is arguably too sedate on the outside, the upside to such an autobahn sleeper is its stealth. On paper, the 372 horsepower and 328 pound-feet of torque fail to dazzle, considering rivals like the supercharged 470- and 510-horsepower versions of the tremendous new Jaguar XJ. But the Audi V-8 feels strong and supple, and the 8-speed transmission seems to amplify the available power. Some rivals are quicker, but the Audi still hustles from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in a fleet 5.1 seconds.
And though the Jaguar easily remains the class lightweight at barely two tons, the Audi’s stiffened aluminum chassis and body help to hold it to a fairly trim 4,407 pounds. Even with the added weight of its standard quattro all-wheel drive, the A8 is lighter than the comparable rear-drive BMW or Mercedes.
Combine relative lightness with a driver-adjustable air suspension and rich road manners, and the results should impress any fat cat. The A8’s steering is textbook-perfect for its mission: it is syrupy and isolated around town, but with a sense of reassuring heft lurking just below. As speeds rise, the Audi’s able dynamics rise with it. If the BMW and Jaguar are the road warriors of the class, the Audi is only a hair’s breadth behind, with less body lock-down than the Bimmer and a less quicksilver feel than the slender XJ.
A Sport package adds firmer suspension settings, 20-inch wheels, handsome diamond-stitched leather seats, variable-ratio steering and a rear-axle differential that sends torque from side to side for better handling.
As I’ve noted before, as Audi has climbed the luxury standings it has begun to demand free-agent prices. The A8 4.2 quattro starts at $78,925, and the A8L 4.2 quattro at $84,875. Those represent jumps of about $3,500 and $5,600, respectively, from the 2010 models.
With nearly $15,000 in options, my A8 test car reached $93,525. While not out of line for this class, the Audi is no longer a Lexus-level bargain.
Judging these luxurious books by their covers, I’d argue that Audi has left an opening especially for Jaguar — the other sales underdog in the class — to score style points with its XJ, the segment’s sexpot. But for those who prefer a sober German limo to Jaguar’s sparkly Cinderella carriage, the A8 saves its richest rewards for the inside.
Credit: The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com)
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