The Audi A8 was launched recently with
much fanfare in Dubai. We have the details on what new luxury this four-ringed
flagship from Ingolstadt has for its owners
Audi
A8L - Front Angle
Audi have a new A8 L, and to launch it to
its global consumer base the company had no less than Hollywood star Nicholas
Cage in Dubai along with a large contingent of international media. Clearly,
the company’s management is sparing no expense to ensure that the A8 makes the
right impressions for its target audience (the wealthy businessmen or the chief
executives of MNCs and such like). Naturally so, given the competition in that
segment from the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, the BMW 7 Series and the
Jaguar XJ. The A8, from the looks of it, seems to have its task cut out. Audi,
though, don’t have too much to worry about, for with the new A8 they have again
created a fabulous vehicle that would be a joy to own, drive and be driven in.
Read on to find out.
Audi
A8L - Side
The new A8 L continues to sport the same
classy design characteristics as before with enough clean-cut lines and flat
surfaces to make it appealing in a timeless way. It’s also an elegant design
that is unlikely to look dated even if you look at it a few years down the
line. Up front, the new A8 L looks different from the previous car with its new
matrix LED headlamps. Needless to say, from the uniformity of shut lines to the
lustre of the high-quality paint to the crafting of the sheet metal, everything
smacks of top-notch craftsmanship in the A8 L. Move to the inside and the story
is no different. The stitching on the leather, the brushed aluminium inserts,
the switches, rotary knob for the Audi Drive Select, the seats, pretty much everything
is of a very high quality.
And then there’s the luxury elements that
come into play. The driver and the front passenger both have multi-adjustable
seats with memory function and ventilation. All of those multiple settings are
done electrically, of course, to get that perfect driving position. Now add a
massage function that offers five different settings to choose from for each of
these two seats and what you have is a driving experience beyond description.
While the choice of setting will depend on user preference, we found the Pulse
setting to be particularly enjoyable. It’s almost as if there’s a masseur
sitting behind you and giving you a great back rub as you drive on towards your
destination.
Audi
A8 L Luxurious Interior
Things get even better once you move to the
back. The passenger seat on the left can be reclined to create a business
class-like seating wherein the front seat moves ahead and tilts forward to
liberate space for an electrically operated foot-rest that is integrated into
the back of the front seat. The rear seat reclines itself until you’re almost
in a cradle like position (which is very comfortable, mind you), so that you
can stretch out your legs and lie back as the chauffeur takes you to your
destination. There are the usual additions of a lovely Bang & Olufsen
surround sound system, individual multi-media screens for the rear passengers,
multiple cameras to ensure blind spots are minimised, panoramic sunroof,
head-up display, wireless internet access and air ioniser, of course, to make
the A8 L one big luxury car.
And it is a big car. A very big car. At more than 5.2 metres long
and over 2.1 metres wide from mirror to mirror, this is not the car that you
would instinctively want to drive through traffic. That is, until you actually
drive through traffic, be it on the highway or through the city. For its size,
this is quite a nimble-footed vehicle, which is also partly down to its reduced
weight. Made almost entirely of aluminium, which endows the frame with higher
strength while reducing weight, the A8 L’s space-frame weighs just 231 kg. The
3.0-litre TDI quattro that we drove, therefore, is 1,935 kg heavy, which is
pretty light for a car this big with an all-wheel-drive system. Meanwhile,
Audi’s Quattro all-wheel-drive system only aids the car’s dynamic ability.
