derfA8L

Coming home yesterday on highway. Doing 74 mph in left lane and this woman in an SUV crosses over from right lane into center lane as I'm coming up the left lane---and then decides she needs to be in my lane just as I'm shoulder to shoulder with her. Slammed on brakes and hit the horn...she starts swerving and I swerve partially into HOV lane to my left and then back into my lane...the A8's rear sport differential and dynamic steering engaged and tamed down the lateral forces that might have resulted in a spin out. The car stayed straight and true, and we sailed out of a dangerous situation with relative ease. Just a few unrepeatable utterances directed towards the moron in my rearview mirror.

I keep saying it, these cars should really come with the sports diff and dynamic steering as standard equipment.

BigBoy11

Other than the damage to your undergarments, glad to hear the systems worked as designed and you didn't have to deal with anything more than cursing a moron! Yes, all safety related systems should be standard equipment!

Jack88

Careful with those brash maneuvers on the freeway. Even with all of Audi's advanced tech, you can still get yourself into trouble. I'm really glad they functioned to keep you safe, as they're supposed to. Most cars will quickly get out of control when you jam the brakes and cut the wheel, it's a real credit to their tech that this didn't happen to you. It's like the old story of most people getting killed avoiding deer rather than hitting them.

derfA8L

Ha! Thing is, it all happened so fast (within 2-seconds I'd say) and the A8 behaved so well, so there was no time to actually get that scared. The only thing I felt was absolute anger after the fact, then followed by thankfulness.

Puzz1

Based on your experience with other D4s how would the car have behaved without the sports diff in your example? Glad it all worked out for you!

derfA8L

Actually my prior D4 also had the sports diff and dynamic steering...was a stand alone option in 2011, as it now is again in 2016. I will say that when I initially swerved and tried to straighten the car out it momentarily felt like the car was going to go too far in its recovery---just like I've felt, or seen, in other cars---but in an instant the sports diff did engage and the A8 immediately tracked right in the direction I was steering. Very confidence building.

DavidA

targeting getting the sport diff for12months w/ the right A8 + $$$ // sales folk don't know what it is sometimes!! the S8 is an option (-;

bravo659

Two weeks ago I got my new 2015 A8. I asked dealer about the sports differential seem he didn't talk much about it. According to the manual was reading about the sport differential in order to activate it must select the dynamic mode. So why dealer try to sell the option when it already has it.

derfA8L

If you have the rear sports differential, you don't have to select any mode to activate it---it is always on. You can use the MMI to select how aggressive you want it to perform: Comfort for balanced; Dynamic for more agility; Auto for automtic selection of aggressiveness, depending on driving situation. And in 2015 it is an option in U.S.---bundled in the Sports Package, but returns as a stand alone option in MY 2016.

bravo659

By using the mmi drive select to dynamic already has the sports differential? That is what you saying?