Kingscote Boxing Gym

I want to start by saying this post is for entertainment purposes and may not be 100% factual but might be.

I'll start by talking about the drive of the A8 diesel. 19ich rims. steering is very light. ride is extremely smooth gear changes imperceptible. double glazing. extremely quite for the most part. a very gentle vibration from the v8 engine. Im saying like ever so slightly. I have driven around in this car for over 8 hours and not felt tired or in any discomfort at all. The only negative is the tire noise. this seems to be an audi problem with road noise. I've tried all different tyres pirella good year audi approved non approved expensive cheap. all give pretty much the same result.

High speed straight line speed Is very good. Stable and no sense of the real speed. The car will travel at 166mph without breaking a sweat. It will even down change when accelerating from 140mph. 8 gears. It will literally drive at top speed all day and could do this every day without the engine stressing at all.

Between services of about 10,000miles the car uses no oil or coolant. For staright line motorway munching this car is one of the best I have ever driven. The quattro means that you can go round any motorway corners at 140mph with no problem. The mpg is the very good at these sustained speeds and is about 18mpg. If you drove at 70mph you get 35mpg. Generally driving like a hooligan is about 22mpg. The esp system is also amazing. As long as you know how to drive a little bit, then even if you transfer the weight of the car a bit too aggressively, the car will go to stupid angles and you will still be able to save the car. The car could nearly be backwards but with arms fully crossed with opposite lock the car will save its self. A BMW with xdrive would be spinning many times compared to what the audi is capable of.

So on to handling. There are 3 modes. comfort dynamic and auto. There's also aindividual setting in which you can choose your own preference on any of the settings. so comfort is lighter than dynamic. It is noticible but dynamic mode is still pretty light, nothing like a sports car. The car is about 2 tons and it will understeer but if you know how to drive and with a bit of practice, on a damp road and a hoof of throttle, the carea will get sudeways. You will need to apply opposite lock. This can be enhanced by turning off the traction control which of course is still not fully turned off but does allow more slip. The car will 4 wheel donut on the spot like an EVO and can be made to power slide from slow speeds if it's cold or a bit wet. However the sports diff did break on my car after doing this alot. Audi do have a sports diff repair kit. All in fix was about £700. The diff started leaking and there was an intermittent dash warning of sports diff fault which ment I couldn't turn off the traction control. You can easily find the limit when going into corners and can drive at a serious pace on backroads. it's like floating across country lanes playstation style. it's like a private jet for the road at night.

What are the brakes like. Very good. I did have ebc yellowstuff on which were terrible. Absolute joke of brakes. I tried everything with them. warmed them up then tried heavy braking. really warmed them up then tried heavy breaking. The abs would just mean that the brakes just did not stop and that's after full break in routine. The brakes were only good at slow speeds. Stock brakes are miles better. They will fade eventually as the car is 2 tonnes but you can smell them and progressively feel them overheating and that's only after acting like Colin mccrae. They will happily stop you from heavy braking at 160mph plus many times and not fade on a transporter style motorway run. The car will literally nose dive and squirm left to right but very controllable under emergency braking situations. You can 100% brake in a corner and transfer the weight around the different axles depending on what you want the car to do.

The car can literally be thrown into a turn at 70 to 80 and induce a 4wd style skid drift with no drama at all. The quattro is a permanent 40 60 fr to rear power split. The car is about the same speed as a f10 535d, 435d all the way over 135mph plus and will keep very close to an s5. m135i slightly pulled away but nothing major about the same as an s5. If you do go into a wide corner very fast with a bit of lift off and a bit of a flick in, the back end will go light and opposite lock will need to be applied. definitely stay on the power to get some traction to the back end to straighten the car out. unlike a BMW where any throttle input during steering will mean you end up facing backwards the audi will squat and sort its self out as long as you manage the weight transfer properly.

Acceleration. From a standing start you can turn off the traction put it in dynamic mode or you can just launch it in comfort, I think it also makes you think that your car will go faster if you turn off the traction control. You can left foot brake the car then build the revs up, and they will go up then actually jump a little like a hidden launch control feature and the car will begin to lift the front end. if you get it right which isn't difficult you will be pushed back in your seat and made to feel like your on a rollacoaster. The torque gives you that feeling of being on a superfast ride. It is a quality feeling. The sucked back feeling makes your stomach go more than say an audi s3 with a 0 to 60 of 4.5 launch control which is just feels fast but has no pysical effect on your body. It is awesome to show passengers the torque because you can do it from zero to 10 mph or zero to about 40 to 50. Zero to 60 real world does match the claimed one. I think the car does it in 5 seconds easy. Acceleration for overtaking is so smooth, it's like being on a sofa and the view just becomes very fast. If you turn the traction off and it's a bit cold or damp especially if your tyres are low on tread, you will do a 4 wheel burnout. Do you go faster using the flappy paddle, possible beven in manual mode the car will change up a gear automatically at red line or if you hold the gear in a high rev for a few seconds. I have never needed to use the flappy paddles as the car goes at speeds that require all your concentration and there is no need to be making sure your in the right gear as the car changes fast enough and is always in the right gear anyway. The gearbox is a sealed auto unit so there is no need for a gearbox service ever. The limited top speed of 166 can be reached in 7th gear but for cruising at top speed dynamic mode will hold it in 7th gear so you can maually change to 8th to drop the revs if you want.

The car is built very solidly. If you open your car door against a wall or someone opens their car door into yours, most likely there will be no damage to the a8 which always makes me happy. I know of lesser audi models completely dent when even a tiny amount of force is applied to the body and the paint will come off way to easily on some lower models.

I would like to say that if I was buying these cars new I would spec every option available regardless of the cost because if I can afford one of these new then I'm not gonna be worrying about money. The a8 new was about 85k. I paid less than 20% after 5 years with 65kmile's FASH.
Let's start with the 4.2tdi. 2010 model. 350bhp and a lot of torque. top speed official is 155mp but audi stock vehicle limited to 166mph the s8 is limited stock to 165mph. launch spec car comes with comfort 22 Way adjustable seats. heated ventilated and massage for the driver and passenger. Al ot comfier than the S8 cross stichted seats that are heated only. I think there sport seats. 2 memory setting for both with comfort access so steering wheel and seats move for easy entry and exist. I think audi should have 4 memory settings as I like a race position and a comfort position. Also would be nice if someone else could save their position aswell. Rear seats are also a lot comfier in the a8. There is a reclining seat option but I've never tested one so can't comment. a8 also has rear heated seats. obviously all these options can be specced in both cars. the a8 has over 20k of options. 5 massage settings. I hardly ever use the massage as the seats are comfy enough but they areally a nice gimmick. If I was money concious from new I would not spec the massage seats as the massage is relatively weak in comparison to a proper massage chair. I would spec the comfort seats though. Do I need cooled seats. Well technically I don't need a 166mph 2 ton 4wd car but Yeh I would get ventilated seats. You can have the cooled heated and massage on at the same time if you want. I think it's a nice option to have. Heated steering wheel not an option I would spec. Nice but I wouldn't miss it.Ssame with the night vision. I've never really used it. Is it any good. Yeh it picks up people you can't see but I wouldn't miss it. ambient lighting package. Yeh it's nice but I prefer a dark cabin and have them turned off anyway so wouldn't miss them. There's only 3 shades of light. amber polar and ruby. 2 of the shades are very similar with one of the shades only changing the door card lights so it's like having 3 ambient light shades really. It does look nice at night buy not on the same level as the w222 s class ambient lighting.

I like having the audi phone in the center arm rest, I think it's just funny. audi s8 has surround 360 cameras. I would not spec as it's not necessary and I don't trust them anyway. you can't really tell how close your are to something using them. reverse cam is useful though. adaptive high beam assist is a pretty cool option. automatically turn on and off high beam when on country roads. The car can tell if a driver is coming the other way and does react very quickly, and the lights steer in the direction of the steering wheel. like laser beams when it's foggy which is pretty cool. Radar cruise control on the a8 but not the s8. I would definitely spec this option. 3 following distance modes. car will come to a complete stop and start again. if you want to get closer or accelerate all your do is pull the stalk towards you and you accelerate. If you stop for over I think about 5 or 10 seconds you have to pull the stalk to carry on moving again. There is also settings for how fast you want the cruise to drive as in the agrresiveness of the acceleration I think. comfy dynamic etc. I just stick it in comfy.very nice option though. one of my favourites in stand still and slow traffic. Solor panel sunroof on the a8 charges the battery etc and also powers the cars interior fans on a sunny day. So when you come back to your car it's not like an oven on the inside which is really cool. The s8 doesn't have a sun roof. It's always good to have a sunroof even if I never really use it. I would spec it. Rear and side blinds. yes I would spec. having a luxury car should come with luxuries. rear passengers can control both rear and side window and blinds and rear blind. Also 4 zone climate control can be switched on by rear passengers which baffled me a few times when I kept turning my aircon off then it kept coming back on. It took me 4 times till I realised it was one of my mates in the back doing it. Another fun game is on the early model d4 the heated seats can only be activated when the rear center is folded down so you can put the 2 outer rear seat heated seat on, then put the armrest up and rear passengers will be wondering why the seats are really warm. 2 of my mates were sat in the back and one of them turned the other side seat on and put the armrest up and then the comment that followed was, my seat is boiling is your seat really hot to. Head rest can also fold round your head like airplane style seats. hdd music storage is a good option. 6 disc cd changer is handy. start stop is very annoying on the s8. but I would spec soft close doors. I'm always paranoid that the more spec you have the more you have to fix but I bought an a8 so I can't really complain. a ford fiesta will still get from a to b so I shouldn't be bothered. it's strange though how it just stays in the back of my head like what If it went wrong though, how much would it cost. for example the keyless entry stopped working on the a8. audi quotes like 190 for new door sensor. I bought the genuine part for 80 and fit it myself watching a YouTube video of an a6 door sensor getting replaced. exactly the same mechanism. took me 30mins.

I will add more about service all problems and s8 review.

boci

I don't own either but would like to spend time reading your review. You are lucky to have 4.2 TDI available. Unfortunately it was never available in North America.

Kingscote Boxing Gym

hope you like the review so far. please rinse me if it's a load a rubbish.

davey_b

Great review, I enjoyed reading it. Many thanks.

Kingscote Boxing Gym

So onto the S8. The engine is smoother. The steering is heavier, the ride is firmer and the car has 20inch wheels. It's still very smooth but not as floaty as the diesel. There is a noticeable difference in the comfort between the 2 cars. The steering is more direct and sharpe, the car is more pointy as you turn the wheel. It is a bit more responsive. Again ecb yellow stuff pads are an absolute joke. Only good for low speed driving as they reduce glazing or something like that but they just don't stop the car under heavy breaking. The ABS just kicks in and the car just doesn't stop. Stock is much much better. The brakes are good though. You can steer the car under heavy breaking and nose dive the car very controllabley. This car in stock mode feels like a big audi S3 that can't stop as well and that understeers a bit more than the audi S3. In stock mode the power is about the correct amount for the car. So now onto the review of the car with the APR stage 1.

The Apr map can be bought with a dongle that plugs into your car, which can then be used to read any faults and change the power settings from stock to 650bhp to 670bhp. I think these power figures are overhyped as some dynos are saying stage 1 is more like 620bhp. Please let me know if you have any info on this.

​​​So the car in 650 or 670bhp is derestricted too 202mph plus which was done in 670mode. This was not the maximum speed of the car as it was still climbing. Again if anyone has any information on what the max speed is, please let me know. This was done on y rated good year asymmetric tyres. The car felt very comfy at that speed. There was no sense that the car was near any limits or that the car couldn't handle those sorts of speeds. The car will get to 190mph quite easily. It's as easy to get the S8 to 190 as it is to get the A8 to 166. The acceleration difference between the modes is noticeably.

The car is unnecessarily fast. You just put your foot down and get pushed into your seat so hard. Then you just hang on while monitoring grip and obstacles. I think you definitely need to be able to left foot brake, so you can just hover you foot over the brake to control the weight transfer of the car. The car wheelies on acceleration then endos when you brake. I like to go into corners neutral or with a bit of weight on the front end. If you go into a long sweeping corner with the power on, it feels like a kind of understeer floaty feeling as your kind of doing a wheelie road the corner. As with all audis there's not the greatest amount of feel and this takes the feel away completely. If you get the weight on the front end, then you have a much better idea of the grip levels.

I do think that driving at these speeds is quite pointless. I think Alex Roy did some calculations and figured out the best cruseing speed is about 120 to 130mph. Petrol cars just binge drink petrol at higher speeds and the s8 is no different. Average is 17mpg if I'm being generous. I did a speed limited motorway run with a bit of town on literally 1 percent throttle and got 27mpg I think. May have been 25 but It makes me feel better if I think the car is capable of 27mpg. At higher speeds, town driving or hooligan driving I'm getting single digits maybe 12 if I do a trip. Audi tolerance for normal oil consumption is 1litre every 600miles. Yes 600 miles or 1000km is within the guidelines as normal. I've fitted the dipstick as I don't trust the electric reading. It sometimes doesn't match or goes up and down with its readings.

So how fast is this car. The car is very fast. In 670 mode it is very quick. You do need to know how to drive a car or you will just bin it. Even with 4wd the car is no joke. In the damp on cold UK roads with the traction on from a roll of like 10 or 20mph the 4 wheels will spin up. From a stand still the 4 wheels will spin up if it's a bit cold. 0 to 60 is under 3 seconds easy. quater mile is low 11s.

The back end will also come round if the throttle is used aggressively. Will the car drift. I don't know yet but the car will powerslide out of junctions at will even with the traction on. Traction off and you have to get on the opposite lock. The car will nicely spin it's wheels into a straight line very controllabley. It will definitely power slide and go sideways with aggressive throttle inputs. A slow flick on a car park will powerslide the car very nicley 180 degrees with arms fully locked up and all the wheels spinning. It could almost be classed as fun.The extra power turns it into a slight xdrive sort of feeling where the backend wants to overtake you. You could definitely get it wrong as the traction control is designed to cope with 520bhp. You do have to "drive" the car with the apr remap unless you just do straight lines then it's not a problem the car will just spin up a little then grip.

Would I buy this over the diesel. Maybe if I got free fuel but sometimes I'd rather just drive the diesel. The S8 is a bit too edgy. Even in comfort mode, the car wants to jump forward. You have to be so sensitive on the throttle to drive this car as a chauffeur. It is definitely one of those pointless cars for people who have a bit of extra money and don't know what to do with it. Anybody who is not a racing car driver will pick the diesel every day of the week. Well maybe not Sunday but if you really want to drive a 4wd car fast then get an S3.This is more car than you will ever need so I can't imagine what the RS3 would be like. The S3 will literally grip till stupid speeds then on the limit be very manageable. The car will also stop and turn in pretty much any situation like going round corners at daft speeds. Braking repeatedly from 120mph or changing lanes quickly at 100mph. After a really hard drive in the S3 the brakes were glowing red. I didn't even let them or the engine cool down and the car was fine. It was a hire car so launch control was initiated at every stop light. Even if the car was not launched. Yes I would just build up the revs cause it sounded cool then drove away normally. Coasting up to traffic lights in neutral with the accelerator fully depressed. Definitely a car that will achieve more driving pleasure than an S8. So maybe instead of a 100k S8, why not but 2 cars. eg s class diesel for 50k and a m135i/golfr/s3,rs3/for 40k. Save yourself 10k and have the best of both worlds.

It is mental why anyone would buy one of these cars but I am very glad that they exist. I love the choice that it gives you. These cars give your mind something to think about in our materialistic world in which we are slaves to the system. Go to work so I can pay for my nice car that I drive to work. Do I drive the nice car because I like nice cars or do I drive a nice car because I need to feel happier because I have to go to work. Would I rather save my money and not work or spend my money on pointless stuff but go to work. I think balance in all areas is good, but having bought my dream car which is the audi S8, I think I enjoyed the process of buying the S8 or working/earning the S8 and thinking about having an S8 more than I actually do owning the S8. It's like, OK I've now got an S8, I've now done 200mph+, I've drifted the S8, now what. 800bhp S8. The cooling isn't up to it yet but when a new intercooler comes out maybe the turbos come out and the exhaust goes miltek and then it gets meth injected. When does it end. When will we be satisfied. Maybe I might just change between e55 cls63 s63 760li m5 m3 rs6 etc to keep my mind occupied.

In conclusion the winner has to be the diesel A8. It's more than fast enough. It's a lot cheaper to run and it was designed to do what it does. I think things that are designed specifically to do things, are always much better. Like an F1 car is designed to go fast so its better at going fast than a road car that is designed to go on the the road. The S8 is like the Range Rover SVR. No doubt it is very nice but it's a bit pointless. Buy the product that was designed to do what it was ment to do. Don't buy a TV that can be a computer because a computer is always going to be better and don't buy a computer that you can use as a TV because a TV is always going to be better for TV.

You must question what you really want from the car. Are you a boy racing chauffer driver or do you just want the most expensive best car in the line up. Money no object I'd just buy everything but I think that would be boring, because having everything is the same as having nothing. You won't be able to choose either way. I think I'd also choose the diesel because the S8 is a bit too fast and scary with the apr remap. To enjoy any car you must be on its limits and the S8 with a remap is very far past any legal or social limits. It will get you into too much trouble. I'm gonna have to test the w12 next and see what that is like.

I will update on service cost's and problems.

davey_b

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

Florida8L

last year a few TDI A8Ls came up at offleaseonly.com in central FL. think it was not 4.2 but maybe a v-6. they also had a few Q7s in TDI, just a few.

erik_plus8

Found this while searching for something else. Brilliant reviews. I am actually trying to decide between the 4.2TDI and the 4.0T (520 or 605) for my next addition to the stable. The main driver is to have something fast and comfortable for long trips and I was dead set on the diesel until an S8+ showed up at a dealer nearby, which I went and test drove. I should't have done that but hey ho. Thing is, I can't disregard the S8 even on the fuel consumption. I expect the residual value drop being orders of magnitude bigger than the fuel bill - in either version.

However, then I started reading up on the 4.0T failure thread and got cold feet again... A late-ish 2017 S8 with all updates introduced might still work though.

I guess it will more or less come down to if and when a nice, clean, low-milage example that has the right options shows up, I'll try to grab it, no matter the engine. Maybe