TerminA8r

Bada Bing

They have gotten everything they can out of the 4.2 V8. It has good output for its size but just can't compete with the 5.5 liter V8 from S550 or twin-turbo 4.4 V8 from the BMW 750i. The 372 hp rating is bottom of the luxury group but at least in the ballpark of the 750i/S550/LS460. However, the 328 lb-ft of torque trails them all and by a huge margin. They would have been better off going with a larger engine for higher output and maintaining the current gas mileage with the use of the 8-speed transmission.

I will reserve judgment on the exterior until I see it in person. The cars unveiled yesterday did not look very interesting on the exterior but that may be due to unfortunate choices in color and rim designs (who uses chrome rims anymore?). The interior is great but I was expecting the pop-up MMI screen to be gone and replaced by something similar to the rest of the Audi line-up. It just doesn't look quite right in the deployed position. The rest of the interior is top notch and surpasses the S-Class and 7-Series in both design and execution.

The rear end of the D3 seems nicer than the D4 whose taillights are too similar to the A5/S5's. All in all, a safe redesign but not the revolutionary redesign they advertised during speeches before they unveiled the car.

Mikalai

I'm agree about motors. At least 4.2 liter V8 must have Valvelift System and power 420-450hp.
Power under 400hp now belongs 3.0tfsi and this motor (330-350hp) must be in A8 D4 as lowest choice.

Rowlie

I'm glad they stuck with the pop-up because it's nice to get rid of the distraction when it's not needed. Once you get comfortable with MMI, the screen becomes frequently redundant, so I drop mine on my D3 frequently. I'd rather look at the wood.

I, too, wish they had found a way to get more hp in it. I drove a new 7 last week and it does have a great engine. I'm pretty sure I'll stick with the Audi, though. It seems to have hit all the other cylinders really well.

NationOfAudi

Just got back from the "World Reveal of the 2011 A8" in Miami. Photos of the event and car are in my profile. The trip was quick, wish I would have taken advantage of the great rates at the Fountianeblue Hotel and stayed longer. Audi provided transportation, lodging and meals for the event. I think the most interesting feature is the updates to the MMI.

AK_92_V8

I really like it tho I still think the best body of the A8 is the 2004-06 line.

jersh

Wait ... that 1990 LeBaron rectangle space-agey shifter **** ...

We all agreed a year or two ago when we saw that in those "spy shots" that that was clearly impossible. There was no way they were going to weird-up or chintsy-up the interior with that ...

Where are these interior shots coming from ? Because that silly LeBaron shifter **** is still there ...

Very confusing.

jersh

This is what a global recession bears.

An incremental offering in almost every way.

Derivative external styling lifted directly from the current generation A6.

Parts re-use in the Interior (see center arm rests, etc.)

A 22 year old v8 engine (debuted in the audi v8 in 1988) that will NO DOUBT have even more vibration than the current 350 HP version with it's diesel-like injection architecture.

My current 2009 shakes and shakes. Even in park. If you have a 2009, park the car and open the driver door and watch it shake back and forth almost .5 to .75" in both directions. This new 370 HP version will be even worse.

Look at exchange rates over the last few years - if this car has a price tag anywhere below $90k with modest options, you know they're cutting corners in a lot of places.

Yea Snow

Agree with these new posts. Let us also not forget that the D4 (design, interior, engine specs, materials used, etc) was really 90% finished over 2 years ago. What does this mean? IMHO Audi's real design, marketing, and sales focus is directed more with the other models - and that has had more than modest success - here as well as in China.
Anyway, test drive models won't be here until October -my 07 loaded A8L lease is up in April. I am really now thinking not to lose it by risking the "live drive" and coming away under-impressed.

Audi S5 TC

Perhaps you did not do the following all that closely, jersh: read my reply message to you that I posted over the summer regarding Consumer Reports solid recommendation for the 2006+ A8/A8L/S8-including 2009 (as well as the following mid 2000s Audis: 2005+ A6/S6, 2005.5+ A4/S4, 2007 and 2008 RS 4 and 2007+ TT, A5/S5 and Q5-the Q7 is no good and the A3 used to be good) due to average or better than average dependability, durability, quality, reliability, satisfaction and service, all aspects of performance (other than acceleration) that is better than every luxury car that is NOT A BMW and class leading safety.

As I told you before, jersh, your (apparently) dreadful experience with your 2009 A8 4.2 or A8L 4.2 is typical of Audi for the following model years: 1987 to 1989 and 1998 to 2004 (1997 to 2005 for the A8/A8L and 1996 to 2005 for the A4/S4). So stop judging all mid 2000s and later Audis entirely on your 2009 A8 4.2 or A8L 4.2 (which, BTW, is clearly a lemon, which happens once in a while, in case you did NOT know that) because it is so childishly and foolishly judgmental.

And, BTW, your claims about what the D4 A8/A8L/S8 will be like (regardless of the economy, global or otherwise) may be true to a certain extent for the first model year or two (though probably not since Audi's in their first and second model years are now quite good simply because CR and True Delta-the Automotive gods say so, regardless of what anybody else says) than 100% false after that.

I meant mid 2000s and later Audis in the first paragraph when I said mid 2000s Audis regarding how much better most of them have gotten since 2005 or 2006 (depending on the model, of course).