derfA8L

I'll wager that it will grow on you. Just like the D4's design was initially met with some doubt, and now that design has a wide "fan" base. As I recall, one of the AW members who was at the D4's unveiling at the Miami event back in November 2009 posted to the effect: Pictures don't do it justice; you have to see it in the flesh. I'll bet this is essentially true of the D5.

MP4.2+6.0

I'll actually push back on this some. For me it took all of:

• the D4 S8 that was a couple years in the making (or the same timing 4.0T motor upgrade) after the (calendar) 2010 A8 intro.
• AND the facelift to fix some of the "ginormous A4" styling (as I posted on it contemporaneously) and lame trunk design,
• PLUS the ongoing improvements like COD, HUD, 360 camera and so on.

Likewise on the D5, seems like it will be a while for more interesting motor choices, autonomous and other advanced driver assist functions to sort out, and so on. I found driving a recent Gen 2 loaner Q7 that stuff like digital/virtual dash felt more like a don't gotta have it novelty after a drive or two. On the other hand, D5 styling to me is ultimately more like D3, which I think is an improvement over the D4 look. Still has some questionable attributes shared with both D3 and D4, like way long front overhang, and the excessive and ever increasing porker weight.

Given Audi has also screwed around long enough now to put C8 essentially right on top of when D5's will probably get here, it doesn't feel to me like it will be roaring out of the gate.

derfA8L

Just to clarify, my reply to Fez2013 was purely focused on his point about the D5’s design. He didn’t comment about engine availability, tech features, or anything beyond the look of the car, which is what I responded to. Whether the new A8’s sales roar out of the gate was not what was being discussed, and my reply to him was limited to the historical nature of similar comments we saw here when the D4 was initially introduced: That the D4 design’s popularity increased over time following its launch when buyers had the opportunity to get to know the car up close—Which indeed was also likely influenced by the introduction of the more exciting 4.0 twin turbo V8, the introduction of the supercharged V6, as well as the availability of the S8–in MY 2013.

The evidence actually shows that the D4 facelift in MY 2015 was not a factor in the D4’s popularity, in fact the opposite, as evidenced by the following A8(S8) U.S. calendar year sales figures which started sliding at the end of 2014 (the beginning of the facelifted 2015 MY)—Anecdotally, this D4 forum’s comments also mixed on the topic of the facelift design at the time, and not positively unanimous by any means.

Audi D4 A8/S8 New Vehicle Sales—U.S. (Calendar Year)
2011: 5,700
2012: 6,002
2013: 6,300
2014: 5,904
———————Facelift begins
2015: 4,990
2016: 4,149
2017: 2,386 (Jan-Sept) ** sales decline likely a function of impending D5 arrival prior to delay announcement, as well as D-class competition updates and new generation design **

Source: GoodcarBadCar.com and Carsalesbase.com

Your own experience and purchase decision factors are completely valid, just not what I was addressing with Fez.