Audi A8 – Undiscovered Gem of An Executive Sedan

Audi A8 – Undiscovered Gem of An Executive Sedan

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When it comes to buying a car for the boss, or when the boss decides he wants a big car, the one car that is often passed by is the Audi A8, because in this country, the people seem pre-occupied with owning a Mercedes-Benz S Class or a BMW 7 Series. These two are great cars, but the undiscovered gem is the Audi A8, which I had the good fortune to drive over four days, and covered in excess of 1,200 kilometres in.

Priced at RM658k, it is delivered as a CBU (fully imported) car, with all the trimmings of a luxury sedan, plus more goodies that some people know little of, but once initiated, will want it for sure. The secret in the A8 lies in its quattro drive system, which in short says that all four wheels are driven, and in all road conditions, be it bone dry or glass-surface wet, the A8 will have superior traction over any other car that has only one driven axle.

I enjoyed the A8 quattro over a mixture of high speed highways, and the twisty roads from Dengkil to Port Dickson, including the rally country of Sepang and Tanah Merah, where the roads are the equivalent of a driver’s heaven. On the highways I have enjoyed sure-footedness, and on the twisties, I enjoyed grip like I was driving on rails. When I had to go back to my conventional one-driven axle car, there was a huge difference, especially when driving in heavy rains. The A8 is definitely more stable, and thus is safer than a conventional car. The A8 quattro had superior grip at high speeds, under acceleration, and under braking. Around corners, it performed flawlessly, and driving it as hard as I did, not once did I even get anywhere near the limits of the car. In terms of grip and traction – even bouts of rain and the resultant wet roads posed no problems of any sort. The car was as good as good can be.

It all started when Audi was testing a new 200 horsepower engine for their front-wheel drive car in the winter of 1976/1977 – somewhere in Germany, and in the snowy conditions, the powerful car found the going difficult. At the same time, a military vehicle with 4WD also designed by Audi, with a mere 75 horsepower, could run circles round the more powerful but single axle-drive Audi. Thus was born the idea to adopt all-wheel drive for the more powerful Audi models. In 1980, the first Audi quattro debuted in Geneva, and in the same year, the Quattro rallye made its appearance. Of a planned production of only 400 units, the Quattro had sold 11,492 units by 1991. In the field of rallying, the Quattro very quickly showed its superiority, and the story goes that Hannu Mikkola, in the Monte Carlo Rally debut with the Quattro, overtook a Lancia Stratos, then the world’s fastest rally car, in the first ten kilometres of the first rally stage in the snow, despite starting a minute behind. Hannu did not win the rally due to an accident, but he won the first victory for Audi in the following Swedish rally. Driving a Quattro, Frenchwoman Michele Mouton won the San Remo Rally to become the first ever woman winner of a World Rally Championship event. In 1982, there was no one to challenge the Quattro, and Audi won the Constructor’s Championship easily with seven outright wins. As a result of Audi’s successes, all the WRC (World Rally Championship) cars since then have adopted all-wheel drive. In the race tracks, Audi enjoyed huge successes due to the all-wheel drive superiority, and in 1998, all-wheel drive for track racing was banned from touting car races. Today, Audi make front wheel drive cars for its less powerful range, but for the more powerful engine models, Audi makes them with Quattro (all-wheel drive).

So what is so great about all-wheel drive or Quattro, as Audi calls it? Isn’t this what they use for ice and snow, and since we do not have ice or snow here in Malaysia, why do we need it? Just take a step back – yes, the Quattro or all-wheel drive is great for ice and snow, because they provide superior traction on surfaces where conventional cars would be slipping and sliding, or not be able to move at all. Under extreme conditions such as the tough winter road conditions, the superiority of quattro is without question. It does stand to reason that under normal conditions, the grip levels of Quattro would also be more superior to that of a single axle-driven car. In wet and slippery conditions, such as in our monsoonal climate with its torrential rains, the quattro is definitely superior.

All right – enough about the grip – there were also many other reasons I enjoyed the A8. The A8 available here comes with quattro as a matter of course, and a 3.0 litre gasoline V6 with a supercharger mounted on top, and conveniently in between the two cylinder banks. Power is a respectable 290 horsepower with 420Nm of torque, available in full from 2,500 to 4,850 rpm. With an 8-speed automatic transmission, drive is transmitted to all four wheels. Translated to the road, it makes the A8 a very nice car to drive, and with the added road grip, it is also very ‘chuckable’ as well. I must confess that at times, I drove it more like a Golf R than an ‘executive’ sedan. The power delivery can be smooth and subtle when you wish it to be, yet it can deliver it urgently and with gusto when you want it to be such.

It does the zero to 100km/hr sprint in 6.2 seconds, and although it is capable of more, the top speed is electronically limited to 250 km/hr. That is enough for me, as I managed only 245 km/h just once, for a couple of seconds, when road conditions permitted it. The rest of the time it was all about driving fun, what with the convenient paddle shifters, and driving modes to cater to your needs at the press of a button. Despite its size, the A8 drives very well, and this is a car that is like putty in the hands of a good driver. Now I understand why this is the car that was chosen as the car for the ‘Transporter’ series of movies.

Inside, it is the utmost in luxury, catering for both driver and passengers. I only tried the rear seats when the car was stationary, but my passengers were singing praises about the legroom at the rear, and the comfort and luxurious settings, including electrically-operated window blinds for the rear and side windows. The best feature at the rear is probably the ‘reclinable’ rear seats, which allows one to relax instead of sitting straight up all the time.

If I ever were to be in a position to buy a large car, I would take a serious look at the A8.

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