RE: Driven: Audi S8

[benzito]

0-62mph in 4.2 sec?? Surely that can't be right. It would destroy most ferrari's if this is correct esp after a simple remap

[minimatt1967]

alexpa said:

Ronin chase is quality. S8 is a sledge hammer. Doesnt say, but it MUST be 4WD?

Erm, the Ronin chase involving the S8 is, Audi S8 V8 vs Peugeot 306 police car, probably diesel, not the hi-light of the film really.

Still a cool car though.

[Riggers]

0a said:

A bit of a copy and paste car from the last one, along with the review ("if you want a sporty car get an X, a luxury one get a Y"). Big Audi A4 look-alikey

What do you want me to say? "If you want a sporty car, become a cheesemaker"?

[thewheelman]

minimatt1967 said:

alexpa said:

Ronin chase is quality. S8 is a sledge hammer. Doesnt say, but it MUST be 4WD?

Erm, the Ronin chase involving the S8 is, Audi S8 V8 vs Peugeot 306 police car, probably diesel, not the hi-light of the film really.

Still a cool car though.

The better chase scene involved the E34 5 series in my opinion.

[AdamPT]

thewheelman said:

minimatt1967 said:

alexpa said:

Ronin chase is quality. S8 is a sledge hammer. Doesnt say, but it MUST be 4WD?

Erm, the Ronin chase involving the S8 is, Audi S8 V8 vs Peugeot 306 police car, probably diesel, not the hi-light of the film really.

Still a cool car though.

The better chase scene involved the E34 5 series in my opinion.

The best car in Ronin was without doubt the 450 6.9....now thats a PROPER luxo super-barge

[Twincam16]

So how does the turbocharger setup work in relation to the cylinder deactivation? When it's running on half the cylinders, is it as a V4 or slant-four, and does that mean that one, both or neither of the turbochargers are active?

It'll be interesting to know how they make all that work (and indeed whether it still works as well in ten years' time or whether mechanics will just turn the lights off in their workshop and pretend to be out if you roll up in one).

[Riggers]

Twincam16 said:

So how does the turbocharger setup work in relation to the cylinder deactivation? When it's running on half the cylinders, is it as a V4 or slant-four, and does that mean that one, both or neither of the turbochargers are active?

It'll be interesting to know how they make all that work (and indeed whether it still works as well in ten years' time or whether mechanics will just turn the lights off in their workshop and pretend to be out if you roll up in one).

So many questions!

The cylinders work thusly:

O_
_O
_O
O_

(the 'O's being the working cylinders)

so as, I presume, to maximise engine balance. But as for the turbo question I'm not so sure... will get back to you on that one...

[dvs_dave]

moskvich427 said:

Great article, and I agree with the conclusion. Big petrol-engined sports limos just don't make sense these days... but the original S8 from the 90s makes a veeery tempting bargain used buy

Not in the UK but the big power S models sell very well in the States. This is the main market for this type of car. For some reason, the European manufacturers just don't bother selling anything with less than 200hp and a decent spec over here.

[Kong]

article said:

And yet somehow the S8 doesn't quite make sense. If you really want performance and grin-inducing fun from your fast saloon then you'll probably down the route of something like an M5 (or possibly wait and see if Audi makes an RS6),

Those cars are a class down, that's like saying why buy a 7 series if you can have a 5. Could the same not be said of the previous generation S8s vs it's contemporaries with the same result? D2 S8 vs E39 M5 - not even a contest, but missing the point to compare them.

The person who buys this car is a person who wants a discreet luxo-rocketship and (Alpina B7 aside which is £££'s more) I think this is the best car for the job.

[danp]

So are you saying it DID feel like a 4 pot when the sound and engine mount sorcery were disabled?

[Roop]

Riggers said:

thewheelman said:

I think you'll find the lowest drag coeffiient in this class is the Lexus LS600h, which is 0.27. If it's a luxury, powerful & fuel efficiet barge you want, you'd be mad to not consider the big Lexus. A combined output rating of 439bhp & 30+mpg is pretty impressive.

Edited by thewheelman on Wednesday 12th October 15:10

When Audi says 'in its class' it means XJ supersport and merc S63. And possibly BMW 760iL. it doesn't count the LS600h as a rival for the S8.

(But FWIW I think you're right )

Ah, but what's the weight of the Lexus after it's been packed with batteries...?

[thewheelman]

Roop said:

Riggers said:

thewheelman said:

I think you'll find the lowest drag coeffiient in this class is the Lexus LS600h, which is 0.27. If it's a luxury, powerful & fuel efficiet barge you want, you'd be mad to not consider the big Lexus. A combined output rating of 439bhp & 30+mpg is pretty impressive.

Edited by thewheelman on Wednesday 12th October 15:10

When Audi says 'in its class' it means XJ supersport and merc S63. And possibly BMW 760iL. it doesn't count the LS600h as a rival for the S8.

(But FWIW I think you're right )

Ah, but what's the weight of the Lexus after it's been packed with batteries...?

The weight is obviously more, yet faster to 0-60 than the S8 by .3 of a second.

[jamesbhp]

But you all know nothing, as I think you'll find, according to Greenpeace, all of VW group is evil.
http://www.vwdarkside.com/

[twoblacklines]

I love the S8 V10, fking bargain too at the moment.

[nelly_h]

thewheelman said:

The weight is obviously more, yet faster to 0-60 than the S8 by .3 of a second.

Except the Lexus is 6.3 secs, and the Audi is 4.2 secs. So in fact the Lexus is 2.1 secs slower.

[MrCarCoach]

As others have mentioned previously, big engined barges may seem out of place to us in UK & Europe, but in places like Dubai, parts of the US and Russia, bigger engine size is definitely seen as better. Its irrelevant to us but not to many other regions of the World.

And agree with the comments about the bland looking A8, having fancy LED headlights with funny DRL shapes does not maketh a shape look interesting.

Jaguar SuperSport/Maserati Quattroporte/used AM Rapide for me.

[kambites]

thewheelman said:

Erm.....the Audi is 6.6 seconds....

No it's not, it's 4.2. The original S8 was 6.6.

[thewheelman]

kambites said:

thewheelman said:

Erm.....the Audi is 6.6 seconds....

No it's not, it's 4.2. The original S8 was 6.6.

Yeah, i just noticed that myself. Still, 6.3 seconds is still quick enough for a car that size.

[Schermerhorn]

Riggers said:

So many questions!

The cylinders work thusly:

O_
_O
_O
O_

(the 'O's being the working cylinders)

so as, I presume, to maximise engine balance. But as for the turbo question I'm not so sure... will get back to you on that one...

Why not

O_
_O
O_
_O

Instead?

[kambites]

I assume the deactivation must be limited by firing order, that you'd want either the chronologically first, third, fifth and seventh cylinders or the second, fourth, sixth and eighth; otherwise you end up with a very uneven loading on the crank as the engine spins.

The Audi engine fires in this order, I believe (not certain):

1-2
8-5
6-7
3-4

So your order would give you funny gaps in the firing. The one Riggers states gives you all the odd cylinders, so is evenly spread throughout the rotation of the engine.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 12th October 18:26