By the CAR road test team
Long Term Tests
20 January 2011 09:43
The Audi A8's northern light trick - 20 January 2011
Hadn't driven Greg's A8 for a while and jumped in last night, only to be startled by the light show enabled by LED lighting bars integrated into the A8's ceiling. The roof of the cabin glows in an imperious white, with shapely slivers of luminesence accenting the headlining - it's quite unlike anything else I've seen inside a car at night. I'm afraid my hastily grabbed cameraphone snaps don't do it justice. You’ll have to trust me: it brings a little bit of Jean Michel Jarre to your evening.
It's so long since I've driven the A8 that I'd rather forgotten about the driving experience. It wasn't as slick as I remembered it, jittering over road acne even in Comfort mode selected on the air suspension and the brakes were a touch grabbier than anticipated. Worst of all is the steering at low speeds; when manoeuvring at full lock, the wheels judder, rumble and jolt as if a clonking hammer is tapping at the rack. Feels like a tight diff on a four-wheel drive car, but it’s very unbecoming on a £95k luxury car. It was so bad I actually stepped out to check the tyres weren’t flat.
Those chill-out lights and hushed, velvet-punch drivetrain soon had me relaxed and stress-free on the open road. Once on the move the A8 is a very comfortable place to be and the cabin has a stonking sense of occasion. Still looks like a giant A4 outside though. Even in the dark.
Tim Pollard
Audi A8 - 11 October 2010
Haven’t warmed to Greg’s A8. I don’t find it enough of an event, either inside or out. Most importantly, though, I find the eight-speed gearbox really annoying â€" it wants to change gear as soon as you accelerate, giving the throttle pedal a real stodginess. Even selecting manual won’t solve it â€" it just reverts back to auto.
But on a long drive to Plymouth from Peterborough with the wife and two-year-old the other weekend, it’s growing on me. Such a long trip makes the massage seats feel like £1400 extra well spent.
By Ben Barry
Long-term test hello â€" 16 September 2010
A quick recap to how we welcomed our A8 to CAR Magazine's long-term test fleet over the summer
Associated editor Tim Pollard has never been to the Le Mans 24hr race before, but this year the La Sarthe virgin went in at the deep end and joined the works Aston Martin pit crew. It seemed like the perfect excuse for the CAR office to packs its bags and join him, and as he traitorously headed out to France in our long-term Audi A5 Sportback, we showed our support for the Brits by commandeering managing editor Greg Fountain’s new Audi A8 as our executive transport.
With Tim having travelled out ahead, art director Andy Franklin, designer Alex Tapley and myself rendezvous at the office at 6am, and immediately come a cropper. As the art team unpack their provisions from the Cube and Clio, it becomes clear that everything won’t fit; the A8’s boot is soon full, and even after we slot Andy into the back seat and pack around him, the beer remains on the car park floor. I’m a non-drinker myself so declare we’re good to go, but undeterred Alex and Andy meticulously repack the car, sacrifice their camp seats, and find space for the booze. With their priorities clear for the weekend, we set forth for France.
Friday night to Saturday night is a bit of a blur, but Andy, Alex and I congregate again at 10pm, exhausted but in awe that the race is just seven hours old. We extract the A5 from our campsite, and with a media pass stuck to the windscreen, somehow manage to blag our way inside the circuit. Our map is essentially a crayon drawing, but eventually we find our way to the edge of the Mulsanne straight. There are no fences, no marshals, so we stand by the Armco, just six feet from the track and gaze dumbstruck as the cars thunder past at nearly 200mph.
We catch up with Mr Pollard twelve hours later, and it’s fair to say he’s a little wired â€" he’s been up since 7am on Saturday. And while his reward is a new model year 2011 DB9 to schlep him home, he also looks like he’s just emerged from a coal mine â€" to save the cream leather yours truly has the honour of escorting the Aston back to our campsite. Tim walks, and when he rejoins an hour and two showers later, he’s not quite with it. It’s because of this that we deem it okay to feed him the burger than Andy dropped in the ash and then wiped clean on the grass.
We’re up and awake at 8am on Monday morning, and with just five hours sleep it seems sensible to send Tim on his way with a 5.9-litre V12 to keep him awake.
We make good progress, especially when we join a 120mph convoy of three UK dealer-registered A8s, but a massive queue for the toll booth outside Rouen scuppers our timing, and despite driving faster than anything else on the roads for the next 90 minutes I miss the A8’s crossings. Tim and Andy roll into Dover 15 minutes later, and straight onto their train thanks to flexi bookings. Alex and I settle down to wait.
By Ben Pulman
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