I’m going to have to start by asking you to reach for the violins here. Sometimes, when you’re reviewing cars, the cars you drive can attract an awful lot of attention. You might just be driving to work, but there are camera phones at the ready. People peer over, as much excited by the prospect of spotting a celebrity as seeing automotive exotica. The disappointment can be palpable when they realise I’m no one. They probably assume I’m a hedge fund manager going through a mid-life crisis. Only half of that is true, and not the half in which I make loads of money. If I did make loads of money, I’d probably buy an Audi S8.
Absolutely no one bats an eyelid at the Audi S8. No camera phones, no questions at petrol stations, no glances on the motorway. It just goes about its business entirely unflustered and entirely unburdened by the weight of attention. Yet it’s a supremely competent machine. It can blend into the background and it can also raise hell when it needs to. You can do 0-60 in 3.8secs whilst having your back massaged and people will merely be left to wonder what on earth that was that just hastily made off towards the horizon.
Audis RS3, RS6 and RS7 all attract knowing glances. The RS6 is widely recognised as one of the finest fast estates going. The RS badging gives the game away on all three, with flared wheel arches and deliberately menacing postures. The R8, too, with its supercar gait and V10 engine. Yet I’d opt for the Audi S8. And here’s why.
I’ll start with a negative in the interests of balance. Even in top-spec Vorsprung guise, the Audi S8 doesn’t have a heated steering wheel. This means that, in February, you will have cold hands in this thing, at least for the first few miles. You get ventilated, heated massage seats, but a cold steering wheel.
And that’s the complaints out of the way. The interior continues the understated feel of the Audi S8. Technology is subtly and cleverly integrated, with everything being easy and intuitive to use. I hadn’t driven an Audi with the MMI virtual cockpit and dual touchscreen centre console setup for a year. Yet it took no time to get back to grips with.
The sport seats are supremely comfortable, with plenty of adjustability that makes them well suited to long journeys. There is plenty of adjustment in the steering column, too, so finding the right driving position is easy. In the back there is plenty of leg and headroom, heated seats and an inbuilt tablet in the armrest for controlling everything. It feels modern without being overbearing.
The adaptive air suspension with Comfort+ works brilliantly on the move. The UK’s pockmarked roads are dealt with adroitly. This setting scans the road ahead and prepares the suspension for upcoming bumps and potholes. When it works, it eradicates speedbumps. I say “when”, because it isn’t entirely flawless. You really notice the speedbumps it fails to interpret, even if it still handles them impressively. The combination of dank conditions and non-existent road markings don’t help. Our roads really are a shambles.
On the practicality front, ISOFIX, a massive boot and a large fuel tank make everyday use as easy as you’d expect from a large saloon. The 82-litre tank means a range of c.440 miles.
I don’t think there’s a better motorway car available. Hear me out. Surely you’d go for a GT, designed for continent crushing? Something like a Bentley Continental or Aston Martin DBS? What about a luxury SUV like a Rolls-Royce Cullinan or Lamborghini Urus? Those cars are all brilliant, but we’re back to the attention they attract. If you just want to go about your business and crack on, the Audi S8 is as comfortable and as quick as all of them. But it doesn’t insist on itself.
I drove to Barry in Wales and back the weekend I had it, a 344-mile round trip. On the way there it was sunny and pleasant and I could enjoy the great wave of torque available. On the way back it was hosing it down and miserable and I could enjoy the self-driving, overarching comfort and B&O sound system. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in anything else.
A slight squeeze of the throttle and the Audi S8 emits a pleasing background V8 grunt and gathers momentum with consummate ease. It’s effortless in the way it goes about things. This makes the head up display rather handy, since you can pick up a lot more speed than you intend to, very quickly.
At 2220kgs before anyone has got in it, the Audi S8 might not be a natural fit for country roads. Yet the suspension keeps it remarkably flat and the 563bhp and 800Nm of torque keep it remarkably fast. The steering is devoid of feedback but is well weighted and perfectly accurate. The Audi S8 never forgets that it’s a luxury limo first and foremost, but it’s certainly a car designed to be driven as much as driven in.
On the commute to work it was a wonderfully calm place to be; on an evening drive letting its hair down it was a wonderfully engaging place to be. The Audi S8 has a broad remit which it delivers on.
Whilst luxury limos are well suited to electrification, the Audi S8 is an old school reminder of the value of a big engine and plenty of shove. It might not be a car particularly well suited to the modern age, but to anyone who has been lucky enough to have driven one, they’ll know that it’s perfectly suited to almost any realistic scenario you can throw at it.
Whilst the R8, RS7, RS6 and RS4 are receiving performance and even GT farewells from Audi as the firm prepares to bid farewell to combustion engines entirely, the Audi S8 will exit quietly and almost unnoticed. It’s a fitting end, but I can’t help but think that it deserves more love than it has received. It makes very few fantasy garage shortlists. The Audi S8 goes unnoticed in almost every respect.
Whilst the Audi e-tron GT and its RS derivative make for fine GT cars in theory, they won’t cover 400 miles before being subjected to the horrors of the UK’s public charging infrastructure. V8 propulsion might be a dinosaur, but getting to Wales and back without stopping is really rather handy.
The S8 is my favourite Audi. I admire its comfort, understated elegance and effortless performance. I also love that it goes almost entirely unnoticed. It feels like the very best of Audi. Perhaps I’m romantically swayed by Ronin and The Transporter from my youth, imagining lavish car chases through Paris and Europe, but I will really miss the S8 when it’s gone. There’s nothing else quite like it.
