Audi A8 4.0 TDi Quattro review

Your say

Audi A8 4.0 TDI Quattro Road Test

Test date 30 September 2003 Price as tested £58,605

Until this year, the Mercedes-Benz S320CDi was the only diesel luxury car on sale in the UK. Importers figured that our ambivalence towards diesel, the lack of a significant difference in price between fuels and lower average mileages than in continental Europe meant we just didn’t want them. But the new company car tax rules and the realisation that refined, flexible and rangey diesel engines suit luxury motoring, mean that soon there will be a choice of four. VW will offer the Phaeton, with its extraordinary V10, but its high price and tiny sales projections mean it is of little relevance, and BMW offers its 730d as a direct rival to the six-cylinder Mercedes. But we still don’t get the full menu; of the big three only Audi offers the same choice of six- and eight-cylinder diesels in the UK as they all do elsewhere in Europe.