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The new Audi A8 has been spied undergoing the final stages of development at the Nurburgring, ahead of its launch at the end of November.

The new executive saloon has previously been spied at the ‘Ring, as well as on public roads, and these clear shots show the A8 in a light disguise and near production-ready specification.

See the hi-res Audi A8 spy pics

The S-class and BMW 7-...Read the full article

Time for the important question here - how does it ride? Until Audi admits their range currently rides like it's shod with wooden wheels and iron tyres and their new A8 has addressed these issues the A8 will never be a proper "executive" or "luxury" car.  Weight saving is good though, as are "poverty spec 4 cylinders", as long as there's a debadge option!

theonlydt:

Time for the important question here - how does it ride? Until Audi admits their range currently rides like it's shod with wooden wheels and iron tyres and their new A8 has addressed these issues the A8 will never be a proper "executive" or "luxury" car

 

I disagree. I have an A8 and on the right tyres and a sensible wheel size , the ride is very good. My car has 18" wheels and in the suspension setting *comfort* it really soaks up all the bumps and poor surfaces pretty admirably and there are no jitters. What I would say is that with the suspenion in *automatic* mode, it does seem to get rather indecisive and the ride does suffer- it gets very fidgety at times- thats why i tend not to use it- I either keep the car in comfort mode and change it manually to dynamic when i need more control and a crisper driving experience. In dynamic it rides no worse than my cousins DB9 .In fact if it wasnt for the awful roads here I would keep it in that setting , cos the car's alot more fun.

How does a front-wheel drive Audi A8 drive?

It must feel like one of those Toyota Crown taxis they have in Japan............

Doesn't the current A8 also use an aluminium spaceframe? In which case, if the new one is 10 cm longer, they're going to struggle to make it lighter, except for the poverty-spec 4-cylinder FWD model.

Colonel Snappy:

Doesn't the current A8 also use an aluminium spaceframe? In which case, if the new one is 10 cm longer, they're going to struggle to make it lighter, except for the poverty-spec 4-cylinder FWD model.

One of the failures of the A8 aluminium platform is that it only weighs a little lighter than steel-bodied rivals. The Audi engineers were not able to translate the use of aluminium to lighter weight................

Not an Audi fan - but I must defend the engineers of the current A8.

According to Whatcar:

Phaeton 3.0-V6TD 4Motion - 2372kg

A8 3.0V6 Quattro - 1830kg

Much lighter and they must share a lot of components?

Depends how they measure it - Audi are always much heavier in road tests than their claimed weights.

fuzzybear:

I disagree. I have an A8 and on the right tyres and a sensible wheel size , the ride is very good. My car has 18" wheels and in the suspension setting *comfort* it really soaks up all the bumps and poor surfaces pretty admirably and there are no jitters.

fuzzy old bean - you simply cannot have been in any of the car's competitors. The primary and secondary ride, body control and bump absorption in the A8 are nowhere near the S-Class, 7-Series, LS or any big Jag from the last 30 years. I would argue the car is not in the same league of smoothness/tranquility as a new Superb or even a VW bloody Golf. Autocar's summary of the A8 was that it was "not comfortable enough" - a summary which also applies to every Audi currently on sale - and while it's possible your car is an exception I somehow doubt it.

I'd still have an S8 though :)

Finally, Audis' 200bhp 2.0 Twin-Turbo diesel arrives!

Just look at the figures: Audi A8 3.0 TDI, 1845 kg (with 90% tank full), 233 BHP, 7.8 sec from 0-60, 224 g/km. BMW 730d, 1940 kg (90% tank, 68 kg for the driver and 7 kg of luggage), 245 bhp, 7.2 sec from 0-60, 178 g/km. Looks pretty inferior to me.

ThwartedEfforts:

fuzzy old bean

lol. I just dont think the automatic setting works,nor do sports tyres or oversized alloys- I think 18" is the limit and in comfort mode it does soak up bumps very well, but it also wallows and floats as a consequence- so not perfect by any stretch, but it is at least comfortable and on better roads, i feel i can change the cars character completely in dynamic, it does become a completely different beast. I would perhaps hesitate about buying another A8, but really I need 4wd and my only other alternative as a direct replacement would be an LS600h swb or perhaps a Continental coupe but im sure I could still be tempted by another A8, especially if was an S8 as you say ;)