The Audi S8 is a limousine with a dark side, the polar opposite to the sedate hybrids that glide near-noiselessly around the city. It is the anti-Uber, with nigh-on 600 horsepower pumped out by a twin turbo-charged V8 and, in this special ‘Plus’ model, an indecently high top speed that places it squarely in supercar territory. Yet all this drama is cloaked with a stylish, sober façade, the power lurking beneath the long, subtly fluted bonnet. In truth, you needn’t deploy it all and simply revel in the hush and refinement of Audi’s flagship saloon.
Unlike the raucous AMG variants of Mercedes’ S-Class, the S8 is more subdued. It’s a titanically fast car that you don’t feel the urge to thrash and delivers a far better experience when it’s just wafting along serenely. The V8 is an especially emotive engine; tuned right it produces a deliciously waffly exhaust note that has come to define a certain type of brutish, heavyweight performance. Pushed hard, it will roar, but overall it’s been tuned to stay discrete, not diabolical. The same engine is also found in Bentley’s GT V8S, but Audi recently hinted that their most recent V8 might also be their last, as the anachronistic combination of noise, emissions and raw power slowly fades into history.
It’s certainly at odds with the S8’s otherwise high-tech demeanour. The big limousine sector is traditionally a tech showcase and an all-new A8 and S8 will appear in the next 18 months. Unfortunately, this knowledge unwittingly highlights the current car’s shortcomings. The dashboard design has been usurped by other Audis, with their digital ‘virtual cockpits’, and although the interior still oozes quality, the MMI (multi-media interface) has become less, not more, intuitive, with the passing years, as the ubiquity of touchscreen interaction seeps successfully into car design. Audi might argue that tactile feedback is the way to go, but while the rotary dial and button combination clicks and twirls with satisfying precision, more often than not you dial something in the wrong direction.
These are minor quibbles about what is undeniably an impressive and desirable machine. S8 buyers care not for what others think, preferring to focus on the sensation of stealth, the knowledge of hidden power and the majestic solidity of Audi’s build quality.
Unlike the raucous AMG variants of Mercedes’ S-Class, the S8 is more subdued. It’s a titanically fast car that you don’t feel the urge to thrash and delivers a far better experience when it’s just wafting along serenely
The big limousine sector is traditionally a tech showcase – an all-new A8 and S8 will appear in the next 18 months
The V8 is an especially emotive engine; tuned right it produces a deliciously waffly exhaust note that has come to define a certain type of brutish, heavyweight performance
S8 buyers care not for what others think, preferring to focus on the sensation of stealth, the knowledge of hidden power and the majestic solidity of Audi’s build quality
INFORMATION
Audi S8 Plus, from £97,700 (available October). For more information, visit the Audi website
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper editors have been doing this weekA week of jetsetting has seen the editors in Tokyo, Milan, Vienna, Miami, New York and drinking Guinness with Jonathan Anderson in London
-
The Living Places experiment: how can architecture foster future wellbeing?Research initiative Living Places Copenhagen tests ideas around internal comfort and sustainable architecture standards to push the envelope on how contemporary homes and cities can be designed with wellness at their heart
-
Turin’s Museo Egizio gets an OMA makeover for its bicentenaryThe Gallery of the Kings at Turin’s Museo Egizio has been inaugurated after being remodelled by OMA, in collaboration with Andrea Tabocchini Architecture
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV conceptThe AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
-
We take Audi’s new Q6 e-tron quattro around and across the fjords of NorwayThe new Audi Q6 e-tron quattro is a pure EV that marks a new design direction for the German brand, setting new tech standards along the way. Transportation Editor, Jonathan Bell, takes it for a drive
-
A deep dive into the new Audi Q6 e-tron, revealed at Milan Design Week 2024The Audi Q6 e-tron is the brand's latest all-electric car, a stylish powerhouse launched at Audi’s House of Progress in Milan
-
Coming soon: a curated collection of all the new EVs and hybrids that matterWe've rounded up new and updated offerings from Audi, Porsche, Ineos, Mini and more to keep tabs on the shifting sands of the mainstream car market
-
Farewell to the Audi TT, a design icon that evolved with the automotive landscapeFor over 25 years, the Audi TT has been synonymous with the brand, a modern machine that initially favoured style over sport. The final editions are very different beasts to the original
-
Audi RS6 Avant GT is an estate car that thinks it belongs on the trackWith the Audi RS6 Avant GT limited-edition supercar, Audi Sport has gone all-out to create the ultimate hyper-estate
-
Year in review: the top 10 cars of 2023, as selected by Wallpaper’s Jonathan BellWhat were the best four-wheeled offerings of 2023? Transport editor Jonathan Bell takes us through the year’s most intriguing automobiles
-
Audi e-tron GT quattro still pushes all the right buttons. But what happens next?Life behind the wheel of Audi’s elegant electric GT, plus a short history of the company’s e-tron series, from concept through to production
