Audi A8 3.2 FSI V6 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Audi A8 3.2-litre FSI V6
Prices: £51,995-£58,515 - on the road
Insurance Group: 18
Emissions: 238g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 7.4s / Max Speed 155mph
Fuel Consumption: (average) 28.8mpg
Safety: Twin front, side & SIDEGUARD airbags/ABS
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height mm 5051/1928/1444

DIRECTOR’S CUT

Our Rating: 8.0 / 10

The entry-level Audi A8 just got a whole lot more desirable. Andy Enright reports on the recently improved direct injection 3.2-litre FSI model

The Audi A8 3.2 FSI could well put a dent in the Ingolstadt company’s carefully cultivated image of cerebral savvy. Not because it’s in any way deficient, but in quite the opposite regard. So good is this direct injection petrol engine that it forces one to ponder the wisdom of forking out more for a plusher and bigger-engined A8. In producing an excellent entry-level car, Audi may well have slashed the profitability of the A8 line as a whole.

An honourable exception should be made for the impressive 3.0 and 4.2-litre TDI diesel models, but the rest of the A8 range suddenly seems a little superfluous. Just how badly do you need a car that will go faster than 7.4 seconds to 60mph? The top speed of this car is governed to 155mph, just like the £80,995 W12 quattro range topper, so getting from Aachen to Berlin is going to be no quicker. In fact, in real terms, the prodigious thirst of the twelve-cylinder engine may well make it a little slower across long distances, the 3.2-litre car sipping fuel at a combined rate of 28.8mpg.

Where this car will really score is among high-end company user choosers looking to make a big splash in the corporate car park. Priced from ‘just’ £51,995 (or from £53,895 in quattro form), this full-sized luxury model lines up against smaller tackle like the Mercedes E500 and what the Audi lacks in cubic capacity, it more than makes up for in sheer gravitas. This is a deeply impressive looking car and in long wheelbase guise, it has a genuine captain of European industry aura about it. Plus, with carbon dioxide emissions pegged at a competitive 238g/km, it shouldn’t be prohibitively expensive when it comes to benefit-in-kind taxation.

The 3.0-litre model that this car replaced had 218bhp to call upon but a healthy 40bhp power hike means that the A8 3.2 FSI will feel significantly sprightlier. The aluminium chassis of the A8 is renowned as one of the lightest superstructures in the luxury division and endows the car with a reasonable turn of speed through the gears. The multitronic CVT gearbox plays a significant part here thanks to its continuously variable gear ratio that lacks the power and fuel-sapping effect of a conventional automatic gearbox’s torque converter. Aside from the standard body, there’s also the long wheelbase version, retailing from £55,365. This is 130mm longer than the standard car and so provides rear seat passengers with outstanding comfort and space. Incred

Audi make much of their FSI direct injection system and it’s worth a brief explanation of how it differs from a conventional engine. A high-pressure fuel line mounted on the side of the cylinder head, often dubbed ‘common rail’, injects fuel straight into the combustion chamber. The shape of the pistons and the clever working of a set of valves make the air ‘tumble’, thus creating more efficient combustion. Where FSI engines really impress is their behaviour under part throttle loads. Before, part throttle meant just that, partially strangulating the output by closing a butterfly valve. Now, in contrast, the FSI system can be run with the throttles in a more efficient open position by creating a rich fuel mix directly next to the spark plug and a leaner mix in other parts of the combustion chamber. This is not only more efficient in terms of how much fuel enters the chamber in the first place but it also means that less energy is wasted as heat to the cylinder block. In effect, a blanket of air shields the ignited fuel from the walls of the cylinder.

When the throttle is pressed wide open, the engine reverts to a more conventional ‘homogenous’ method of filling the combustion chamber with fuel and air. The ‘tumble’ effect and the synchronisation of air and fuel along with the careful metering of the high-pressure injection system all combine to offer more power and a cleaner engine. When you’re dawdling you get great economy and when you want to drop the hammer, you’ve got more power. Everyone’s a winner.

On to transmission. The CVT approach as used here is a new one for Audi automatic gearboxes but in multitronic form, it works well. There’s very little loss in performance over a manual (around 0.2s to sixty with most engines) and hardly a premium at all at the pumps (around 0.2 of a litre across the board). The electronics incorporate a Dynamic Control Programme (DRP) which monitors both the driver and the driving conditions. It assesses the way the driver uses