Car: Audi S8
Prices: £71,995 - on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 321 g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 5.1s / Max Speed 155mph
Fuel Consumption: (average) 20.9mpg
Safety: Twin front, side & SIDEGUARD airbags/ABS
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height mm 5051/1928/1424
TO THE POWER OF TEN
Our Rating: 8.3 / 10
With 10 Cylinders and 446bhp, Audi’s S8 offers supercar style performance for five. Andy Enright reports
Just once in a while, something shocks you out of complacency. It happened to me today. As I was perusing the specification sheets for Audi’s latest S8, I spotted the power output of 446bhp and felt a little deflated. After all, we’re accustomed to some big German cars shunting out over 500bhp and, in some cases, more than 600 horsepower. Then I paused and mulled it over. 446bhp is more than a ‘996’ Porsche 911 Turbo generated in standard trim. It’s more grunt than a Lamborghini Countach or an Aston Vantage could ever muster. In fact, it’s only a few ponies shy of what many believe to be the most iconic super car of all time, the Ferrari F40. Reality check over, it’s time to put the S8 into a little more perspective.
It’s easy to quote power figures with a big saloon car but the massive weight it has to haul about often makes them somewhat irrelevant. Not so in the case of this £71,995 Audi. The acid test of a car’s potency is its power to weight ratio and the S8 does better in this regard than something like a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S or a classic hotrod like a BMW M-Coupe. Couple that go to a Tiptronic automatic gearbox, quattro all-wheel drive and some of the most sophisticated traction control electronics yet devised and you have a car that’ll be tough to best in a traffic light grand prix. Add rain to the equation and the Audi’s advantage would be even greater.
Reducing such a technical masterpiece to its ability to get off the line rather undersells the S8. The engine alone is well worth closer investigation. Derived from the V10 unit that sits smack in the middle of a Lamborghini Gallardo, it marks a change in direction for Audi. I once interviewed Hayden Leshel, the man Audi put into Lamborghini to knock the Italian company’s processes into shape, and asked him if Lamborghini engines would ever find their way into top end Audis. He let me know – in no uncertain terms – that this would represent poor brand management. Fast forward six years and something must have changed.
The engine found in the S8 isn’t a direct transplant of the Gallardo’s powerplant. That engine is optimised for a small, lightweight sports car and features a power delivery that would make a big limousine extremely wearing to live with. Therefore Audi have fitted a balancing shaft to improve refinement and have grafted on their FSI (fuel stratified injection) direct injection system to improve efficiency and responsiveness. Many wondered why Audi didn’t just develop their monster 6.0-litre W12 engine for the S8 but the V10 is a far preferable unit for a car that wears an S badge. It’s a lightweight piece of metalwork, tipping the scales at just 220kg, therefore helping the S8 avoid the rather turgid handling characteristics of the A8 W12. What’s rather surprising is that despite the aluminium construction, the S8 still tips the scales at 1,940kg, which is only a couple of bags of sugar less than a traditional heavyweight like a BMW 745i. By contrast, a Jaguar XJ6 is nearly 400kg lighter.
Despite carrying a fair amount of excess baggage, the S8 is still capable of jetting to 60mph in a fraction under five seconds and will hit its 155mph top speed with plenty left in reserve. The FSI system helps to swell torque to 540NM at 3,500rpm, with fully 90 per cent of this figure available at as little as 2,300rpm. Audi have worked hard to enliven the S8’s handling and have equipped the car with a more enthusiast-oriented torque split of 40 per cent of drive going to the front wheels and 60 per cent aimed aft. Adaptive air suspension is there to keep things composed and it’s quite a system. It’s based on the Sport set-up offered throughout the A8 range, featuring firmer damping and a 20mm ride height reduction in each of its four modes. The system has been modified for the S8 quattro to suit its even more pronounced sporting bias, with revisions to the suspension mounts and to the shock absorbers within the air-spring bellows designed to maximise roll resistance. Speed humps
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