Audi A8 Review (2018-present)

What is the Audi A8?

Audi introduced the original A8 way back in 1994, replacing the company’s former flagship saloon, the Audi V8. That 1994 A8 set out Audi’s thinking for its range-topping saloon that remains true to this day, the A8 being a considered, technologically advanced and understated luxury saloon. That gives the Audi A8 its own distinct appeal over the ubiquitous Mercedes-Benz S-Class and BMW 7 Series, as well as more sporting alternatives like the Porsche Panamera, not to mention luxury SUV alternatives like the Range Rover.

Introduced in current form in 2017 and then facelifted with additional tech and equipment in 2021, the Audi A8 saloon retains all the good-looking, technologically advanced, comfortable and spacious virtues of its predecessors. Whether you want a car for your chauffeur business, or if you simply must have a super-luxury executive car that shames the ranks of Audi A6s and BMW 5-Series in the office car park, the Audi A8 is more than lavish enough to suit your needs.

How practical is it?

There are two wheelbase options, either the standard A8 saloon at 5.17 metres long, or the long-wheelbase A8 L model that gains 13cm between its axles to give rear-seat passengers a bit more lounging space. Even in the standard A8 you’ll not feel short-changed for space in the rear seats. Head-, shoulder- and legroom are plentiful, although the A8 L does offer more room for the numerous rear-seat entertainment options, as well as the possibility to recline the seats further for the ultimate chauffeur-driven experience.

The boot is deep enough to swallow your long-haul luggage with ease but, this being a traditional saloon, the opening is fairly shallow and you also can’t fold the rear seats down in the Audi A8. Also, the 505-litre boot space drops to 350 litres in the plug-in hybrid. Certainly, luxury SUV rivals such as the Range Rover and BMW X7 are usefully more practical than the Audi and its saloon compatriots if you’re considering the Audi A8 for family duties as well as lavish corporate wheels.

Electric seat adjustment, broad and supportive seats, decent visibility and a useful number of cubbies including a wireless phone charging pad all help to make the A8 as comfortable as you’d expect for the driver and whoever else is demoted to the front seats.

The A8's impeccable build quality can’t be questioned, either. Every surface you encounter is sumptuous and lavish in both its construction and its finish, making the A8 feel like something that's been crafted and honed with incredible attention-to-detail. Even when compared with rivals from BMW and Mercedes, the big Audi feels like a properly high-end product.

What's it like to drive?

All A8s have quattro four-wheel drive for plentiful grip and traction, even in tricky conditions, and all models feature adaptive air suspension that delivers a supple ride quality that’s perfect for its intended purpose of ferrying high-fliers around, although the Mercedes S-Class betters it for ultimate ride supremacy.

For those wanting their A8 as sporting as possible the Audi S8 model heads the line-up. It gets a 563bhp 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo engine, and also gains predictive active suspension (as well as all-wheel steering) and a more assertive exterior styling appropriate to its more sporting intent. It’s a shame that you can’t add this predictive air suspension to the rest of the range, as it is a great system that elevates the A8’s ride to match the best offered by rivals like the S-Class.

Below that S8, the engine line-up encompasses a choice of 3.0-litre petrol (TFSI) and diesel (TDI) V6 engines, these badged 55 TFSI quattro with 335 horsepower and 50 TDI quattro with 282 horsepower. Above that there is the A8 60 TFSIe with its plug-in hybrid powertrain (Audi no longer labels its plug-in hybrids as E-Tron models, that name now being reserved for fully electric products). This mates the 3.0-litre V6 petrol to an electric motor and an 18kWh (14.4kWh usable) battery, which delivers an official electric range of over 30 miles, while real-world range is more likely to be around 25 miles. Given that the 60 TFSIe will be cheaper to tax and fuel, and also manages 0-62mph in under 5.0 seconds, it’s likely to be the most popular choice in the range.

All A8 variants use an eight-speed tiptronic automatic gearbox that slurs through gearshifts very smoothly unless you really ask for a heavy burst of acceleration, when it can be a touch slow to respond. Generally, the serene progress and excellent refinement in the Audi A8 is precisely what you expect of a car of this class.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Up front, whether you’re driving or being driven, the A8’s cockpit is a paragon of Audi’s technology and gadgets. The 'virtual cockpit' digital instrumentation works well, and is supplemented by a pair of touchscreens, the top one controlling everything from the sat-nav and media to the standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The lower screen takes care of things like climate control and other in-car comfort features. It all looks sensational, but those screens do require a bit of skill to operate, and will have you looking away from the road for a good deal of time when using them. Probably less than you will in the Mercedes S-Class with its huge, single touchscreen interface, though, so the BMW 7 Series actually wins the ‘easiest infotainment system’ award of the conventional big limos, with its rotary controlled iDrive system.

Usefully, the A8 is loaded with Audi’s most advanced driver aids and safety features as standard, with Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning with Emergency Assist, automatic emergency braking and camera-based traffic sign recognition in all A8s, which combine to offer an effective semi-autonomous driving mode. As of the 2022 model year, you also get ‘digital matrix LED’ headlights on all of the top-spec Vorsprung models, which are clever enough to focus specifically on the lane you’re on in on the motorway, or to spread the beam wider for rural roads, as well as to maintain high beam brightness without dazzling oncoming traffic. New rear OLED lights for the mid-life facelift also offer different light signatures depending on the trim you choose, and can even change depending on what drive mode you’re in and illuminate automatically if the car senses another vehicle coming within two metres of the back of a stationary A8.

Audi A8 running costs

As a new car, the A8 has an entry-level starting price in excess of £73,000, with the top-spec S8 pushing the £100,000 mark. So, even if you're buying used, it'll still be a very pricey purchase, but it’s worth pointing out that – high as these costs seem – the Audi is comparably good value next to the Mercedes S Class and forthcoming Range Rover. It’s very likely to be cheaper to lease or finance, too, although the BMW 7 Series is just as competitive as the Audi on purchase costs regardless of how you’re buying.

It is, of course, unreasonable to expect a car at this end of the market to be inexpensive to run but there are ways to make your A8 ownership more economical by being wise with the model you pick. Opt for the TFSIe plug-in hybrid if you’re city-bound or have a short commute, as they can cut fuel costs drastically if you can make good use of the pure electric running. The low CO2 emissions mean that, if you’re running the 60 TFSIe as a business car, you’ll also make sizeable tax savings.

Once the battery is depleted, you’ll be running mostly on petrol power, so the mpg figure you get on a longer run will be considerably less. Indeed, if you’re regularly doing bigger mileage drives, then the diesel 50 TDI will likely make a lot more sense, as it’ll achieve its circa 40mpg combined consumption figure relatively easily and is also usefully cheaper to buy than the plug-in hybrid. Don’t discount the V6 petrol 55 TFSI, as this is also cheaper than the PHEV model but will still do around 30 to 35 mpg but costs usefully less to buy or lease.

Naturally, the S8 will be considerably more punishing to your bank balance in terms of fuel economy, but if you’re buying a car at this price point with this level of performance, the likelihood is that the cost of filling it up just won’t be an issue.

Servicing can be undertaken at any Audi dealership, and there’s the option of fixed-price service plans, depending on mileage and age.

Audi A8 reliability

The Audi A8 doesn’t sell in quite the numbers to make a big impact on any of the reliability surveys out there, but anecdotally, we’ve not heard of any major issues with the current model. Audi as an overall brand came a middling 18th out of 30 manufacturers included in the 2021 What Car? reliability survey.

Being a range-topping saloon, it’s loaded with complex technology, some of which is unproven as yet, so there might be issues in the future on expensive equipment like the high-tech lighting systems, driver aids, and suchlike. We did ask Audi executives what it would cost to replace the top-spec digital matrix LED headlights if they were damaged, and received only nervous laughter in response… Don’t expect it to be cheap if you do need something as (supposedly) simple as a new headlight unit on any of the cars in this class.

Audi seems confident enough to offer a three-year/60,000-mile warranty (which is pretty standard compared with the car's main rivals), though, as well as the opportunity to extend it to either four years and a maximum of 75,000 miles, or five years and a maximum of 90,000 miles, at a price.