2006 Audi A8 W12
Road test: 2006 Audi A8l W12
When Luciano Pavarotti and his A Night to Remember -- The Farewell Tour arrives in Toronto on Oct. 25, he will be ferried around in an Audi A8L kitted out with a W12 engine. It is a fitting car -- roomy, lavishly attired and as comfortable as comfortable gets.
When Luciano Pavarotti and his A Night to Remember — The Farewell Tour arrives in Toronto on Oct. 25, he will be ferried around in an Audi A8L kitted out with a W12 engine. It is a fitting car — roomy, lavishly attired and as comfortable as comfortable gets.
The space that will be occupied by His Vastness (a reference to his larger-than-life persona and vocal ability and not, well, his vastness) is a thing of envy — it is so well appointed it actually manages to out-Bentley the Bentley Continental Flying Spur when it comes to the rear seat.
Aside from the generous head- and legroom (thanks to the L's 3,074-millimetre wheelbase), the list of features includes individual climate controls for the left and right rear rider, a pair of illuminated vanity mirrors, reading lights, two 12-volt outlets, power side and rear window sun shades, cup holders, a first aid kit and heated power seats. The latter can be moved back and forth, lifted at the front and feature an adjustment for the top half of the seat back, which is great for tailoring the shoulder support. It is, without question, the most comfortable back seat my lowly posterior has yet experienced.
This, however, is not where the coddling ends, as there are individual viewing screens (mounted in the front-seat headrests) for the DVD-based in-car entertainment system. Not only are they of the correct aspect ratio (16×9) for watching a movie, the accompanying Bose surround sound audio system is truly symphonic — crank it up and it's as refined as Pavarotti mid-aria.
Up front, the opulence continues — 18-way power seats are both heated and cooled and come with four memory positions. You'll also find the latest driving aids. The radar-based cruise control not only maintains the desired speed, it keeps the A8 at a set distance behind the car ahead. There's also a pictogram that shows up in the navigation screen (it's easy to program and remarkably accurate) whenever reverse gear is selected. This thing shows how close you are to blind-siding an unsuspecting obstacle. Given the size of the A8L, it is much needed.
The finest leather, suede and bird's-eye maple come together in complete harmony. It is more intoxicating and classy than mere words can describe.
The A8L is just as well endowed from a technical perspective. The chassis (Audi Space Frame) is made from aluminum and so is much lighter than a conventional steel chassis without giving up anything in terms of stiffness. This gives the air suspension and its adaptive dampers a solid base of operations. The suspension is also driver-adjustable featuring four pre-defined settings. Select the softest setting and the rigours of a rough road pass all but unnoticed. Dial in the sportiest setting and the large A8L hunkers down and sweeps through the apex of a challenging on-ramp in fine form.
The other pleasant surprise is the car's overall balance. Even as the driver pushes the limits, there is little understeer and the steering, which is speed sensitive, points in quickly without feeling darty on the highway. If things start to become unravelled, there is a top-notch electronic stability control system waiting in the wings. The latter is worthy of note because it only dives in when absolutely needed.
Powering Pavarotti's ride is a 6.0-litre, W12 engine (it is two V6 engines married in a single unit). With 450 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque on tap (95% of which is available anywhere between 2,300 and 5,300 rpm), the response to throttle input is both fast and sustained — it hauls 1,995 kilograms of leather-lined luxury to 100 kilometres an hour in 5.2 seconds. Keep the hammer down and the A8 is whisked to 200 km/h in 17.4 seconds. The reason for this astonishing performance is down to one simple figure — one horsepower has to accelerate just 4.4 kg of car, putting it on par with some of the world's highest-performance sports cars. This, however, tells only half the story. When driven sedately, the engine is so smooth (and eerily quiet) you tend to forget it's there; mat the gas and just enough noise filters back into the cabin to let the driver know the W12 is giving its all.
The power reaches the road through a slick, six-speed Tiptronic transmission, Audi's quattro all-wheel-drive system and large 255/45 R18 tires. This combination does a number of good things. First, the Tiptronic side of the transmission allows the driver to switch gears manually via steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters and includes a sports mode that stretches out the upshift points. This allows the engine to do its finest work on the way up to speed and deliver some needed engine braking on the way down. Second, the all-wheel-drive system ensures the A8 will pull away at full steam without so much as chirping the tires and complements the handling characteristics by giving the car a very neutral feel when it's pushed.
It is not often that Motor Mouth (aka David Booth) and I agree on things automotive. The A8L gives us a little more common ground: Of the world's luxury cars, we agree that this one sits at the top.
The A8L is outlandishly opulent in its amenities and the manner in which it coddles its passengers. It is also overtly powerful and, in spite of its size, handles as well as many a fine sports car. It is a combination His Vastness is sure to enjoy.
THE SPECS
TYPE OF VEHICLE All-wheel-drive luxury sedan
ENGINE DOHC 6.0L W12
POWER 450 hp @ 6,200 rpm, 428 of torque @ 4,000 rpm
TRANSMISSION Six-speed manumatic
BRAKES Four-wheel disc with ABS
TIRES P255/45 R18
PRICE: BASE/AS TESTED $170,070/$172,970
DESTINATION CHARGE $700
FUEL ECONOMY L/100 km 16.0 city, 10.5 hwy.
EQUIPMENT AS TESTED Four-zone climate control with air filtration, adaptive radar-based cruise control, twin screens for DVD-based entertainment system with Bose surround sound, 18-way power front seats with four-position memory, six-way power rear seats (all seats are heated and cooled), power side and rear window sun shades, electronic stability control, driver-adjustable air suspension
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Source: https://driving.ca/audi/a8/reviews/road-test/road-test-2006-audi-a8l-w12-2
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