The driver’s limousine

Spearheading the new Audi A8 models due here mid-year, the S8 remains something of an anomaly. A stately car offering the pinnacle of luxury and refinement, but also capable of extraordinary speed and possessing the agility of a sportscar half its size. The new model then has quite a reputation to live up to, but as with all Audi’s at this rarified end of the market, it is a matter of honing the blade to an even keener edge.

The revised S8 retains the twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 petrol engine of its predecessor, developing 420kW and a sturdy 800Nm of torque in combination with a 48-volt mild hybrid system, which provides electric boosting properties.

As in all new A8 models, the generous reserves of the S8 are sent through an upgraded eight-speed automatic gearbox with a manual Tiptronic function via steering wheel mounted shift paddles. The quattro four-wheel drive system with variable properties and a sport differential that constantly various the amount of drive sent to each individual rear wheel, with up to 70 per cent of drive to the front wheels depending on the driving conditions. Alternatively, 85 percent can also be apportioned to the rear wheels.

Many aspects about the driving experience feel familiar, but with limited changes to the S8’s engine, this comes as no real surprise. The performance is both brutish in force and cultured in operation. The vast pulling power provided by the generous amount of torque combines with the slick shifting properties of the gearbox to provide great urgency and a super smooth accumulation of revs when you launch from the line in Dynamic mode.

An official 0-100km/h time of just 3.8 seconds places the S8 among some very fancied four-door competitors for outright standing start pace.

There is also unrelenting in-gear acceleration out on the open road, where gear shifts are always rapid and smooth in operation. A sound generator also works to provide the S8 with suitably sporting acoustic qualities in each of the five driving modes.

The fast acting quattro four-wheel drive system and its ability to constantly vary the apportioning of power between the front and rear wheels plays an integral role in the driving experience, providing the new Audi with outstanding traction and a great feeling of security in all sorts of weather conditions.

There is much more to the new sporting Audi model than its brawny accelerative ability, though. In taller gears, the S8 also provides wonderfully flexible and effortless cruising qualities, where the operation of the engine is silken in nature in Comfort Plus mode all the way up to a limited top speed of 250km/h.

The engine is smart enough to recognise when you are driving in the city, too – at lower speeds in Eco mode, a cylinder-on-demand function closes one bank of cylinders, cleverly turning the S8 into a four-cylinder for added fuel saving. The mild hybrid system also allows the engine to idle for short periods when you lift off the accelerator for further economy gains in Eco mode. Average fuel consumption s put at between 10.8 and 10.7L/100km on the WLTP test cycle.

The 2230kg S8’s compelling combination of performance and relaxed long distance cruising ability is backed up by superbly agile and engaging handling. With a further developed version of Audi’s predictive Active Suspension incorporating new software mapping and greater computing power and the Dynamic All-Wheel Steering system fitted to the test car we drove, it delivers outstanding response and control.

The advanced suspension is able to alter the characteristics of the damping up to 18 times per second and relay the constantly variable qualities to the dampers. Added to this is the all-wheel steering system that turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to those up front for added agility at lower speeds and in the same direction to those up front at higher speeds, resulting in an S8 that feels wonderfully lively in Dynamic mode. 

You can place the big sedan with confidence on more challenging roads, where it displays outstanding body control with very low levels of lean. At the same time, it feels terrifically stable when charging hard out in the fast lane of the autobahn.

The overall ride is firmer than other A8 models, but the control and composure leaves you in no doubt about the big Audi’s luxury aspirations. Tyre noise is always well suppressed, making for quick and quiet progress when the conditions allow.

The gains made by the 2022 S8 make it a very accomplished car indeed. While pricing and equipment for the Australian model will be confirmed closer to its local launch date expected around the middle of the year.

But customers of the high-performance luxury sedan can expect the likes of the latest generation of Audi’s Parking Assist function with 360-degree cameras, adaptive cruise control, traffic jam assist, exit warning, rear cross traffic assist, adjustable speed limiting and lane change warning among a long list of driving assistance programs will all feature on the range topping A8 model when it arrives Down Under in July. But really, the proof comes in the driving, and it is here where the S8 is an even more compelling car than ever before.