“The big A8 offers a very Audi-like blend of athleticism and ride comfort.It is taller, longer, more isolated from the road, yet better controlled than the A8 it replaces. It is a cruise missile for the wealthy; it flattens mountains and straightens freeways with ease.” -CarAndDriver
The latest Audi A8 L comes with a 3.0-litre TFSI turbocharged V6 engine as opposed to the 3.0L supercharged V6 engine of 2018. This time around, the engine is bolstered by a 48-volt mild-hybrid starter system that takes the power produced to a slightly higher 335 hp and provides a torque of 325 lb-ft. The V8 variant will also receive a slight bump in the power produced due to the latest mild-hybrid implementation. The V8 engines pump power of 453 hp while providing a torque of 444 lb-ft.
Both the variants get the 8-speed automatic transmission as a standard. The shifting of the gears can feel sluggish at times when using the car in normal modes and it can be offset by enabling the dynamic driving mode.
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Models
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Audi A8 L
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BMW 7-series
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Mercedes Benz S class
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MSRP
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$83,800
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$83,650
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$91,250
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Engine
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3.0L TFSI Turbocharged V6
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3.0 L Turbocharged I6 engine
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3.0 L Twin Turbo V6
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Transmission
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8 Speed Automatic
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8 Speed Automatic
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9 Speed Automatic
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Horsepower
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335 @ 5000 rpm
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320 @5200 rpm
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362 @ 5500 rpm
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Torque
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369 ft-lbs
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330 ft-lbs
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369 ft-lbs
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Though Mercedes clearly leads this segment with the twin-turbo engine and 9-speed transmission, a simple increment of 30 horses over Audi feels inefficacious for the extra buck.
Acceleration
The Audi A8 L fares an impressive zero to 60 mph speed in 5.6 seconds which is not at all a bad number considering that this is a luxury-oriented car and not a speeding beast. The throttle, however, feels tardy in comfort and eco modes. Nevertheless, the responsiveness of the throttle does get better in the dynamic driving mode owing to timelier gear shifts.
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Models
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Audi A8 L
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BMW 740i Sedan
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Mercedes-Benz S 450 Sedan
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0-60 MPH
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5.6 sec
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5.4 sec
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5.4 sec
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Quarter mile
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13.8 sec @ 101.3 mph
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13.4 sec @ 104 mph
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13.8 sec @ 102 mph
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Engine
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3.0L
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3.0L
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3.0L
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Emission Tons/yr of CO2 Emissions @ 15K mi/year)
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8.1
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7.4
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8.1
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We can see that all the cars have almost similar 0-60 speeds. However, things start to get interesting in the quarter-mile segment where BMW outshine the other two. BMW manages to achieve speeds faster owing to lower weight and ample power output of the inline 6 turbocharged engine.
Ride and Handling
The ride in the latest Audi A8 L can be a pleasant experience owing to its best in class luxury equipment coupled with decent handling. It might not be a simple task to manoeuvre this vehicle at deep turns as it is a long base variant. However, the inclusion of all-wheel drive makes the turns painless. While cruising at tight bends at speeds below 37 mph, the rear wheels of the A8 turn 5 degrees out of phase to the front wheels to ease the turn. However, when the car is moving at speeds higher than 37 mph, the rear wheels are turned in phase with the front wheels up to a maximum of 2 degrees which makes car glide through short bends. With the implementation of this system, the A8’s wheelbase feels much shorter and achieves a reduction in the turning radius of up to 3.3 feet when compared to cars with similar wheelbase.
Braking
The Audi A8 L employs 14-inch disk brakes on the rear and 15-inch disks on the front for braking. This car also uses regenerative braking to capture the power that can be used to operate the stop-start system. This implementation is more aggressive in cutting down the combustion engine while the car is freewheeling, thereby reducing fuel consumption.
Since this car comes with features such as autonomous lane shifting and adaptive cruise control, we get automatic emergency braking embedded into the vehicle to avoid mishaps.
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Model
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BMW 740i Sedan
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Audi A8 L
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Mercedes-Benz S 450 Sedan
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Brake Front(in)
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17.7
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15.0
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13.2
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Brake Rear(in)
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14.5
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14.0
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11.8
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Curb Weight(lbs)
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4195
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4751
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4553
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60-0 MPH (ft.)
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112
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118
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-
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Bimmer having employed larger disks and taking advantage of it’s lower curb weight gets the car to a halt faster than Audi.
