Hot on the heels of the latest oh so bland BMW 5 Series comes the new Audi A8. The biggest saloon in the Audi range is now even bigger, but thanks to an all aluminum chassis and trick weight saving wheels it is lighter than the model it replaces. Unfortunately the new car hasn’t only lost a few pounds, but sadly it may have lost its mojo.
The New Audi A8
Not that the old A8 was brash. Far from it. The old A8 was the understated large saloon of choice. Using my clichéd business model, the A4 was for middle managers, the A6 for senior managers and the A8 was a car you bought to be driven in, the director’s car of choice. While the BMW 7 series was ugly and driven by flash geezers (and currently the car transporting a certain Miss Cole on the X-Factor), the A8 was handsome and the preserve of the design conscious. While the Mercedes S Class continued it’s merchant bankers and dictator image, the A8 was driven by the coolest cat of them all, Roxy Music’s Bryan Ferry.
Sadly the new car has undergone the ‘Xerox Photocopier effect’ that blights the latest 5 series. While that looks like an elongated 3 series, the A8 looks like a spitting image of the A4, only fatter. No doubt the Bang & Olufsen stereo will be superb but then so is the 1200 watt Bowers & Wilkins system in the new Jaguar XJ.
What we have here then is the Audi Elvis Presley. Still sounds good, but boydoes it look fatter.
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