# S8 Review (Well Chuffed)



## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

Picked up my S8 on Saturday & thought Iâ€™d write a review of my initial thoughts & findings.

Exterior Styling:

The cars looks are very understated & stealth like (which Iâ€™m very happy about). The dimensions are vast with acres of room inside & a huge boot. Exterior does look somewhat sporting, as the car is clad in 20â€ RS4 wheels & rides very low (missus has named her bling bling), with no visible room between the wheels & arches. There are a couple of discreet S8 badges & along with the chrome wing mirrors; these are the only visible differences between an S8 & the rest of the A8 range. I love the Avus silver & can see huge benefit from now not having a black car, as the paint looks stunning & wonâ€™t show quite as readily those annoying swirl marks & stone chips

Interior Styling:

Love it, although itâ€™s only now the red leather is starting to grow on me. Due to the vast amount of space in the car, there is a lot of red leather & she also has the control pack, so red leather door inserts & armrests. The quality of the leather is excellent & the front seats (Recaroâ€™s) are extremely comfortable and grippy. Possibly the most comfortable driving position Iâ€™ve ever experienced.

This car has toys, toys & more toys (still trying to work some of them out) & when it goes dark, the dash looks like NASA control centre with all the lights, displays & buttons etc. Toys include, TV with Teletext, full colour satellite navigation with dual colour display (6â€colour screen & DIS display), awesome 10 speaker Bose stereo with 6 disc changer, tiptronic & steptronic gearbox with wheel mounted controls, front & rear park distance control, electric memory & heated front seats & heated rear seats (memory includes wing mirrors, steering wheel, seatbelt, lumbar support & headrests), electric solar sunroof, ellipsoid anti-dazzle rear view mirror, cool electric wing mirrors with fold back & dipping passenger side for kerb view parking, electric rake & reach adjustable steering wheel, ESP, DSC, 8 airbags, double glazed windows, dual climate control, servotronic power steering, DIS, Bi-Xenon headlamps & integrated GSM hands free kit. Iâ€™m sure there are more, but I canâ€™t remember everything. The integrated audio, visual, sat-nav & phone are loads of fun & very clever. The Sat-nav is displayed on both the 6â€ screen & DIS, with the DIS showing directions, distances & ETA, while the colour screen displays the map & positioning. One thing that has amazed me is just how quiet the car is even at higher speeds. The double glazed windows & excellent insulation means you canâ€™t hear any external wind or traffic noise, just a bit of road/tyre noise & the gorgeous burble of the V8.

Engine & Performance:

Not a lot I can really say â€œOUT OF THIS WORLDâ€. The engine & zorst note is stunning & a sound I could listen to for hours. As far as performance, its just totally effortless, all that 360bhp & masses of torque kick in at next to no revs & she just keeps pulling up to the 7250rpm red-line. The S8 is defo quicker that my TT to 60, 100 & beyond, but the biggest difference is how it gets there. She just pulls & pulls with no effort & very little noise & yet appears so composed. The factual difference in the 0-60 sprint is probably less than a second, as the press give times of between 5.1secs & 6.1secs to hit 60, but it is a noticeable difference. The handling is again amazing. For such a big car it sticks to the road at the very least as well as the TT did. This blew me away, as due to her size & even though she has got the GMBH sports suspension, I expected the car to wallow in sharper bends & at speed, but she feels totally unruffled.

If you recall, my criteria for this purchase was to combine the performance, fun & excitement of my TT, with the motorway cruising ability & practicality of my Mondeo V6 in one vehicle. I have surpassed my wildest expectations.

I totally appreciate that this car would not be to everyoneâ€™s taste & it is a very big car (no willy size puns please), but I have bought for Â£38,000 a car that 11 months ago would have left an Audi forecourt somewhere for over Â£61,000, which in my book, represents excellent value & I fully intend to keep this car till at least the expiry of the Audi Warranty at the end of 2005.

Paul is a very happy bunny with his new purchase & looks forward to a couple of years of very interesting & rewarding motoring. Photos will follow in a couple of weeks when I return from Florida & have time to give her a good waxing. (can someone assist me with hosting these photos when I take them & Iâ€™ll now have to change my sig pic).


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## head_ed (Dec 10, 2002)

You'll enjoy a little potter around on a Sunday now then? :


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## NickP (May 6, 2002)

Hope you have ordered your String backed driving gloves


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## sattan (Sep 10, 2002)

Damn, that sounds good - would defo. appreciate some pics of the red interior...!

nice


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

Sounds awesome. Many people think the old A8 is better looking that the new one. It certainly looks very up to date. Your colour combo sounds great too, and as for those gadgets - WOW!


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## jgoodman00 (May 6, 2002)

Sounds fantastic. Definitely some pics please, including the interior, & at night.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

Cool and not tooooo drug dealer - just a little. 

I have briefly driven that engine in an S6 and as they say, a good big 'un is always better than a good little 'un.

You just can't beat a 6, 8 or 12 cylinder engine for aural thrills and refinement.

Be interesting to see what the consumption is like 

And, although you just got it, it will be intersting to see what it will be worth once warranty is up, although you probably don't want to think about that just yet.

Definately different. You'll get tired of toasting TTs 8)


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## jhaig (Sep 8, 2003)

> (can someone assist me with hosting these photos when I take them & Iâ€™ll now have to change my sig pic).


Drop us an IM can host some pictures for you no problems!

Jon


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

> Cool and not tooooo drug dealer - just a little.
> 
> I have briefly driven that engine in an S6 and as they say, a good big 'un is always better than Â a good little 'un.
> 
> ...


Drug dealer / pimp with the red skins . Engine in the S6 is almost the same as the S8, but in the S6 you only get 340bhp, but 360bhp in the S8. The other major advantage is that the S8 has the aluminium body & suspension, which makes it only 300kg heavier than a TTR, so i'm guessing the S8 is actually slightly lighter than the S6  ;D.

S8's over a year older than mine with about 20K+ miles are selling for around Â£33K & 2 years older with about 45K+miles are going for Â£28K. Prices are getting stronger due to demand, so i'm hoping i won't be faced with a big hit when i come to sell.

Fuel consumption is not good (hardy surprising). I've only done about 80 miles so far & i did play a little, so only managed an average of 19mpg so far . DId do a reset for a 20 mile run down the M6 & at a cruising speed of 85mph, managed an avaerage of 25mpg, which is a little more pleasing. Good point is that i don't pay for any of my fuel, so fuel consumption was never a factor. Dealer provided a full tank, but it was only regular unleaded, so i'm keen to see if running Optimax will provide any gain.

She will be going to AMD in December for a re-map & Milltek cat-back zorst which will increase the power output to around the 400bhp mark ;D so that should be interesting.


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## NickP (May 6, 2002)

Paul, thought this may be of interest...

particuarly the supercharging option which delivers 50% more bhp and 55% more torque Â ;D

I make that 540bhp Â 

http://www.motodyne.com/frames/audi_a8s8ms8l.html

At the bottom of the page they have the same Nitrous kit as used in the film Ronin ;D


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

> Paul, thought this may be of interest...
> 
> particuarly the supercharging option which delivers 50% more bhp and 55% more torque Â ;D
> 
> ...


Nick,

I spotted that website yesterday & along with bullet proofing & bomb proofing the car  ;D it has some handy mods. They also do a Euro remap for the S8 that quotes a 12% gain for power & torque, which is the highest i've seen available.

I reckon that Audi may have a small issue honouring my warranty, as i'm pretty sure the Supercharger upgrade is not very stealthy  ;D

Might be fun once the car comes out of warranty though :


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## sattan (Sep 10, 2002)

man, that site has some cool toys for the S8.... might look interesting on the mod list for your insurance co...

Modifications:
Armour Plating
Grenade proof floor-pan
Oxygen system
Encrypted Satellite Phone
Bomb Scanner

;D

Prince charles has an A/S8 - wonder how many of those 'mods' he has on his!


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## jgoodman00 (May 6, 2002)

> man, that site has some cool toys for the S8.... might look interesting on the mod list for your insurance co...
> 
> Modifications:
> Armour Plating
> ...


Yeah, I wonder if they will reduce the premium, because these things will make it almost indestructable...


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## Kell (May 28, 2002)

It's a BIG car - gonna take you all day to wax it.


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> It's a BIG car - gonna take you all day to wax it.


All weekend moreover. 8)


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## Silversea (Jun 18, 2002)

Paul,

Just noticed a thread on a S8 Bi Turbo 

Check www.RS246.com under the S8 section you'll see the thread:
Audi S8 Twin Turbo in Brasil

I thought that it would be of interest to you.

Regards,
Des.


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

> Paul,
> 
> Just noticed a thread on a S8 Bi Turbo Â
> 
> ...


Cheers Des, gonna take a look now ;D


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## garyc (May 7, 2002)

> Cheers Des, gonna take a look now ;D


Hurry up and mod; I had a dabble with an S8 on the M5 today. Really very little in it, but gained ground everywhere except at the very top end (and I shy away from going past the ton) and dominated at the low end. Mind you he was probably watching Nick and Judy too


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## W7 PMC (May 6, 2002)

> Hurry up and mod; I had a dabble with an S8 on the M5 today. Â Really very little in it, but gained ground everywhere except at the very top end (and I shy away from going past the ton) and dominated at the low end. Â Â Mind you he was probably watching Nick and Judy too


He probably had not even noticed you, so wasn't trying  

Zorst is meant to be arriving on Friday at AMD, so fingers crossed, the car will be being tinkered with (re-map & zorst) the week after next (just in time for the Skipton TT drive) ;D


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