Audi's Flagship Goes Way Upmarket
A true Audi flagship has finally arrived in North America. The ultimate luxury vehicle from Audi, set to do battle with Benz's S600, BMW's 760Li, and other high-end twelve-cylinder semi-limousines, is the all-new A8 L 6.0 quattro.
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| The ultimate luxury vehicle from Audi is set to do battle with Benz's S600, BMW's 760Li, and other high-end twelve-cylinder semi-limousines. (Photo: Volkswagen AG) |
This Teutonic super-luxurious sedan packs Audi's best electronic technologies, an innovative engine layout, world-class handling and ride, all wrapped in a highly sophisticated package. What's more, even greater power and luxury is added, plus a styling update to help differentiate this grand vehicle from the lower class 8-cylinder A8.
To this end it's all or nothing with the A8 L 6.0 quattro. It comes in one trim and one wheelbase only. It makes sense that the 'L' model would be chosen for constructing Audi's flagship model, simply because of the immense rear passenger space provided. Running on a 130 mm (5.1 in) longer wheelbase than the plain A8, the massive 5.19 meter (17.0 ft) long sedan is slightly longer than the Li-model BMW and equivalent long-wheelbase V12 powered Benz S-Class.
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| The massive 5.19 meter (17.0 ft) long Audi A8 L 6.0 quattro sedan is slightly longer than the Li-model BMW and equivalent long-wheelbase V12 powered Benz. (Photo: Volkswagen AG) |
Of course the six-liter A8 features Audi's world-famous quattro permanent four-wheel drive system, as a rear or front wheel driven option couldn't even be considered. Also not up for questioning was any deviation from the brand's innovative aluminum space frame construction. The lightweight metal is also used for the chassis, panels, plus major suspension and engine components. Still, despite the use of featherweight materials, the top of the line Audi couldn't help but tip the scales, weighing in at slightly less than two metric tons - about the same as the majority of its competition.