2023 Audi S8 Review
With eight cylinders, two turbos and an optional Black Optic package that just drips with BDE, the S8 is for ballers. Ultra Blue Metallic paint, 21-inch gloss black rims, red calipers and quad pipes set the stage for an over-the-top luxury car turned hellion. The 4.0 provides the ferocity, the air suspension lessens the shock. With carbon vector inlays, tasteful ambient interior lighting and mechanized HVAC vents covers, the S8 resides at the intersection of posh and performance. It's the car parked discreetly behind the law office waiting to rejoin its equally elite stablemates later in the day.
As opposed to the A8 L’s 335 horsepower V6, the S8’s 4.0 goes all in with 563 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, more than offsetting this car’s additional 364 pounds and greatly hastening acceleration; from 5.6 seconds to 60 MPH to only 3.8 seconds here. It sounds like a beast from outside but far more muted inside where the S8 never relinquishes its luxury class. Three settings of engine sound are available as part of the individual drive mode – joining a trio of preprogrammed settings tailored for ultimate comfort or dynamism. The biggest ticket option on this car is the $6,000 Predictive active suspension. Using a front-facing camera that scans the road ahead and then adjusts the air springs accordingly, you’d think the S8 would float over any surface but it doesn’t. These sorts of systems, including Mercedes’, are often disappointing and though the ride quality here is appropriately taut for an Audi Sport model with a sophisticated level of road feel, hitting a rough patch of road or even more so a pothole will have you thinking the active suspension isn’t that predictive after all – it can be punishing. With these optional high-performance all-season tires replacing the standard summer-use rubber, the S8 and its quattro all-wheel drive, road-hugging rear sport differential and dynamic all-wheel steering this is a car that can handle winter weather and dynamic driving alike. In the Comfort Plus mode a curve tilting function is switched on to reduce the force on passengers as you hammer it through the turns. And get this – I’ve never seen an air suspension act so quickly to ease access into and out of the cabin – it’s called elevated entry and raises the body as soon as the door opens to reduce physical stress.
(Stand-up)
Audi sold only about 1,500 A8 and S8s combined last year – dwarfed by the sales of its German rivals. This is where you feverishly go to the comments section to deride Audi quality and while it’s true that it finished third from last in J.D. Power’s most recent dependability study, Mercedes-Benz was only 2 steps above that.
This S8 debuted at the L.A. Auto Show in 2019 when Audi announced it would be offered exclusively as a long wheelbase model. Unlike its tech-laden and screen-focused competition, the S8’s cabin looks outdated by comparison…not necessarily in a bad way but it’s certainly not the futuristic vision you get when looking inside a new Benz. Personally, I love the clean, stately design, the exquisite leather work and intuitive dual screen layout. The rear seats afford copious amount of legroom, vanity mirrors, a personal sunroof, and climate controls located inside the armrest but this really isn’t a five-seater with this pronounced tunnel dividing the space so you might as well as opt for the four-passenger rear-seat comfort package with individual workspace tables. And with an as-tested price of $138,445 you’d expect to be pampered and indeed there are massaging seats, a soothing fragrance system, heated armrests, an integrated toll module, and Audi’s brilliant virtual cockpit replete with Google Earth mapping. It’s a very comfortable and quiet cabin backed by the brawn of it’s V8 and smooth shifting 8-speed automatic.
And Audi’s lighting game is on-point, too…the various animations and projections are some very cool flexes, though inside it’s far less exciting than what the others are doing these days.
The S8 operates on a 48-volt mild hybrid system meaning it has additional battery technology to facilitate higher efficiency so there’s a stop/start system that operates for longer periods. Despite that, the 2022 S8 was saddled with a $1,000 gas guzzler tax but no longer – for 2023 Audi improved fuel economy by 1 MPG to 18 MPG in combined driving avoiding the costly penalty.
This is likely the end of the line for the A8 and S8 flagships, at least as we know them. Starting in 2026 Audi will only launch new models with electric drive as the phasing out of internal combustion engines is expected to be finalized by 2033. So if you’re looking to add something special to your fleet this refreshed S8 would be an excellent selection…as long as you’re not scared of an unscheduled service or two.
As opposed to the A8 L’s 335 horsepower V6, the S8’s 4.0 goes all in with 563 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, more than offsetting this car’s additional 364 pounds and greatly hastening acceleration; from 5.6 seconds to 60 MPH to only 3.8 seconds here. It sounds like a beast from outside but far more muted inside where the S8 never relinquishes its luxury class. Three settings of engine sound are available as part of the individual drive mode – joining a trio of preprogrammed settings tailored for ultimate comfort or dynamism. The biggest ticket option on this car is the $6,000 Predictive active suspension. Using a front-facing camera that scans the road ahead and then adjusts the air springs accordingly, you’d think the S8 would float over any surface but it doesn’t. These sorts of systems, including Mercedes’, are often disappointing and though the ride quality here is appropriately taut for an Audi Sport model with a sophisticated level of road feel, hitting a rough patch of road or even more so a pothole will have you thinking the active suspension isn’t that predictive after all – it can be punishing. With these optional high-performance all-season tires replacing the standard summer-use rubber, the S8 and its quattro all-wheel drive, road-hugging rear sport differential and dynamic all-wheel steering this is a car that can handle winter weather and dynamic driving alike. In the Comfort Plus mode a curve tilting function is switched on to reduce the force on passengers as you hammer it through the turns. And get this – I’ve never seen an air suspension act so quickly to ease access into and out of the cabin – it’s called elevated entry and raises the body as soon as the door opens to reduce physical stress.
(Stand-up)
Audi sold only about 1,500 A8 and S8s combined last year – dwarfed by the sales of its German rivals. This is where you feverishly go to the comments section to deride Audi quality and while it’s true that it finished third from last in J.D. Power’s most recent dependability study, Mercedes-Benz was only 2 steps above that.
This S8 debuted at the L.A. Auto Show in 2019 when Audi announced it would be offered exclusively as a long wheelbase model. Unlike its tech-laden and screen-focused competition, the S8’s cabin looks outdated by comparison…not necessarily in a bad way but it’s certainly not the futuristic vision you get when looking inside a new Benz. Personally, I love the clean, stately design, the exquisite leather work and intuitive dual screen layout. The rear seats afford copious amount of legroom, vanity mirrors, a personal sunroof, and climate controls located inside the armrest but this really isn’t a five-seater with this pronounced tunnel dividing the space so you might as well as opt for the four-passenger rear-seat comfort package with individual workspace tables. And with an as-tested price of $138,445 you’d expect to be pampered and indeed there are massaging seats, a soothing fragrance system, heated armrests, an integrated toll module, and Audi’s brilliant virtual cockpit replete with Google Earth mapping. It’s a very comfortable and quiet cabin backed by the brawn of it’s V8 and smooth shifting 8-speed automatic.
And Audi’s lighting game is on-point, too…the various animations and projections are some very cool flexes, though inside it’s far less exciting than what the others are doing these days.
The S8 operates on a 48-volt mild hybrid system meaning it has additional battery technology to facilitate higher efficiency so there’s a stop/start system that operates for longer periods. Despite that, the 2022 S8 was saddled with a $1,000 gas guzzler tax but no longer – for 2023 Audi improved fuel economy by 1 MPG to 18 MPG in combined driving avoiding the costly penalty.
This is likely the end of the line for the A8 and S8 flagships, at least as we know them. Starting in 2026 Audi will only launch new models with electric drive as the phasing out of internal combustion engines is expected to be finalized by 2033. So if you’re looking to add something special to your fleet this refreshed S8 would be an excellent selection…as long as you’re not scared of an unscheduled service or two.