Audi A8 2017 first drive

There is no play in the switchgear, no delay in the response of the two superbly crisp central touchscreens and, once you’ve spotted the billet aluminium armrest hinges, no question that it’s all been over-engineered. The many backlit buttons and dials of the third-generation A8 have almost entirely disappeared, making way for glass-fronted replacements whose haptic and acoustic feedback has been judged surprisingly well, and the wraparound dash really does lend the cabin the lounge ambience Audi’s designers speak of. It’s an environment that leaves you strangely cool - but that’s as it should be, isn’t it?

On the car’s international launch, in Valencia, it’s the A8 55 we spend most time in - Audi’s familiar 3.0-litre V6 TDI for the most part making short work of the city’s streets and surrounding glass-smooth motorways, as you’d expect. Unlike the petrol V6 (whose silky character negates the need), it uses active engine mounts that counteract the diesel thrum. It’s not a coarse engine, just a little too present compared with the petrol, which spins effortlessly and also lends the gargantuan A8 pleasingly brisk, rather than merely adequate, pace.

But what about the all-important ride? This new A8 sits on adaptive dampers ensconced in air springs and controlled by Audi’s familiar Drive Select function, with modes from Efficiency to Dynamic, each actuating a different ride height. It breathes with the road impressively well, although the impact of running over bridge expansion joints and the like is still felt a little more keenly than we’d expect. Wind noise is also surprisingly loud at higher speeds.

In its pursuit of torsional rigidity, Audi has installed a magnesium strut brace at the front and a carbonfibre panel that sits across the rear bulkhead.  The chassis hooks into corners neatly during normal driving, its huge coachwork remaining steady once settled onto the outside springs, and the direct (if inert) steering has a column-mounted motor that counteracts the unnatural rate of response brought about by the rear-wheel steering. It works well, and the A8 is a doddle to place between the white lines, not to mention more easily manoeuvrable than before, with its 11.4m turning circle now undercutting both the BMW 7 Series and S-Class by almost a metre.

Predictably, however, this is a machine that puts up with being hustled rather than enjoying the experience. Carry too much pace and the onset of understeer can be sudden, the chunky sidewalls of our test car’s 18in 255/60 front tyres tripping over themselves in the face of two wayward tonnes of high-tensile steel, aluminium, magnesium, carbonfibre and, of course, leather. We’d expect upcoming quicker variants, such as the Audi S8, to remedy this shortcoming.

Going back to white lines: the A8 is continuously scanning for them. Drift out of lane and the car gently adjusts your trajectory, going so far as to allow you to track around long sweepers – and at a decent speed – without using your hands. Cancel your indicators a mite too soon, though, and the car can actually attempt to stop you from pulling onto a slip road. Granted, the level of resistance it channels through the steering wheel is usefully insipid, but this is exactly the type of rough edge we’re likely to encounter as manufacturers try to the polish the driving experience to ever greater levels of autonomous shine.

Due for deployment on next year’s class of A8 – and unfortunately absent from our test steed – is Audi’s new artificially intelligent active suspension. Available as an option, it has the potential to rewrite what’s possible in terms of ride and refinement from Audi, and uses an electric motor to alter the damping characteristics of each wheel in accordance with the road ahead. The same technology allows the car to raise one side of the chassis by 80mm if a T-boning is imminent, allowing the structure’s resilient sills to take more of the brunt.