The Canadian ownership experience with a luxury car such as Audi's new A8L is made up of not-so-equal parts of fantasy and reality.
The fantasy: You depart downtown Toronto in your A8L for a drive to Montreal on Highway 401, leaving the congestion behind - around Oshawa these days - and then allowing the 330 hp V-8 to accelerate the big, all-wheel-drive car up to suitable cruising speed, say, 160 to 180 km/h if traffic is light. And then quite a bit more than that on the open stretches, as this car will be quite happy belting along effortlessly at its (governed) top speed of about 250 km/h. Getting to Montreal would take little longer than if you'd turned left on the 401, driven to the airport and caught a flight.
If that sounds like it stretches the bounds of fantasy, it doesn't. I once travelled a couple of hundred kilometres across Germany on the Autobahn, varying speeds to the highway and traffic, but often hammering along for extended stretches at 250 km/h. Safe? Well, yes, safe enough, if you're paying attention and so are other drivers - they actually use their mirrors over there - and if you watch for those who aren't.
But, alas, that's never going to be allowed here as far too much revenue is being pulled in by the mobile tax collection units with the present unnecessarily low, and universally ignored, speed limits.
Fortunately, Audi's new-for-2004 flagship has much to offer in our own Canadian version of the real world.
My wife explored one facet of the car's abilities on a visit to a friend in Montreal. She's never driven there and was a little concerned about finding her friend's home. After managing to input the address into the navigation system - my previous experience of "inputting" navigation data has mainly involved marking an X on a map - I waved goodbye. I heard that night she'd put her faith in the system and its final voice prompt was essentially, "we're here, pull into that driveway over there."
I'm not suggesting she wouldn't have managed without electronic aid. She's navigated us through any number of countries. But we were both impressed at how easy a system that can deliver you to a strange doorstep in another city makes life. Luxury comes in many forms.
The A8 is only available here in L, for long wheelbase form, priced at $97,750. Our test car came with optional electric rear sunshade, rear vanity mirror, tire pressure monitoring system (it even checks the spare), heated rear seats and steering wheel (liked this), dual pane security glass, 19-inch wheels and Parktronic parking assist system, bringing the total to $106,255.
Audi's stylists were the first to create an overall form I feel really captures the essence of this new century. They did it with their last A6 model redesign of the 1900s, and continue the theme with the A8L.
It's an approach to forming metal, aluminum in this case, that combines obvious aerodynamics, with a new-age elegance that also defines the car's very real substance. It has a stamped-from-the-blank feel. Almost five metres long, sitting on those 19-inch wheels, it looks like it would be as easy to deflect from its path as a CNR locomotive (although it's actually surprisingly agile).
Nice on the inside too, where you'll find a pleasant lightness and openness, along with traditional wood and leather trim. It is superbly comfortable with well-shaped, 16-way adjustable, heated and cooled front seats with built-in massage feature, efficient four-zone climate control and a great audio system, plenty of headroom and a high degree of quiet. The rear seat is limousine-like, and there's a cavernous 500-litre trunk.
About the only thing that might give you pause is the MMI (multi-media interface), a console-mounted selector framed by eight function keys and used, as Audi proudly notes, to work "everything from the sound system to the driver-selected suspension setup." Well, it likely does, but probably not without a bit of fiddling about. An annoyance is the windscreen, or A-pillars, that reduces your oblique view at intersections.
Under the A8L's shapely aluminum body is the latest version of the all-aluminum structure introduced with the first generation, which gives the car its impressive solidity. The suspension is a very sophisticated pneumatic system that automatically adjusts to suit road conditions.
It also allows the driver to select damping rates and even ride height to suit road or driving conditions. It can raise its skirts for rough roads or belly down on the pavement when you're running hard.
And run it will. I measured 0 to 100 km/h acceleration in 6.9 seconds and 80 km/h to 120 km/h in 5.5 seconds, both produced in a very refined manner. Under the hood is a 4.2 litre V-8 engine that produces 330 hp at 6,500 rpm (it full-throttle shifts at 7,000 rpm) 317 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm and a surprisingly throaty volume of V-8 type sound. It sends this - the power, not the noise - through a six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission to Audi's famous quattro all-wheel-drive system.
There's also a new braking system that delivers 16 per cent more stopping power. All this is backed up by a battery of electronic driving aids and an improved system of multiple airbags to provide an extremely high level of dynamic and passive safety.
Have I used the word superb so far? Must have. But then I can't think of a better one, so - the A8L is a superb automobile.
Specifications
Audi A8L
Type: AWD luxury sedan
Price: $97,750/$106,255
Engine: 4.2-litre, DOHC, V-8
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Horsepower/torque: 330 hp/317 lb-ft.
Fuel economy: 13.5L/100km city/8.9L/100km hwy.
Alternatives: Volkswagen Phaeton, Mercedes-Benz S4306, Jaguar Vanden Plas
Like: Highway handling/brakes, interior
Don't like: smallish outside mirrors, view blocking A-pillars
