Summit else!
Why I limped into the Audi show but left with a spring in my step
IT wasn’t the most graceful look. Last Sunday night, I was jumping up and down on the dancefloor at a party – don’t ask to which song because I’m too embarrassed to tell you – when I felt a sort of elastic band pop in my right calf.
Straight away, I had difficulty walking, but I had to go to Barcelona on Monday morning for the inaugural Audi Summit and the launch of the all-new A8.
At the airport, I had to ask for a wheelchair and a golf buggy to get to the gate, but there was worse to come.
At Barcelona Airport, the bus picking us up was a good kilometre from where we disembarked, and the poor marketing manager of Audi Ireland had to set me up on a luggage trolley and push me. If it’s any consolation, it felt like a 2.0-litre TFSI trolley.
Anyway, considerably more mobile the next morning, I made my way to the Fira Gran Via exhibition space, where 2,000 motoring writers had been flown in from around the world. As a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, I was delighted to see that the MC was Kunal Nayyar, who plays the hapless Raj (well, they’re all hapless, aren’t they?), though let’s just say the lines he gets in the show are a lot funnier than the ones he delivered off the autocue at the summit.
Anyway, there followed a massive theatrical production with lasers, spotlights, dancers, thunderous music and cars from the entire Audi range driving between the audience, before the big reveal, where a full-size production A8 was mounted on a robotic gimbal and raised, lowered, turned upside down and generally all shook up in front of the biggest video wall I’ve ever seen. It was pretty spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that there was a danger the car itself would have too much to live up to. In fact, it’s rather beautiful, with a superb new Singleframe grill that makes it look wider, lower and a lot less monolithic than before, and, dare I say it, a lot more American than German. You won’t miss it on the road with its lovely LED daytime running light strip.
The A8L is 5.3 metres long, so, inside, it is absolutely massive, with new levels of luxury. Depending on the spec, the rear right seat passenger even can have a foot massage, or warm his feet, as he travels. The big touchscreens mounted on the back of the front seats allow you watch television and movies in genuine comfort and if I ever have the cash for a chauffeur, I’m going to spend the rest of my limping life catching up on Netflix box sets, thanks to the onboard wifi.
Autonomy is the big news here, with the car the latest you can park while not sitting in it at all. You simply get out and use the related smartphone app to drive it into a space. The Traffic Jam Pilot is another huge plus for anyone stuck on a slow-moving motorway. The car will stay in lane, at speeds of up to 60kph, behind the one in front, speeding up and slowing down with a pre-set safety gap, while you do absolutely nothing. You don’t steer, brake, or accelerate; in fact, you can sit back and watch TV too if you like (depending on local laws, obviously – explaining the system to the peelers might be interesting).
It was, of course, a static launch with no driving, so I can’t tell you how it feels on the road. It launches here late in the year for 181 registrations, and while pricing has not been announced, we’re talking entry level in the region of €100,000. Naturally, I will test drive it then. The debut engines will be a 286hp 3.0-lite TDI and a 340hp 3.0-litre TFSI. Two 4.0-litre engines with 435hp (diesel) and 460hp (petrol) will follow, as well as a 6.0-litre W12. There also will be am e-tron quattro plug-in hybrid.
The A8 is a bit of a wonder, and if it lives up in driving to what it delivers in looks, technology and comfort, it will be a cracker.
As it happens, I’ve also been driving an A5 Cabriolet here this week (oddly, driving is no problem, only walking), and I’ve been reminded again of just how much Audi puts into its cars. The Cabrio is perfectly proportioned and very comfortable. The roof operation is seamless and, as always, the virtual display is the star, with the Google Earth satnav map placed in your eyeline on the main instrument panel.
We even had some weather this week (not as good as in Barcelona, though!), reminding me yet again, after last week’s Mazda MX-5, of the joys of open driving. My 2.0litre 190hp TDI, with a 7.9-second 0-100kph, was a delight, as you should expect when paying €64,530 (or, in this case, €73,437 with optional extras).
Whatever about myself, there was no limping when I floored the accelerator anyway!