| DRIVING RATING: |
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For a car of this girth, the A8 is very easy to punt along. Visibility is restricted a little about the rear, but you'll get a parking radar, so it shouldn't be a problem. The automatic gearbox is one of the smoothest around, the brakes have a good weight and progressive feel, while the steering, which weights up as speed rises, becomes extremely light (disconcertingly, actually) at manoeuvring speeds to make parking easier. Adaptive cruise control, which automatically retains a gap from the car in front of you on a motorway, is optional, while if you opt for the keyless start/stop function with fingerprint recognition, the car will adjust to your personal settings when you put your finger on the start button. Funky. One thing, though - the dash-mounted screen for the controls might be in the right place, but the MMI system's control panel, which you use to scroll through the menus, isn't, as it's down behind the gearlever, so you have to shift your gaze to find the right buttons to press. Buttons on the edge of the screen, or even a touch-screen system, might be a better idea. The A8 is aimed at the enthusiastic driver in this segment, so it's reasonable to expect a trade-off in comfort for a bit more action behind the steering wheel. To be frank, on the models we've tried, it doesn't give away much of either. It's still comfortable, but it's not much more sporty than its rivals. There are four options on the air-suspension system - lift (which raises the car a bit), comfort (meant to be cushy), automatic (looks after itself), and dynamic (firmer and more sporting). You'll probably leave it on automatic after a while. An optional Sport pack lowers the ride height by 20mm and has thicker anti-roll bars, and loses the 'Comfort' setting in favour of 'Ultra-dynamic' - up to 50 percent of UK buyers will take this up, 30-40 percent elsewhere in Europe. In standard form, the A8 doesn't feel as dynamic as the old Sport model. The steering steers, but offers no tactility and feels very artificially weighted, while the benefits of that aluminium construction certainly don't surprise you when you push into a corner like a previous A8, which felt more nimble. There's some diagonal pitch in higher-speed motorway bends too, and the A8 takes a little while to settle over bumps on those occasions. The Sport models promise to be a little more agile, but the A8 is still not particularly involving.
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