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Driving Impression: Audi S8 (2006-)
02 Dec 2005 by: Andrew Frankel

Audi S8
Audi S8 Gallery
IN THIS FEATURE
Thinking hard
Weighty issues
S8 appeal
Figuring it out
I've been playing the car testing game for so long that I can usually get into a car, drive it up the road and identify if it has any appeal almost at once - and then, if it does, what it might be.

Of course, I don't leave it there. I may spend many hours confirming these early suspicions, but even after a couple of days on the road, those first thoughts are rarely far removed from those that end up in print. I'd like to say it's because I'm sublimely skilled at my job, but it's not - it's just that the job ain't that hard.

Every so often, however, one catches me out. Take the Audi S8, for example: no car in recent memory has forced me to think harder about why I liked it quite so damn much.

Audi S8 Front view
Best of all possible worlds?
You may struggle to see how a £70,000 luxury Audi powered by an engine last seen in a Lamborghini could cause such problems. Surely it's the best of all possible worlds? A spacious German saloon touched by Italian supercar genius - what could be better?

The truth is that from the moment I got into the S8, it did all it could to disappoint me.


Next : Weighty issues
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