Fourth generation Audi A8

For many years, the Audi A8 has became the Audi that sets the other Audis apart because while most Audis became more of a average peoples' luxury car, the A8 is special because for generations, it has became the big saloon used by action stars as demonstrated in car chases from The Living Daylights, Transporter, Taken, and Ronin. Now, with the new, fourth-generation A8, is it still the Audi that action stars nicked to get through desperate chases?

2018 Audi A8L

2018 Audi A8

First and foremost, let's investigate what's going on with the new Audi A8, starting with the design and by the looks of it, the design was inspired by the prologue concept car, just to make it look like it's ready for filming for another action flick, although it did made a surprise appearance in the Spider-Man Homecoming flick for product placement reasons, but for the average motorist, there's something to worry about the new design and one such hint is the lamps that behave like a set of Christmas lights you saw them hanging at home.

The HD Matrix LED headlights now comes with laser lighting which can really bounce back when it hits things that reflect its lights and then the OLED rear lamps that is as frightening as the rear lamps of the Mustang when lights flash sequentially. To put it all together, the lighting is all Knight Rider-ish but for the average motorist, they should look away in case a car like this passes by and starts flashing its lights, which is now became the lighter equivalent of truck coal rolling behind a Prius.

2018 Audi A8 interior

2018 Audi A8L interior

The new A8 comes with two different bodystyles; a standard size A8 and a longer sized A8L. No matter the variant, the new interior boasts a rather exquisite taste compared to the BMW 7-Series and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. On the driver's side, you will notice that the dashboard's heavily occupied by touch screens much like the Range Rover Velar and while it looks very nice for a luxury saloon, it can be downright complicating if your hands are either smothered with dirt or still wet even when you cleaned your hands with an industrial-sized hand sanitizer. For someone knowledgeable enough to understand how these works, the new A8's dashboard can deliver the same experience as the Surface Pro and let's hope it won't have that error message like the ones you unexpectedly saw in the shopping malls because that would be a major embarrassment.

On the passenger side, if you go for the A8L, you'll have plenty to reasons to sit in the sweet spot where you can toy around with the rear-seat entertainment system, the air-con, the massager, everything at the touch of the rear seat remote operating unit which has the same size as a smartphone. The end result is someone with an "out on a limo" feeling to be humbled among the envy of his inferior siblings who never agree to his policies.

2018 Audi A8

2018 Audi A8L

At the start, the new A8 is priced at EUR 90,600, with the A8 L starting at EUR 94,100, and it comes with two new 3.0L V6 turbo engines; a diesel and a 340PS petrol engine. There will be more powerful V8 variants to follow as well as the flagship W12 that produces 585PS and comes with a special cylinder deactivation technology to save fuel. All engines are mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox and a 48-volt electrical system that works enough for the engines' idle stop and go function.

Drivability, the new A8 features an adaptively damped air suspension as standard and it can be set to either Comfort or Dynamic, depending on driving conditions. It also has an electric actuators that can lift either each of the wheel or the whole car for better body control. Of course, the new A8 does come with the predictive suspension that can adapt through different road conditions but it hasn't finished until next year so we have to wait. In the meantime, we have to make do with the standard suspension setup that works either a proper luxury saloon or a getaway car while suffering dreary understeering. I know that because even though Audi made the new A8 slightly lighter than the previous model thanks to its combined use of aluminum, steel, magnesium and carbon fiber reinforced polymer, the handling feels like it's been slightly improved at all and even with the sport differential, it still feels like it. Even Audi's new four-wheel steering won't budge this big saloon well like how predecessors act like stuntmen in action films.

I know, the new A8 wants to be the next hero car for the next breed of action heroes but there's a major hindrance to its action hero car status because Audi has deployed the most safest features on a car like this. At start, the new A8 can only possess Level 2 Autonomy (Combined Function Automation) and because the A8's trump card in safety, the Traffic Jam Pilot, is a Level 3 Autonomy (Limited Self-Driving Automation), it's not quite ready until next year but I should point out that this clever feature works well in case of nightmarish traffic conditions like you experienced in Metro Manila but there's going to be some paperwork before this Level 3 feature goes on sale to newer A8s. Because the new A8 will host over 40 driver assistance systems, the status of being an action hero car is now gone and it's now...just a plain Audi you don't want to hang out with.

You should know, the new A8 is the first to incorporate a new naming scheme for their trim models, like for example, the 340PS V6 turbo petrol engine-powered A8 will be designated as the 55. while the lesser V6 diesel produces less than three hundred is designated as 50. Sounds confusing but let's not get bogged down with it because with the new A8 hosts a wide array of safety features, it lost its action hero status and it became just an Audi. Perhaps no wonder that in the Spider-Man Homecoming film, a driving instructor teaches Peter Parker how to drive this thing and it does almost nothing at all to show that the A8 is still the car of choice for Hollywood heroes. Sigh, welcome back to being an Audi, you luxo-barge. And to think that while its predecessors are like stuntmen in films like Ronin, Transporter 2 and 3, and Taken, the new A8 goes on a totally different path because of its autonomy but while it has the risk you're willing to take, the A8 still works really rather well in both ways and you will still be appreciated with what Audi done to their flagship saloon.

Photo: AUDI AG