Overview

As a luxury machine, the A8 barely puts a foot wrong, offering satisfying performance, spacious and luxurious interiors along with solid build quality. But despite this it’s never proved as popular as rivals like the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series. This may be down to the conservative styling and play-it-safe handling dynamics, but it still has plenty of gadgets to keep restless fingers amused.

A long wheelbase version is available and in 2005 the car received a very minor makeover which included Audi’s new-style grille and a new 4.2-litre diesel engine to replace the 4.0-litre diesel.