WHAT SHE SAID: In the Audi S8, size certainly matters

It is said that size doesn’t matter, but when you are driving an Audi S8, size most certainly matters ladies. In fact, this car is all about size, and power of course. Which I love!

The Audi S8 is not the kind of car I would normally find myself reviewing, but when the opportunity to spend a few days with this impressive ride came around, I jumped at the opportunity. Why not? Variety is the spice of life.

I mean just look at the numbers. 420 kW of power and a full 800 Nm of silky-smooth torque from the 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 that is supported by a bit of electricity via a mild hybrid system. I was honestly surprised at how fast this big car is, so I went and checked the spec sheet to confirm if what I was feeling could be true.

Ingolstadt claims a 0 to 100 km/h time of just 3.8 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. Wow, it is fast! Like in officially fast.

The simple fact is that this car does so much right and does it without you even knowing that it is happening. If I didn’t do my homework and read up on the S8, I honestly would not have known half the stuff on offer under the metal.

You have a fancy predictive active suspension that uses the front camera to see changes in the road surface, and then the suspension automatically adapts to these changes and keeps the car level by pushing down or lifting each wheel as required.  This is before you select one of the five drive profiles right down to a new Comfort+ mode that allows the Audi S8 to lean into corners for the ultimate smooth driving experience.

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The S8 also offers dynamic all-wheel steering and a sport differential, as standard equipment should you feel the need for speed. But please don’t ask me to tell you exactly how these systems work, all I know is that the brochure says they do.

There is also some clever tech in the form of a cylinder on demand system, which deactivates individual cylinders when driving easy, and this is said to offer improved fuel consumption of up to 0.8-litres per 100km. Are you kidding me?

This car starts at R2.4-million before any extras are fitted, and I can’t see any owner really worrying about this little detail. I know I wasn’t, I lived life like a diva for a few days and never saw much better than 15-litres per 100km.

Honestly, the Audi S8 is too much car for me, but I did enjoy the experience. I personally would go for a smaller, more compact car like the RS Q3 that we had on road test recently, and one of those fancy black unlimited spend credit cards thrown into the deal. For more information on the Audi S8, click here.