Cover model: Audi A8 – really lives up to ‘advance through technology’

You may not immediately notice it, but the first A8 was one of those groundbreaking Audis that really lives up to the ‘advantage through technology’ payoff.

This completely newly developed über-Audi had to break into the luxury segment hitherto dominated by BMW and Mercedes, something that its predecessor V8 had not achieved. The magic ingredient for this is aluminum.

The Audi A8

The Audi A8 has a revolutionary body made entirely of light metal. The resulting weight savings should compensate for the heavy four-wheel drive system. The lightest A8, the front-wheel drive 2.8 V6, therefore weighs only 1,460 kilos. Compare that to the competition! A comparable 730i weighs 140 kilos more, the S 280 is no less than 400 kilos heavier.

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The A8 4.2 V8 quattro weighs 300 kilos more than the V6 and that is still not much by today’s standards. At the end of 1993, a harbinger shines at the IAA, the Audi Space Frame Concept Car. You can take that shine literally, because the aluminum body is unpainted and polished to a high gloss. When the final A8 was presented in spring 1994, it became clear how much Audi has already revealed. The timeless design is almost identical to the concept car; only a layer of paint and colored taillights make the difference.

Apart from a hidden logo, nothing betrays the special choice of materials. The first derivatives of the Audi A8 series are the 2.8 V6 and 4.2 V8, followed a little later by a 3.7 V8. A sporty S8 has been available since 1996, the exclusive 6.0 W12 has been available since 2001. A 2.5 V6 TDI (from 1997) and a 3.3 V8 TDI (from 2000) complete the range. The only body style is a sedan, but there is a choice of a short or long wheelbase. In both versions it is great to spend time on the back seat. Double glazing provides extra comfort and a nice option is the sliding roof with solar cells, which provides power to the ventilation when the engine is switched off.

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A successful proposal for a coupe does not get the green light for production. The A8 was minimally refined in 1999 and 2001. The conservative clientele in the segment initially views the A8 with suspicion, but the negative aftertaste that the opulent Mercedes S-class W140 now has has turned out well for the A8. The most opposition comes from the sporty-elegant BMW 7-series E38 from the same year of birth as the A8. Audi managed to sell 105,092 copies of the A8 D2 in eight years, enough to justify a D3. The big German two have finally become the big German three.

Offer and prices

Prices for an Audi A8 D2 range roughly from 4,000 euros for a well-used copy from a shady dealer to over 20,000 euros for a very nice W12 in Germany. There is something for everyone, with the (reasonably bulletproof) 4.2 V8 as a good compromise. And perhaps unnecessarily: the temptation may be great to purchase a reasonably priced A8 with high mileage, but cheap can quickly turn into expensive.

So make sure you have a consistent maintenance history (as much as possible), as an A8 has complex technology on board and some parts and repairs can be expensive.