If you need to go fast, stay low-key and stretch out your legs, it's still hard to beat the S8.
For car enthusiasts of a certain age, the Audi S8 will always hold a special place in their hearts. Credit director John Frankenheimer, who practically made it a supporting character in his 1998 spy thriller and seminal car chase movie Ronin.
Back in 1998, though, there weren’t that many options when it came to “Something very fast….something that can shove a little bit,” as Skipp Sudduth’s character describes the S8. That was before BMW had any M-cars beyond the M3 and M5 (the latter of which also has a supporting turn in Ronin), before Mercedes-Benz would slap an AMG engine into the S-Class, before Cadillac even thought of shoving supercharged or turbocharged engines into its sedans, and before the Tesla Model S was so much as a twinkle in Elon Musk’s eye, let alone the thought of going to Plaid with it.
Times change, of course — but the S8 has remained a staple of Audi’s lineup over the decades, even as trends rise and fall. Fresh off a mid-life update for the 2022 model year, we took the O.G. of full-size sport sedans out for a week to see how it holds up against modern rivals. Here’s what we learned.
The S8 is the sharpest of Audi’s S models
Audi applies the full-fat RS treatment to seemingly everything in the lineup these days — everything except the A8, that is. However, that works in the S8’s favor; because of that, Audi’s RS development teams played a bigger role in the S8’s development and tuning than they do with the likes of the S6 or S7, for example.
The S8’s Audi Sport benefits are clear as soon as you pitch it into a corner and discover this long-wheelbase beast tackles turns as though it were a foot or two shorter. The rear-wheel steering system that tightens the turning circle at lower speeds plays a key role here, as does the Audi Sport-tuned electronic limited-slip differential in back that shoves around torque for maximum effect. Likewise, the air suspension holds the 5,126 pounds of car (and however much human, pet and cargo is inside on top of that) flat and steady, controlling the body nicely while never delivering a battering ride. (That’s in part thanks to the $6,000 option of the predictive active suspension, which reads the road ahead using cameras and adjusts to counter impacts before they even happen.)
The S8 also the only non-SUV in the S fleet to still boast V8 power, packing the VW Group’s ubiquitous-and-impressive 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8. Here, it’s officially rated at 563 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque, but stab the throttle hard and it’s easy to wonder if Audi is underrating those numbers; in spite of the S8’s mass, it shoves towards the horizon with shocking quickness when the go pedal meets the firewall. On the street, at least, this beast feels every bit as worth of an RS badge as the RS Q8 does — especially when you hear its eight cylinders roar all the way to the 7,000-rpm redline.
The S8 is a big baller, for better and for worse
In case it isn’t clear from the pictures, the S8 is a big feller of a sedan. It looks even larger with its air suspension in aerodynamic low mode, as seen here, which brings the big body closer to the ground. (The S8 does have a fun party trick, though: open the door and it quickly springs up to max ride height for easier entry and exit.)
While it may not drive like that on the open road, it’s still something you need to keep in mind in urban environs and other tight spots. At roughly the same length as a Chevy Tahoe, finding parallel parking spots requires a bit more care than in your average sedan.
Inside, it’s modern Audi, just with lots of legroom
Audi has played the same-car-different-sizes game with its model lineup longer than most carmakers, and it still sticks with that method; at a glance and devoid of proportional context, it’s easy to mix up an A4 and an A6 or an A6 and an A8 at a glance.
That’s even more so inside, where the S8’s front cabin is all but identical to a well-equipped example of its slightly more affordable siblings. But the long wheelbase of the S8 pays dividends for occupants that the S6 could only dream of. Not only could I sit behind myself with enough room to cross my legs, the heated rear seats were so comfortable and spacious, I sat back there and ate breakfast one morning simply because I could. And if you want to go full hedonist, Audi even offers a rear seat comfort package that includes power adjustment, ventilation and massage for the thrones, as well as available LED reading lights and pop-out tables.
For now, at least, the S8 is the king of the understated Q-ships
Remember when I mentioned how spare the direct competition for the S8 was in the mid-to-late ’90s? Well, here in fall 2022, the market for giant, stealthy sport sedans seems to have contracted again. There’s no AMG version of the latest S-Class, at least not currently; the Cadillac CT6-V, sadly, is long gone; and while there’s an M-lite 7 Series, its alien visage and squared-off angles mean it’s anything but able to run under the radar. If your heart is set on full-size sedan legroom (i.e. no CT5-V Blackwing or M5) and you don’t want to go electric (so, no Mercedes-AMG EQS), the S8 is currently your best bet.
Of course, part of that is because many folks nowadays prefer SUVs to sedans — even when they want high-performance vehicles. Still, while the ground clearance of an RS Q8 might have made the mission a bit easier in Ronin, it simply wouldn’t have looked as cool as a low-slung sport sedan like the S8.
And while it’s not quite as true with my Ultra Blue Metallic test car, the S8 still boasts an understated style that remains a delightfully appealing alternative to the outgoing design languages that dominate much of the automotive world. Paint it a stealthy color, and nobody will ever see you coming — until you’ve blown them away.
2023 Audi S8
Base Price / Price as Tested: $118,995 / $135,595
Powertrain: 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8; eight-speed automatic; all-wheel-drive
Horsepower: 563
Torque: 590 lb-ft
EPA Fuel Economy: 14 mpg city, 23 mpg highway
Seats: Four to five
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Keyword: 2022 Audi S8 Review: The Large-and-in-Charge Sport Sedan Icon Endures