The A8 seats are supportive and comfortable and adjust 16 ways. A memory feature keeps all the settings for four different drivers (or moods), including climate controls. Front and rear seats can be heated and ventilated. The center console provides generous storage, and the electroluminescent instrument panel adjusts brightness automatically according to ambient light. The four-spoke, leather-covered steering wheel with a hub fashioned to replicate the shape of the grille.
In the A8 L W12, virtually every surface that isn't carpeted is covered with leather, save the top of the dash and headliner, which is made of Alcantara. Order the Full Leather Upgrade and the dash gets covered in leather, too, as well as the whole of the inner door panels, instead of just an insert. The double stitching on the seats in contrasting colors is really wonderful.
The S8 gets special seats upholstered in two-tone Valcona leather with contrasting stitching; or in all black if that's what you prefer. The wood trim in the S8 is an almost-black Gray Birch, which contrasts more sharply with the aluminum-look highlights. Carbon fiber trim is optional. The S8 comes with a three-spoke steering wheel wrapped in gray leather. Instruments are white-on-gray with italic figures.
A seven-inch color screen in the top-center of the dash of all models displays Audi's Multi-Media Interface, or MMI. Four buttons and a dial on the center console do the adjusting. This system is designed to consolidate interior functions into one control center, giving the driver lots of options without filling the dash with buttons. Audi's MMI features a shallower menu structure than BMW's iDrive, meaning you don't have to burrow as deeply through a maze of menus to get to the adjustment you want. Audi did not incorporate the climate controls into this system, however, and this is a good thing. Heating and air conditioning have traditional controls mounted high on the center stack, so you don't have to call up a menu to change the fan speed. You simply twist a dial. Occasionally, we twisted this when we really wanted to turn down the radio, but we learned. The MMI screen matches the look of the controls, and a Return button takes you back to where you were, like the Back button on a Web browser.
Virtually everyone we've spoken too, from auto reviewers to consumers, rates Audi's MMI better than BMW's iDrive. But some rate the Audi system only minutely better, and don't like it much at all. Or, easiest of all, Jaguar's elegant and traditional controls. The point? Designing controls to manage the ever-increasing number of performance, entertainment and communications systems in luxury cars traveling at high speeds remains a young, inexact science. This systems take some time to learn and, at times, we found the technology overwhelming and distracting.
Beyond finish quality, attention to detail is one of Audi's greatest assets. A secondary heater in the A8 is designed to heat up the rear cabin quickly. Ambient lighting in the interior allows control of mood in the cabin. Mood lighting is good. One small demerit is the power door that hides the MMI when the car is shut off operates closes in a jerky fashion.
The A8 is quiet underway. The cabin is well insulated (the W12 features double-pane side glass), and conversation is easy at any speed, even in the nosiest ambient conditions. There's no wind noise in this car and the ventilation system was acoustically tuned to make the climate control as quiet as possible, even when the fan is at full blast.
The standard audio system uses Bose noise compensation technology just like those fancy headphones you see people wearing on the plane. It works terrifically well. Essentially, a microphone samples the sound and sends out sound waves to cancel out undesirable noise. The 12-speaker stereo sounds fantastic, with crisp bass and clear highs. An equalizer matched to the car's equipment and trim specification takes into account changes to interior acoustics caused by the choice of upholstery. A four-way diversity antenna aids AM/FM reception, and a list of all radio stations that can be received in a given region appears at the touch of an MMI button, though we frequently turned it the wrong way. The six-disc CD changer is in the glove box, and we found this inconvenient; ejecting a CD was a chore that distracted our attention from the road. We'd prefer a single in-dash CD player to this. Sirius Satellite Radio is available, offering cross country access to CNN, Fox News and other news and entertainment programming. Turn the system on and the silk-dome tweeters automatically extend from the instrument panel into their ideal positions. Expect people to ask what they do.
OnStar telematics comes standard, offering operators who can give directions around the clock and provide myriad other types of information and services. Those operators will send help to your location should an airbag deploy. They can pinpoint the location of the car if it's stolen or unlock the doors remotely if you've locked the keys inside.
Rear seats in the A8 are designed to be comfortable for the 85th percentile in height, and even tall passengers aren't likely to complain. Rear passengers have lots of controls available to them, including optional power lumbar support and optional rear-seat dual climate control. There's also a fold-down center armrest with a pass-through to the trunk.
Rear seats in the A8 L are much more spacious, with acres of legroom. In the A8 L W12, a full console with more elaborate climate and seat-adjustment switches splits the rear seats. A rear-seat entertainment system with dual screens in the back of the front headrests comes standard in the W12, which includes a six-DVD changer, remote control, one set of headphones, two AV and two headphone jacks in the center console. This rear console eliminates space for one passenger, but it pumps up the club-room ambience. (A three-place bench can be specified instead.) The A8 L falls short of the long-wheelbase 7 Series in rear-seat head and leg room, but not by much. The A8 L rear doors are long, allowing easy access to the rear seat.
The trunk is big and deep. The trunk is the same size on the A8 and A8 L. At 14.6 cubic feet it is significantly smaller than the cavernous luggage compartments of the BMW 7 Series (18.0 cubic feet) and Mercedes-Benz S-Class (19.7). Still, the Audi provides sufficient room for at least two tournament-grade golf bags or a couple of weeks worth of groceries. The trunk houses a full-size spare tire.
We found the coat hooks inadequate for picking up a big load of dry cleaning, however.
The effort of operating an A8 is reduced by technology. A Soft Close feature automatically sucks the side doors shut from a partially latched position. Optional Advanced Key eliminates the labor of turning the ignition key or even having to pull it out of your pocket, briefcase or purse, allowing the doors to be opened and the A8 to start with a button as long as the coded key fob is within a certain proximity. We're not sure intelligent keys are a feature we have to have and often find them more trouble than they are worth. However, our car had the standard key and we had trouble finding the ignition switch one night as it was not illuminated.
