Road-Tripping in the Audi S8
The Audi S8 sports sedan is one of a few cars we’ve had at the Cars.com offices recently that comes close to or exceeds the $100,000 mark. The S8 starts at $90,000, while our option-laden tester easily exceeded $100,000. We drove the S8 to the Road America racetrack in Elkhart Lake, Wis., for the American Le Mans Series race, where an Audi team just happened to take the checkered flag in their class. Three of us Cars.com staffers — reviewer Kelsey Mays, multimedia producer Eric Rossi and myself — took the 350-mile round trip up to Elkhart Lake. We spent around six hours driving total, which turned out to be an easy feat in the massive S8.
The S8 does more than a couple things well, as it should. It carries people comfortably, is fun to drive in sport suspension mode with quick-acting paddle shifters, and has gadgetry that will keep you occupied with the owner’s manual for hours. On our road trip we averaged around 20 mpg, and during suburban driving we saw anywhere from 14 to 18 mpg, which is spot-on with the 13/19 city/highway ratings adjusted for 2008. The interior of our car was maxed-out for sports appeal with carbon fiber trim, brushed aluminum trim in the front and rear and two-tone upholstered seats.
We all took turns driving the S8, and all three of us agreed that the V-10 is a magnificent-sounding engine. I’m sure some people would describe the sound of the 450-hp monster as thoughtfully composed, but I found “bad-ass” to be a proper descriptor as well. The exhaust note echoed through neighborhoods and attracted head-turns from even the most uninterested dog walker.
The parking lots at Road America consist of grassy areas scattered throughout the four-mile racetrack. During a race weekend like this one, these spots are filled with race enthusiasts and, as you would expect, enthusiast cars, including multiple Shelby A/C Cobra replicas, Porsche GT3s, Corvette Z06s, Dodge Vipers and just about any other performance car you can think of.
While driving from parking area to parking area, we frequently passed other Audis. Behind the wheel of the S8 I felt enough comradeship to wave to the other Audi drivers, and was always greeted with a knowing smile and a wave. Even on the way home, a pair of men in a 2003-04 Mustang Cobra gave us the thumbs-up, then proceeded to floor it past us.
We attracted a lot of attention while in the S8, from people who knew what the car was and also people who may not have. Those V-10 badges and V-10 sounds catch just about anyone’s attention, especially when they’re affixed to or coming out of something like this 4,500-pound black sedan.
