Coming to the States: Audi A8 TDI - Review

First Look: 2012 Audi A8 TDI – Review and Report


By Jonathan Spira

There are some associations you can’t shake. For me, one of them is the decision by then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to dispense with tradition and choose an Audi A8 for his official car (until that point, a Mercedes-Benz sedan had always served in this capacity). As a result, even …

The Audi A8 first appeared in Europe in 1994 as the successor to the Audi V8, although it did not make it to the U.S. until the 1997 model year. The current (third) generation A8 was unveiled in 2009 and went on sale in late 2010 as a 2011 model.

In European markets, the A8 comes with a choice of four diesel engines,...
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A few questions:

- is it the same engine which is available in Porsche Cayenne in the US?
- is it single or twin turbo?
- what is the performance of this engine in comparison to 35d?

I drove a bit 3.0 TDI back in Europe. In my opinion this engine was a class lower than BMW 3 liter diesel single turbo / two classes lower than BMW twin turbo. The engine was produced in 2010, so it was one generation older. Do they improved a lot in the engine?

Just from reading the review, the A8 seems to be at least as sophisticated as or even better than a high end BMW except when the words "hot rod" come into the conversation.

PL