It’s easy to buy the 2027 Audi A8 – assuming you have $95,100 burning a hole in your pocket – because it only comes one way. Said another way, pretty much everything that at one time was optional – such as the L (for longer wheelbase) option – is now standard.
Even so, it’s the bargain of the Big Three in this class – the other two being the Mercedes S-Class and the BMW 7 Series.
What It Is
The A8 is Audi’s top-of-the-line, full-size sedan. There are fewer models in this class than there used to (Lexus cancelled the LS sedan; Jaguar no longer sells any sedans at all and the biggest Cadillac – the CT5 – is Camry-sized) as the luxury market has shifted over to crossovers and SUVs, of which there are more models than ever. Probably the main reason for this transition has to do with a strange incongruity. Big sedans like the A8 have Miata-sized trunks. In the past, big sedans usually had big trunks. You may remember the “three bodies rolled up in a carpet” joke that was based on the cavernous size of a Cadillac or Buick full-sized sedan’s trunk.
Well, now you might get a couple of bags – small ones – of groceries in there.
Meanwhile, a crossover or SUV of the same size has the more space for whatever you want to carry around than two ’70s Cadillac Sedan de Villes had. Many of the top-of-the-line ones – for instance, the Cadillac Escalade – still come standard with impressive V8 engines, too. The Big Three – all of which used to standard with the same (and offered V12s) now come standard with small sixes.
On the bright side, the A8 is a relative bargain.
Base price is $95,100 and that includes pretty much everything, including AWD. You also get an adaptive suspension, soft-close doors, power rear sunshades, four zone climate control and a Bang & Olufsen premium audio system with speakers that flush mount when the system is off and arise when you turn the system on.
The Mercedes S-Class sedan starts at $119,500. The BMW 7-Series lists for $99,800 but that does not include AWD. Equipped with that, the BMW’s price goes up to $102,800.
There are just a handful of options, the big one being the $5,300 Executive Plus package that bundles massaging seats, Valcona leather. four-wheel steering, dual-pane acoustic side glass and “Alu-optic” buttons. You could add that and still come in under the base price of either the Mercedes S Class or the BMW 7.
What’s New For 2027
This may be the final year for the A8, which has not been significantly updated since 2019.
What’s Good
Not as visually polarizing as the BMW 7 sedan.
Priced $25k less to start than Mercedes S-Class sedan.
Back seat area is roomier than up front.
What’s Not So Good
Like most of its rivals, this big has an incongruously small (12.5 cubic foot) trunk that greatly limits what can be carried along for the ride.
A six cylinder engine in a six figure car is a bit disappointing.
Getting long in the tooth.
Under The Hood
There has been a diminishment under the hood of the A8 – and its two main rivals.
All of them now come standard with 3.0 liter six cylinder engines. The A8’s makes respectable – but not awe-inspiring – power: 335 horsepower and 369 ft.-lbs. of torque. Back in 2018 – before the 2019 redesign – you could opt for a turbocharged 4.0 liter V8 that made 450 horsepower and 444 ft.-lbs. of torque. That option is gone.
Go back another three years – to 2015 – and you could have had a W12 (basically, two V6 engines fused into one) that made 500 horsepower. It’s a similar story with the A8’s two main rivals, the Benz S-Class ad the BMW 7-Series, which both used to come standard with V8, as befitting their lofty status and price.
It is not that there’s anything wrong with the A8’s 3.0 six (or the sixes that are now standard in its rivals). The point is that it’s not as special – nor as powerful – as what used to be standard (or at least available) in these cars. Of course, it’s also true that mid-range luxury sedans like the BMW 5 and the Mercedes E (as well as the Audi A6) that used to come with standard sixes now come with fours.
So – what happened?
Compliance happened. Bigger engines not only use more gas – an irrelevance at this price point, at least insofar as the potential buyer is concerned – they also “emit” more gasses. Carbon dioxide in particular. The “endangerment finding” that endowed the EPA to regulate CO2 as an “emission” has been tossed in the trashcan by the Trump administration, but when it was still in force, car companies had to find ways to reduce these “emissions” and one way to do that was to put smaller engines in their vehicles. The pressure to comply is also still a big thing in Europe – where German brands such as Audi, Benz and BMW do most of their business.
Turbos and hybrid augmentation boost power/performance when needed – but there’s no getting around what you might call the diminishment of things, even in top-of-the-line things.
The A8 is capable of getting to 60 MPH in 5.6 seconds, a speedy time for a big, heavy luxury car. It also rates 19 city, 27 highway – which is excellent fuel efficiency for a big, heavy (and speedy) luxury car.
An eight speed automatic and Quattro AWD are standard.
On The Road
Driving a luxury sedan was once the thing that telegraphed you’d made it – to the very top. It was a rolling reward as much as a status symbol. The Beatles in their Benz grosser – the 600 – or Elvis in the backseat of his Fleetwood d’Elegance. The biggest, most powerful and opulent things on four wheels. Even bigger, more powerful and opulent SUVs (such as the Cadillac Escalade and the Benz G-wagen ) now fill that role but they nonetheless are still lacking something that a full-size luxury sedan such as the A8 still has that they don’t.
That thing being, for openers, that you do not have to climb up to get in them. There is arguably something inelegant about having to do that – outside of Texas, at any rate. You do not have to do that with the A8. It sits at exactly the right level for effortless getting in and out. Once you are in – and behind the wheel – you don’t feel that you’re the captain of a man o’ war, either. The road ahead is just that – not ahead and down there. You have a better sense, spatially, of where you are in relation to other cars, too. It is much easier to drive the A8 in traffic (and park) because it is much easier to see – naturally – what’s around you, without the aid of cameras and chimes and beeps. The views ahead and to either side are much better than they are from within most large SUVs.
Every A8 comes standard with an adaptive ride heigh suspension that lowers the ride when you’re rolling for increased stability and reduces wind noise. It also helps the car look good (more about that below).
The turbocharged (and hybrid-augmented) V6 is powerful and smooth and the A8 accelerates forcefully when you need it to – but there is that certain something that’s missing that was once there. The 3.0 V6 is a fine engine. It is just not quite enough engine for a car of this stature. If that sounds as though it conflicts with the earlier statement about the engine being powerful and smooth and providing forceful acceleration, it doesn’t. Certain things are not quantifiable by the numbers, such as prestige. A 3.0 liter V6 in a six figure car just isn’t very prestigious. Ten years ago, it would have been considered unacceptable. How did it become acceptable? Simple. By making small V6s standard in six figure cars – all of them. What choice do you have, in other words? Well, you could choose the SUV alternative. The Cadillac Escalade and the Benz G-wagen still come with V8s. Maybe that explains why they are more popular than the dwindling number of six cylinder-powered six figure luxury sedans . . . .
Suffice to say the A8 was a much more impressive car when it came standard with a V8 (and was available with a W12). Same goes for the Benz S and Mercedes 7 (both of which also used to come standard with V8s and had V12s available).
At The Curb
The A8 is still a big car as well as an elegant one – but it is also an impractical one.
Though it is just shy of 210 inches long – which makes it about as long as a Cadillac Escalade (211.9 inches) it only has a 12.5 cubic foot trunk. A Mazda Miata – which is a small, two-seat sports car – has a 4.5 cubic foot-capacity trunk. In other words, this full-size, five-passenger luxury sedan only has a bit more than twice as much trunk space as a Miata, which only has room for two and ought to be able to fit inside the trunk of a full-size luxury sedan.
The Mercedes S-sedan is similarly compromised (12.8) cubic feet. The BMW 7’s trunk (19 cubic feet) is the only trunk in the class that has enough room for more than just two people’s luggage. Interestingly, that’s about as much space in the trunk as you got back in the mid-1970s, if you bought a Cadillac Sedan de Ville. However, the BMW’s exterior styling – especially its blunt-nose front end styling – is kind of like modern art in that you either dig it or you don’t.
The A8’s look is conservative and classic. It will not look dated three years from now and it doesn’t look like modern art now. Long hood, long wheelbase, wide and low. It is handsome and serious, as six figure sedan ought to look.
Also on the upside, the A8’s backseats are roomier (44.3 inches of legroom) than the front seats of most cars – and luxury SUVs, too. To say you can stretch out back there is to soft sell it. Get the optional Comfort Rear Seat package – which includes a recline function and massagers – for the ultimate backseat experience.
It’s nice to be up front, too. Both the driver and passenger seats are 22-way adjustable as well as heated and ventilated; you can get massagers for them, too.
Though the A8 has the usual LCD main instrument cluster and a secondary cluster, both are smaller and – arguably – less tacky looking than the becoming generic (even Hyundais and Kias have them) huge, tablet-esque displays. Said another way, when you’re behind the wheel, you feel more like you’re in a car than in front of a computer screen. The current model dates back to 2019 – so it is seven years old at this point. That makes it either dated – or desirable – depending on how much you like huge LCD displays
The Rest
It is possible 2027 will be the last year for the A8 – which may be replaced as Audi’s top-of-the-line model by an SUV. This seems to be the way the wind is blowing. Even if not, expect a major update for 2028. Depending on what that turns out to be, the current A8 will become either more – or less – desirable.
The Bottom Line
Thee A8 is still an impressive car – but it would be much more so if it still came standard (or at least was available with) with a V8.
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