The first thing I should state just for the record is that I'm not in the slightest bit interested in cars. My only concerns relate to comfort, safety and practicality. It was these factors that moulded our decision for selecting the Audi Q7 a few years ago; a decision which was just right for our family set up (2 young kids and a dog). And now we are taking a little look at our options.
From what we can tell, there are many changes affecting the new car market since the last time we were looking. In the space of about 3-4 years how things have changed. Gone are the days when you can choose your model, the specification and then purchase it with a 12-14 week lead time. Currently, with Audi at least, certain models simply cease to be built any longer after 5-6 months of the new build year. What this means for the consumer is that there are bargains to be had if you show some flexibility on specification, colour etc. It appears to us that if you were considering updating your family car, there could be worse times than right now.
Prior to the test drive today, we had got our criteria sorted and after my wife test drove the A7 (diesel) we had a fair idea of what we liked. The only potential sticking point was that we did not want to continue with diesel - it seems to us that they really do want to get rid of diesels at the moment. As my wife is the main driver of the family car it is important that she is happy with it and so what was left to do today was drive an A8 that has the same engine as the prospective A7. So we were test driving the engine today and not the car, if you see where I'm coming from. It is the Sport 55 TFSI quattro S tronic with 340 PS power.... meaning absolutely nothing to me whatsoever.
So off we go in this A8, having been told to not rush, and take up to a couple of hours if we liked. And we did like I can tell you. The engine was incredibly responsive, the front end visibly rises on acceleration but it was oh so quiet. We took turns in driving it and got ourselves a coffee which gave us a chance to check out the driver assistance systems for parking. It has a lovely 360 degree camera assist showing you all around the vehicle. On the same subject, it has a nice adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality and distance control. It means that when approaching a roundabout with red lights, I found the car started braking automatically, complying with the maximum 40mph signs, it slowed to a tapered and comfortable stop and when the cars in front moved off on a green light so did the car with no driver involvement on my part. It lets you know when it is happy with your distance between other vehicles. The pre-sense functionality keeps you positionally correct in lanes. All of these options can naturally be adjusted to suit your preferences.
But all of that from my point of view was secondary to the drive. Apparently, there are plenty of colleagues at the showroom who don't like the drive, it not being responsive or aggressive enough for their liking. It seemed to me to be a dream to drive. It really was a pleasure. The performance was breathtaking given the size of the vehicle and this is the same engine that is going to be in our A7 - that will be something else to experience.
It is funny because having said at the start that unlike many chaps, I have very little interest in cars, it is not lost on me how much I actually enjoyed those 2 hours - both as a driver and a passenger. I guess that says quite a lot about what our German friends have managed to engineer.
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