When sportiness and youth appear in luxury D-class cars, test drive the new Audi A8L

Wednesday, September 7, 2022, moderate rain. As the plane landed, I arrived at Sea Garden Xiamen, and suddenly I thought that the last time I came here was when I was in elementary school. The pick-up staff was already waiting at the exit. After entering the parking lot, the neatly arranged two rows of brand new Audi A8L were particularly eye-catching. Their powerful momentum attracted the attention of many passers-by. As the driver opened the rear door for me, I sat in the boss's seat. At that moment, I was in a trance. At the same time, my two days with the new Audi A8L began.

Before talking about this test drive, I still want to introduce the price of the new Audi A8L. After all, in my opinion, talking about the car without mentioning the price is a hooligan. The price range of the new car is 829,800 yuan to 1.9548 million yuan, with 4 types of power options available. I will explain the power in detail below. Of course, the above price does not include the top sports model S8L and the top luxury model Horch Founder's Edition. Such a rich selection is enough to meet the needs and personalized choices of different consumers. At the same time, this most stable golden triangle pattern has once again raised the ceiling of D-class luxury cars and reshaped the new flagship luxury product matrix. Reshaping the landscape is easier said than done

The history of the Audi A8 can be traced back to 1988. At that time, it was still called the Audi V8. It was also the first car in history named after the structure of the engine. car model. As one of the first luxury brands to enter our country, Audi can be said to have been a witness to the Chinese automobile industry for decades. It has also let the Chinese people know what a luxury car is. Today, Audi has also brought the new A8L. Compared with its two old rivals, the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class that has been delivered in large quantities and the BMW 7 Series that is about to be delivered, I think it is time for the Audi A8L to step up. This step has been taken. And this time it’s not just a simple change, the new Audi A8L is going to reshape the landscape. What is the pattern? Why reinvention? The pattern is like the neat chess pieces on a chessboard, and reshaping is to break this order. Those who achieve great things break the pattern. This is how you are a person, and how you build a car!

The reshaping starts from the front face. The new Audi A8L adopts a dot-matrix silver-wing air intake grille. After a new design, the upper eaves of the grille are raised and the width is wider. At the same time, the more vertical lines make the new car stand tall when viewed from the side. The grille is decorated with exquisite "L"-shaped winglets made of chrome-plated material that extend from the middle to both sides. This design is not out of place on the new Audi A8L, but makes the front face of the new car look more youthful. Compared with the old model, the new car is less serious and incorporates more youthful and sporty elements, but it never loses confidence and stability. Integrating new ideas into classics may be the aesthetic inspiration of a top flagship, but the perceptual aesthetics is definitely not the same!

As the world’s most sophisticated car company, the new Audi A8L will never miss this opportunity. The brand-new headlight set is like opening the corners of the eyes. The "two big bright eyes" make the new car look more energetic and visually impactful. Good-looking appearance is not enough. The brand has also equipped the new car's headlights with DMD technology. Each headlight contains about 1.3 million micromirrors, which complements Audi's digital lighting technology. At the same time, the designer perfectly integrates philosophy and digital technology to highlight the artistic atmosphere. With the front grille shape and headlights like this, I have to admit that this combination is more atmospheric. Compared with the new BMW's unacceptably large air intake grille, I prefer the restrained style of the new Audi A8L.

Coming to the side of the new Audi A8L, it still implements maturity and stability to the end. The extremely smooth lines are clean and neat, and there is no need for too many words to describe it. This seems to be the feeling of Audi. The raised waistline perfectly connects with the gap in the hood. This little change adds a touch of fashion to the new car. This is the attentiveness from Audi. In order to highlight the quattro gene, a small wide body is perfect. Compared with other rear-drive D-class cars, the new Audi A8L appears more stable with the support of quattro, which is more in line with the preferences of our people. However, as the age of D-class luxury car owners decreases year by year, Audi has introduced the S-Line package to the A8L model for the first time for consumers to choose, creating a stronger sense of sportiness. At the same time, there are a total of 11 body colors for the car body, including four new colors: Manhattan Gray, Aurora Blue, Sky Blue, and Night Green, giving consumers more personalized choices and a more youthful attribute.

The addition of these two breaks people's inherent thinking about Audi A8L being "only black".

As a standard configuration, the integrated through-type digital O LED taillight has also become a highlight of the new Audi A8L. The segmented light strips are highly recognizable and perfectly meet the grand aesthetic needs of car owners. The customizable taillight shape and a variety of interactive light language combinations bring more personalized and exclusive choices to consumers. However, what surprised me most was the close proximity function. When the new Audi A8L is at a standstill, , as long as there are other vehicles approaching within 2 meters, the new car's segmented light strips will all light up to warn the following vehicles. This reminds me of the low roar of the lion on the African grassland, warning the intruder that he has entered my territory, don't get too close to me!

If you insist on summarizing the appearance, I think confident, noble, luxurious, restrained, educated, etc. can all be used to describe the new Audi A8L, but these words seem to be placed on the old model. There is no problem with the model, so I have to add sportiness and youthfulness to the new Audi A8L. This is to reshape the pattern. Seeing a car is like seeing a person, and all the above terms apply to every car owner. Now it seems that car owners who get off the new Audi A8L do not have to wear suits and leather shoes. This is more in line with the status of leaders in the new era. They are more motivated and energetic! Off topic, let me tell you a little trivia here. During the conversation with the designer, I learned that in the past, the Audi A8 was designed with a standard axis version first and then lengthened it. This time they did the opposite, first designing the A8L model, and then shortening it to create a standard-axle version. From this, we can see that Audi attaches great importance to the Chinese market. The sense of ritual and details are satisfying

Open the door of the new Audi A8L, and the height of the car automatically drops by 50mm. The sense of ritual and details begin here. Coming to the interior, it still maintains a stable and simple design. The genuine solid wood trim, the clean piano paint, and the genuine leather package make everything look in order. In order not to ruin the beauty of the interior, the hidden air outlets are paired with ambient lighting. This is Audi's attentiveness. I can quietly say that I feel like I can play with this air outlet all day long. In this era, a sense of technology is also essential. Compared with the huge screen of the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, I prefer the MMI touch response operating system composed of two displays, which does not require a huge screen. The integrated screen is embellished without a trace of superfluous elements. This is the calmness of the new Audi A8L. MMI replaces most of the physical buttons, but the screen uses vibration feedback to interact with the driver, which is extremely friendly to "Old School" car lovers like me. Interestingly, I learned through the official product meeting that this vibration feedback is not as simple as a motor behind the screen. It creates this feeling through subtle left and right movement of the entire screen.

For a luxury D-class car, it goes without saying that the front row is comfortable. All the necessary configurations are available to allow the driver to have a comfortable driving experience. At the same time, even if the front passenger and rear seats are pushed, Even if you reach the front, you won't be in the driver's line of sight. The cabin also supports natural voice operation and other smart technology functions, but I don’t want to go into too much detail today. I can’t wait to share the experience in the back row with you!

Sitting in the "boss seat" of the new Audi A8L, the first thing that catches the eye is the two 10.1-inch full-HD displays on the back of the front seats. Oh my God! Don't say that this kind of screen is useless, please remember that it is a ritual! It's not for you to connect to your "poor" game console. However, the new screencasting function greatly improves its utilization. The rear space problem is the least thing you have to worry about. This is also the entry test for a luxury D-class car. And this is far from enough. When I press what is commonly known as the "boss button", as my seat moves, the co-pilot begins to move forward slowly, and the pedals are gradually lowered until they are in a semi-lying state. Oh my gosh, you can roll around in this space if you want. Wait a minute, just having space is not enough. With up to 8 types of seat massages, and even footrests that can be massaged and heated, it may be difficult for you to lose sleep on it. This may be what people often call luxury. I don't have any better way to describe the comfort of the rear row, but extremely comfortable is never an exaggeration.

Rear-seat passengers can control most electronic systems through the small screen in the middle. In other words (please forgive my loose expression), I feel that the rear-seat passengers can control everything in the car except driving.

I now very much agree with what the interior designer of the new Audi A8L said. He doesn’t want Audi owners to look like they only have money. What they have is more education and content. I think he did it. The interior with a sense of ceremony and details is very popular! Rich power and more diversification

In terms of power, the new Audi A8L provides a richer choice this time, including 45TFSI, 50TFSI, 55TFSI and 60TFSI, corresponding to 2.0T and 3.0T high and low power With the 4.0T engine, many power units meet the needs of different consumers. The price of the newly added 2.0T 45TFSI version has dropped to 829,800 yuan, further lowering the threshold price and making it more cost-effective.

What we tested this time was the new Audi A8L 55TFSI version, a 3.0T V6 engine with a maximum power of 340 horsepower and a maximum torque of 500 Nm, matched with an 8-speed tiptronic gearbox. For me, the driving of a luxury D-class car does not need to be aggressive. Smoothness and comfort are the best interpretations. The new car feels exactly like this to me, with its linear accelerator and brakes. Even a boss who doesn’t drive for a long time can easily control it. The light steering wheel, combined with the rear-wheel steering function, makes the vehicle particularly flexible when the vehicle is driving at low speeds. At the same time, the addition of 48V mild hybrid power makes the smoothness more prominent. As the speed of the car gradually increases, the weight of the steering wheel also increases, which to me means a sense of security. If the car owner wants to experience the feeling of acceleration or passion, he only needs to shift into S gear, the accelerator will become more agile, and the power will be on call. With the support of quattro, even if you accelerate hard, the uneasy feeling of the vehicle skidding is impossible. In terms of NVH, it goes without saying that this is an entry-level test for a top-level flagship model. The moment you close the door, you are isolated from the world, and the interior of the car is your comfortable space. So much so that the bumps on the road are left to the adaptive air suspension and intelligent posture stabilization system. Filtering out most of the bumps is a piece of cake for the new Audi A8L. The new Audi A8L has more than 40 driving assistance systems, and the Audi preventive overall safety system (Audi pre sense) and the Audi preventive overall safety system front version (Audi pre sense front) are standard configurations. I didn't spend too much time experiencing the adaptive cruise assist system this time, but the simple operation and smooth acceleration during use still left me with a good feeling.

Written at the end

Every time in this section I will still talk about cars with you, but this time I want to talk about the event itself. Audi can be seen from all aspects The intention lies. We stayed at Qishang Hotel. First of all, there are five precious century-old lychee trees in the hotel. In ancient times, lychee trees have always been a symbol of "nobility", but they have a warm and special meaning, which complements the concept of the new Audi A8L. Secondly, there are many elements and culture of southern Fujian in Qishang Hotel, such as colored glaze, wood carvings, etc. In this impetuous era, how many young people are willing to learn about these? However, the hotel has added more young and fashionable designs to the traditional elements, making Qishang an "Internet celebrity" hotel in the mouth of my Xiamen friends. This has also attracted more young people to come here to check in and learn about these old traditions and culture. . Isn’t this exactly the same as the new Audi A8L? Not losing the classics while incorporating new elements, all these plans made the new car fill my life in these two days. The next morning, the official also prepared different activities for us to reshape the inner world through bay jogging, sound therapy meditation and Tai Chi yoga. As I was rushing every day, I had a rare opportunity to slow down and get some physical and mental relaxation. Relax. Facing the rising sun at 7:30 in the morning, start a fulfilling day. This may be the way for smart leaders in the new era to start a new day. It is now September 9th, and I am on my way home at 23:01. As the plane slowly descends, I close my eyes and think back on the two days of travel, my time with the new Audi A8L, and my new friends. The pleasant conversation with the designer was really worth the trip. And let’s go back to the reshaping of the pattern mentioned at the beginning. Do you think the new Audi A8L has achieved it? I think it does that and even incorporates these elements into life. Those who achieve great things break the rules. This is how you behave as a person and how you build cars!

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