Instrumented Test
Ease is among the chief differentiators between the obnoxiously wealthy and those who are merely ultra-rich. Ease of buying your way into finer polo clubs, out of lesser felonies, into better key parties, that sort of thing. When it comes to the Audi A8L W-12, the only thing that isn’t easy is saying A8L W-12. When your flagship vehicle’s designation reads like a license plate, maybe it’s time to rethink vehicle names. We have a suggestion for this one: Autobahn King.
Allow an unwavering sense of fiscal liberation to guide your answers to a simple series of yes/no questions, and it’s a short walk from base A8 to Autobahn King. Need an extra 5.1 inches of wheelbase? Well, “need” is being a bit dramatic, but if one can have it, then why not? Need 128 more hp than the base A8’s 372-hp V-8 provides? Did you hear your favorite word—“more”—in there? Of course.
Wonderful, Wanton W Power
Now bored out 0.3 liter (to 6.3) and sporting direct injection, the W-12 puts out 500 hp and 463 lb-ft of torque, improvements of 50 and 35, respectively, over the 2010 model. With 12 cylinders arranged over four banks of cylinders (hence the “W-12” designation), it is certainly a curiosity, and it compares favorably with the cutting-edge turbocharged 12s powering its competitors from BMW and Mercedes. The roundel’s 760Li manages 535 horses from 6.0 liters; Benz’s S600 makes 510 with 5.5 and its S65 AMG honks out 621 with 6.0. Compared wit the competition, the W hurls the A8L to speed with the same all-important sense of ease, accompanying its thrust with a husky growl so smooth it almost sounds like a monster rotary.
Standard all-wheel drive and an eight-speed automatic transmission, plus a 4759-pound curb weight afforded by its all-aluminum construction, help the W-12 hit 60 mph in 4.1 seconds—bettering the BMW by 0.2 and both Benzes by 0.1—and blow through the quarter-mile in 12.6 at 114 mph. Bummer that its governor is set at 128 mph, oddly low for a 500-hp Autobahn King. It takes about 17 seconds to reach peak speed from rest, or slightly more than 10 from a 75-mph cruise. Should you want to test the top speed on a whim, you’ll be back at that sedate 75 in less time than it takes those tiny dots behind you to say, “Was that a Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed?”
