The driver peers over a thick-rimmed steering wheel that's relatively small in diameter. Thick A-pillars create a blind spot at intersections. The gauge cluster is backlit in red and features an electronic message center. The turn signal stalk is spindly. At first glance, the center of the dash is a dazzling display of red-lighted buttons, but time spent with it builds familiarity.
His-and-hers climate controls tend to require minimal adjustment and are appropriately mounted below the audio panel. The stereo buttons could be larger, but the largest of them is the volume control, square in the center where it's easy to find. The A8 features other clever touches throughout. The latch for the glovebox is all the way left, within easy reach of the driver. Audi's overhead sunroof switch is the slickest going: Turn it a quarter turn, and the roof opens a quarter of the way. Turn it all the way, and the roof opens wide. An optional solar-panel sunroof ($850) for the A8 L powers a fan to ventilate the interior while the car is parked. Like most German cars, this one is not strong in the cupholder department: It has one and it wasn't big enough for a grande caramel frappaccino. The cupholder had a metal bottom, however, indicating it may be designed to keep drinks hot or cold, but we didn't test this feature.
The rear seat coddles with variable lumbar support and headrest positioning, but lacks the recline adjustment available in some competitors. Still, the rear cabin offers plenty of standard and optional accoutrements, including adjustable ventilation, variable seat heaters, window shades, folding coat hooks, and reading lamps.
There's plenty of room back there, too. The A8 is a bit wider than either the BMW 7 Series or Mercedes S-Class; it's about the same length as the new BMW but several inches shorter than the Benz. That seems to translate into slightly less legroom for the base A8. The more compact Audi provides 100 cubic feet of interior volume, compared with 104 for the Bimmer and 105 in the class-leading Mercedes S-Class.
Audi's solution for those who require limousine-like rear-seat space is the A8 L, with a five-inch longer wheelbase, providing three inches more legroom and a touch more headroom. Needless to say, the rear seats in the A8 L are roomy and comfortable.
Front and rear doors open extra wide. However, the outside door handles are awkward, hard to hold, and can pinch your pinkie. The trunk lid opens beyond vertical to reveal a huge luggage bay, larger than in any sedan offered by BMW, Jaguar or Mercedes-Benz.
Audi's optional navigation system ($1,350) lacks the vivid graphical maps of competing units, but presents the route instructions in between the speedometer and tachometer so the driver doesn't have to glance to the center of the dash. (Mercedes-Benz offers a similar feature.) It also doesn't seem to give as many erroneous instructions as some of the other systems we've seen.
The optional Parktronic system ($700) chimes to warn the driver of unseen objects near the car (front and rear), but the sound can be annoying and its changing signal difficult to understand. Next Page