Interior
reviewed by
The Audi A8 comes loaded with features, and each model is comfortable and luxurious. Interior design is clean and classic. A choice of leathers and wood trims ensures a touch of individuality. Handsome Valcona leather seat upholstery comes standard, with attractive Alcantara (suede-like) door inserts. Walnut, sycamore, and birch are the standard woods used to warm the interior. A swath of aluminum around the dash and doors brightens the interior. The mix of wood and metal is pleasing and adds a sporting flair. In total, the A8 cabin is handsome and remarkably rich in appearance. Audi is known for high-quality, well-designed interiors and the A8 lives up to that reputation. It looks and feels like a special place to be.
The A8 seats are supportive and comfortable and adjust 16 ways. A memory feature keeps all the settings for four different drivers (or moods), including climate controls. Front and rear seats can be heated and ventilated. The center console provides generous storage, and the electroluminescent instrument panel adjusts brightness automatically according to ambient light. The four-spoke, leather-covered steering wheel with a hub fashioned to replicate the shape of the grille.
In the A8 L W12, virtually every surface that isn't carpeted is covered with leather, save the top of the dash and headliner, which is made of Alcantara. Order the Full Leather Upgrade and the dash gets covered in leather, too, as well as the whole of the inner door panels, instead of just an insert. The double stitching on the seats in contrasting colors is really wonderful.
The S8 gets special seats upholstered in two-tone Valcona leather with contrasting stitching; or in all black if that's what you prefer. The wood trim in the S8 is an almost-black Gray Vavona, which contrasts more sharply with the aluminum-look highlights. Carbon fiber trim is optional. The S8 comes with a three-spoke steering wheel wrapped in gray leather. Instruments are white-on-gray with italic figures.
A seven-inch color screen in the top-center of the dash of all models displays Audi's Multi-Media Interface, or MMI. Four buttons and a dial on the center console do the adjusting. This system is designed to consolidate interior functions into one control center, giving the driver lots of options without filling the dash with buttons. Audi's MMI features a shallower menu structure than BMW's iDrive, meaning you don't have to burrow as deeply through a maze of menus to get to the adjustment you want. Audi did not incorporate the climate controls into this system, and that's a good thing. Heating and air conditioning have traditional controls mounted high on the center stack, so you don't have to call up a menu to change the fan speed. You simply twist a dial. Occasionally, we twisted this when we really wanted to turn down the radio, but we learned. The MMI screen matches the look of the controls, and a Return button takes you back to where you were, like the Back button on a Web browser.
Virtually everyone we've spoken to, from auto reviewers to consumers, rates Audi's MMI better than BMW's iDrive. But some rate the Audi system only minutely better, and don't like it much at all. Most have found Jaguar's elegant and traditional controls to be the easiest of all. The point? Designing controls to manage the ever-increasing number of performance, entertainment and communications systems in luxury cars traveling at high speeds remains a young, inexact science. Audi's system takes some time to learn and, at times, we found the technology overwhelming and distracting.
Beyond finish quality, attention to detail is one of Audi's greatest assets. A secondary heater in the A8 is designed to heat up the rear cabin quickly. Ambient lighting in the interior allows control of mood in the cabin. Mood lighting is good. One small demerit is the power door that hides the MMI when the car is shut off closes i
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