A couple of weeks ago Scott Jacobs and I drove our long-term 2012 Audi A8L from Santa Monica, CA to Detroit, MI and back. It was a total of 5,080 miles covering 17 states; California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Along the way we drove on Route 66, ate two bbq lunches in Kansas City (Oklahoma Joe's and Arthur Bryant's), ate a bbq dinner in St. Louis (Pappy's Smokehouse), hit Las Vegas, stopped at the Mighty Mississip, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Cooter's Garage and we took a tour of Sun Studios, the birthplace of Rock and Roll in downtown, Memphis, where we also ate more bbq (Central BBQ).
During the adventure the Audi drank 12 tanks of fuel.
It averaged 23.0 mpg during the trip. Its best tank was its last. We averaged 25.1 mpg over the final 445.1 miles of the trip, which was through northwestern Arizona and California.
Ironically, the Audi's worst tank was its first. It averaged 21.0 mpg from Santa Monica out past Las Vegas.
I'll post about other aspects of the trip all week. Also, look for a huge photo gallery of the adventure on the Inside Line homepage tonight at midnight eastern time. I hope you enjoy it.
Scott Oldham, Editor in Chief
montgom616 says:
03:34 PM, 01/23/12
And you two were to lazy to get the oil changed. Then, when you got home it took you to tries to get it done right.
three40duster says:
05:28 PM, 01/23/12
They weren't too lazy...IIRC, the service adviser told them it would take all day to do it, and they couldn't afford an all day process. Blame the Audi dealer out there for taking all day to do an oil change.
evltrpl says:
05:36 PM, 01/23/12
1st, yes, it takes time to service an Audi A8, it is not the oil change on a Honda Civic. An A8 has 96 CPU/Computers for example.
2nd, it's too bad than they pass the service by more than a 1000 miles, IIRC, because that probably voided any chance for that A8 to become CPO one day! :-(
sxty8stang says:
07:38 PM, 01/23/12
Scott, you guys neglected to mention stopping for two different BBQ spots in KC in your earlier post, and only mentioned STL BBQ. So, deservedly, I said you were foolish for doing so. Glad to see you do have better taste than that, since you guys stopped at the two best BBQ joints in town.
vwwilliam says:
08:30 PM, 01/23/12
Why is New Mexico listed last? BS. :-)
iancar says:
10:34 PM, 01/23/12
How many stops and where?
sofaonasock says:
12:01 AM, 01/24/12
...was the front passenger door repainted? ...it's noticeably darker...
kingfish4 says:
03:23 AM, 01/24/12
Boy was I stupid, instead of buying a G8GT, I could have spent $75K more to achieve the same performance with an Audi!
Except for some dead trees in the interior, I can't find much difference.
ed341 says:
04:34 AM, 01/24/12
sofaonasock says:
...was the front passenger door repainted? ...it's noticeably darker...
Yes, I would be taking it back to the bodyshop for a second try. Considering they took it to an aluminum specialist or whatever, you'd think the shop wouldn't cut corners and be able to do a proper blending job. I would be embarrased if I was the shop manager and saw the A8 road trip gallery.
throwback says:
07:39 AM, 01/24/12
Thats impressive for a large AWD V8 sedan, and contrasts nicely with Niebuhr's Juke mileage. Different routes I know, but interesting none the same.
bimmerjay says:
01:54 PM, 01/24/12
That fuel economy isn't bad, but I'm surprised it isn't much better than IL's LT 750i which was getting 23-24 mpg on highway trips like this one. The A8L's EPA numbers are way better than the heavier, more powerful 750i's - 18/28 versus 15/22.
"Boy was I stupid, instead of buying a G8GT, I could have spent $75K more to achieve the same performance with an Audi!
Except for some dead trees in the interior, I can't find much difference."
One could only assume you're being facetious, as other than having 4 doors, V8 engines and 4 wheels, there really are few similarities. While a fine car in its own right the level of content on a G8 doesn't even come close to what an A8 has.
epower says:
08:51 AM, 01/25/12
I don't think a G8GT is the same as an Audi. The A8 is a luxury vehicle. These two vehicles are in two different classes . Just because a vehicle has a big engine doesn't mean you can compare it to an A8.