2012 Audi A8L: Luxury That Blends in

I still don't get this whole "image" thing. Very glad I don't live in LA.

IL needs to get a big Jag sedan on its LT fleet.

Gorgeous but I hear horror stories all the time about reliability.
But it would definitely have more pull than this super sized A4.

To me the D4 A8 isn't understated, it's just bland. The D3 was a beautifully understated car on the other hand. It didn't call attention to itself, but when you looked at it you couldn't take your eyes off of it. The detailing was subtle, but beautiful. You can look directly at the D4 from some angles and not even realize it's a luxury car.

@frazier500,

Couldn't agree more, but then again I am severely biased because I own one. :)

mercedesfan, since you own the S550, I have a question. I have an S550 w/ AMG sport package, which means 19" wheels staggered setup. Do you know the officially recommended tire pressure from Mercedes? The fuel cap says 29psi front and 32psi rear when lightly loaded, but I have a feeling the sticker is for the base 18" tires because it doesn't indicate which specific tire size it's for and I doubt Mercedes makes different fuel cap stickers for the AMG Sport package equipped vehicles. Or does the same spec apply as well to the 19" tires? Thanks in advance.

You should have taken the 1985 911, lol

@mentally,

That is going to depend on what year your car is and what tires it is running. Mine is an early build 2007 that I got in February of 2006. It has the sport package and I am currently running Michelin PS2's (I highly recommend them if your car is pre-2010 and wearing Continental rubber). The recommended pressure for my year is 35 psi all around. I know the 4MATIC models were higher than that.

I'm not sure what pressure the face-lifted models use, but they should be similar because the weight and suspension geometry didn't really change. MB does place different stickers for different equipment levels, though, so the cap should be correct. Nevertheless, you could always check the manual because it spells it out for every model.

@mentally

You can find all the owner's manuals here:
http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/service_and_parts/owners_manuals

If your car has the S550 AMG Sport package, you should cross reference your S550 owner's manual for the tyre pressures with that of the actual AMG model that uses the same wheel/tyre combo (S63?)

"IL needs to get a big Jag sedan on its LT fleet.

Gorgeous but I hear horror stories all the time about reliability."

As I`ve said many times before, IL needs a Jaguar.

There were 2 Karmas at the last caffeine and octane show in Atlanta a few weeks back. That's a beautiful car, and more exclusive than anything else, Rolls, Bentley, Lambo, Hispano-Suiza, whatever.
+1 on the Jag. XJ anything. That's a gorgeous car that has major presence. This A8 is a snoozefest. If it was a Lincoln in would be getting panned for its boring lines.

@desmo,

No AMG model uses the same wheel/tire combo as the AMG Sport Package on the regular S. This is because the AMG models have a different suspension tune than standard cars. The S63 requires 40psi all around. If you did that with a regular S550 you would get uneven tire wear and a super-stiff ride.

Love blowing past valets and pulling into disabled spots with my placard. "Um...sir...oh..." Yeah, you're not gonna get it towed because that would be very, very bad for you.

Agree about the Jag. That'd be amusing. And different from the constant stream of Audi/BMW products.

I hate valet parking, but as was the case for me yesterday sometimes I have no choice. At least I scored a front spot.

LA people are too funny, no substance, all flash and superficial. So sad! We should give California back to Mexico!

Thanks for the replies.

Mine's an '08 model year and running on the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo. I thought the recommended tire pressure doesn't change no matter the tire brand? It's weird because yours is running on 19" w/ Sport Pack and the recommended tire pressure is 34psi all around, but mine's 29 front and 32 rear for the lightest load. I think it's higher (32, 34?? not too sure) if there's a moderate load.

Last time I read the '08 manual to check on the recommended tire pressure, it just stated to check the vehicle's placard. Maybe '09 and higher model year manuals actually have the information on tire pressure?

Thanks again.

Thanks for the replies.

Mine's an '08 model year and running on the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo. I thought the recommended tire pressure doesn't change no matter the tire brand? It's weird because yours is running on 19" w/ Sport Pack and the recommended tire pressure is 34psi all around, but mine's 29 front and 32 rear for the lightest load. I think it's higher (32, 34?? not too sure) if there's a moderate load.

Last time I read the '08 manual to check on the recommended tire pressure, it just stated to check the vehicle's placard. Maybe '09 and higher model year manuals actually have the information on tire pressure?

Thanks again.

@mentally,

Yours is basically the same package as mine and also equipped with higher-performance rubber so you should be able to run 35psi all around. The fuel filler cap should be correct, so are you sure your car came from the factory with those wheels/tires? It sounds like your car may have been retrofitted later and come from the factory with the standard 18" wheels.

@evltrpl,

That is a ridiculous sentiment. LA is but a tiny part of the whole of California and the rest of the state couldn't be more different. I'd also like to point out that if California wasn't part of the union the US economy would collapse for sure. CA by itself has one of the largest economies in the world.

"LA people are too funny, no substance, all flash and superficial. So sad! We should give California back to Mexico!"

California alone has the 8th largest economy on earth. The U.S. would be screwed if you gave that away. Not to mention it's completely idiotic to associate a stereotype of some people in Los Angeles with the rest of the state's 38 million people living in 8 major cities, all of which are very socially diverse.

Mustang GT. No Fisker Karma for first impressions but sounds a helluva lot better (actually, it sounds period)! Perhaps a little burnout on exit just to let them know you really don't belong there.