6.3 liter W12 engine with 500 horsepower, 1400 watt Bang & Olufsen stereo with 19 speakers, quattro centre differential, aluminium space frame, a passenger cabin with lots of leather and some wood. That's the new Audi A8 L W12 quattro for you

The A8 has been the top of the line luxury car at Audi for a while now. For those of you who have not seen an A8, it is a quite a long car. Most luxury car makers first make a top of the line luxury sedan and then launch a long wheelbase version with more legroom and kit. Audi has skipped all of that and straight away launched the A8 L. 

Put simply, it’s as if someone has attached a part of a very expensive living room to the back of the all new A8. And it’s quite a nice living room too. The Valonea leather in the passenger cabin is tanned with plant extracts to make it especially soft. The dashboard is finished in piano wood. Audi offers an optional wood and leather centre console that stretches from the dashboard to the centre of the backrest of the rear seats. The head restraints and gear selector lever are adorned in buckskin leather for its hard wearing quality.  If you go for this option instead of a backrest between the two rear seats you can have a refrigerator with a cabinet mounted on top to keep a set of glasses. The centre console at the back comes with separate controls for rear air conditioning.

There is also an optional ‘executive package’ which packs in electrically adjustable heated and cooled rear seats that can recline with fully adjustable lumbar support. The front passenger seat can be moved from the rear and an electric foot rest will pop out so that those tired feet can be placed on the tray. The front passenger seat has massage functions by the way. Two 10.2 inch screens are present for rear seat entertainment. 

The quality of workmanship of the materials used in the cabin of the A8 L W12 is top of the line. The fine stitched leather, aluminium inserts, ambient lighting and the millimetre accurate switch gear gaps are impressive. A panoramic sunroof which lends a very airy feel to the cabin with two separate glass panels is available as an option. 

All of the equipment and options on the A8 L W12 can trick you into thinking that this is a luxury yacht on wheels. Beware though, the W12 badge is not a collection of letters and numbers. The W is for four rows and the 12 is for a total of 12 cylinders, three in each row. Audi has been using the W12 layout for sometime now as this layout for their 12 cylinder engines is very compact. The whole engine is 50 centimetres long which is shorter than a V8 engine.

The latest W12 engine is a 6.3 liter unit that makes 500 horsepower. It can pull this enormous limousine from 0-100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds, that’s sports car territory! The top speed of the car is sadly limited electronically to 250 km/h, but look at it this way, your living room cannot do 250 km/h.  625 NM of peak torque is available at a very useful 3,250 rpm. The gearbox on the A8 L W12 is an eight speed tiptronic system that shifts by wire. The gear changes can be made with the yacht-style gear selector or via paddles behind the steering wheel. 

The centre differential which is the main component of the Quattro all wheel drive system uses a 60:40 power ratio for the rear wheels and front wheels respectively under normal circumstances. Should the need arise 60% of the power can be sent to the front wheels to gain traction and if you are in the mood for some limousine power slides the system can send as much as 80% of the engine’s power to the rear wheels. 

The body of the A8 L is made out of aluminium using the Audi Space Frame (ASF) principle. This means that the car body is 40% lighter than the equivalent steel body. The light weight keeps the environmentalists happy and the higher rigidity of an aluminium body keeps the enthusiast happy by providing more precise handling traits. What’s more the A8 L W12’s rigid aluminium space frame also makes your medical insurance company happy by increasing passive safety for occupants in the event of an accident. 

From the outside the Audi A8 L W12 can distinguished from other models in the line up by a single frame radiator grille finished in gloss black paint with chrome horizontal bars, there are chromed inserts at the air inlets and rear view mirrors. If that isn’t enough there are W12 badges in the front grille and at the back of the car. There are two trapezoidal tailpipes neatly integrated into the rear bumper. The car also comes with bespoke 19 inch, 15 spoke alloy wheels. The rear doors are even longer for easy ingress and egress. 

The price for the Audi A8 L W12 in India not surprisingly is Rs. 1,26,56,000. And if you think that’s a little steep here is what the Head of Audi India, Mr. Michael Perschke, said, “In January this year, a select few experienced the W12 for the first time during the World Economic Forum in Davos. Globally, the Audi A8 L W12 has received an overwhelming response and the first batch of 20 W12s for India is nearly sold out.”

Mr. Michael Pershke went onto say, “The new A8 L W12 with its supremely powerful presence and design clearly derived from the brand’s genes is a concentrated high-tech package that confirms the Audi claim to technical leadership – “Vorsprung durch Technik”. The addition of this powerful engine to the Audi A8 L range in India will further consolidate our position in the limousine segment. Having already recorded exceptional growth in 2011, I am confident that all new Audi A8 L W12 will raise the bar and set new standards for luxury and engineering performance in India.”

Motoring enthusiasts are very easily put off by the battery powered hatchback with a ridiculous driveable range. Every once in a while when a manufacturer comes along and launches an outrageously powerful car we sit up and take notice. With the A8 L W12 quattro Audi has got our attention.