2004 Audi A8L

From The Driver's Seat

If there's a stealth war going on the car business, it's on the "interface" front. That is, carmakers seem to be busting their humps to cram more and more technology into cars, even if their customers aren't necessarily clamoring for it.

We have some pity for the carmakers, because while customers complain about the usability of such technology, those same buyers seem to want all the gadgets just because they lend some (albeit likely specious) credence to the very high prices luxury cars command.

Which is why we now arrive at Audi's Multi Media Interface system, a rival to BMW's iDrive system and one many writers have called more intuitive than that, latter technology.

But as usual, we've got a different opinion; we think it's worse, and here's why. First, with iDrive the driver is required to control several functions via a mouse-like device that resides on the transmission tunnel (behind the gearshift), and to check his selections on a screen that sits at the center of the dash. (This system has now been simplified in the next-generation BMW 5 series, and will be easier on next year's 6 and 7 series as well.) But the driver never has to look at the iDrive mouse, just at the center screen.

While that's still not ideal, MMI's mouse is surrounded by a brace of eight buttons and you have to remember (ideally without taking your eyes off the road) where each of these buttons live in order to access various on-screen menus. And if you need to go from one menu to another, you're bound to get lost--and then be forced to take your eyes off the road to find another button. For instance, the A8L comes with four suspension settings. To reset the suspension you push the "Car" button, then use the mouse to access one of the presets you desire. Fine. But now you want to locate a particular CD track. So unless you remember where the CD/TV button is located around the mouse, you have to look down, stab it, then rotate the mouse dial to the CD control switch, and then click on the track.

And although you can toggle through radio presets using a knurled thumbwheel on the left spoke of the steering wheel you cannot change the band here; instead you have to click the Radio button, then rotate the wheel to AM or FM, then depress the mouse dial.

Don't even get me started on trying to locate a new station when you drive to a new town. The Audi, like so many cars, lets you automatically get the strongest stations, or to scan by genre, but that almost always gets you a generic grouping of stations, none of which is seemingly broadcasting anything but easy listening. And did we mention that because of MMI, there's no room left in the dash for the CD changer, which now must live in glove box?

Graciously, we will spare you most of the other MMI complaints, lest they envelop the rest of our review.

But we might as well give you the rest of our, albeit scant, beefs right now.

1. All Audis with sunroofs used to have semi-open setting. At that setting Audi engineers had determined that a minimal amount of buffeting would occur (that recoil effect that makes your eardrums hurt). It was a subtle, but absolutely delightful function; one that Audi owners knew put them quietly in better stead than owners of other cars. Sadly, that littlest detail is lacking with the A8L.

2. Although the rear seat headrests are pillow-plush, Mercedes drivers get a special button to dump said headrests when reversing, allowing for a better aft view (naturally the button should not be pushed with there are rear seat occupants). But the A8L lacks such a switch, and with a fairly steeply raked backlight, it's one car that could really use one.

Okay, highlights? Sure, there are many.

As we said in our opener, this is a special car, with many features that are exceptional. For instance, the driver's seat has exceptional adjustability. There is an automatically adjustable thigh bolster, a lumbar (that moves up and down as well as in and out, and even the shoulder portion of the seat can be moved fore and aft for added support. And as we said, the backseat area is immense. We had a 6'3" driver get comfortable behind the wheel, then leave the seat as is and climb into the backseat to see how much knee room he had. It turned out to be nearly six inches.

Further amenities are more subtle. At night, there's theater-style "puddle" lighting on the floor and all ambient lighting glows outside the driver's field of view so as not to disturb his nighttime vision, and even the on-door map pockets get lighting so you can discern the contents. And throughout this cabin the use--and perfect fit--of wood and aluminum trim, and of knurling for various dials and switches, speaks of an attention to detail you'd expect if Rolex did car interiors. We should also mention that the Bose surround-sound system in this Audi is--as is seemingly routine for that company--stupendous.

Even the littlest things are smartly rendered, for instance, the driver's vanity mirror (there are four such lit mirrors in this car) has a second, magnifying mirror, which could be handy for applying makeup.

As for actually driving the A8L, although this is a very large car, it features that aforementioned adjustable suspension, and a sports mode (as well as a manual one) for the six-speed automatic gearbox. The 330hp V8 likes to rev freely, featuring a slick, mechanical roar when you stomp on the gas, and the 19-inch wheels on our tester were shod with 255/40ZR-19 Pirelli sport tires, providing serious grip--much more than you'd expect of a car with this much heft. In fact although it the A8L is certainly geared toward the rear-seat passengers, if you were buying this car because you sometimes needed to entertain clients, the rest of the time you would hardly be bored.

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