brought an s8 home today, wow !!!

[Dave.Eaton]

in defense of the s8...

is the s8 the most composed and best handling audi?  not sure, but certainly
up there.  less roll than the s4, better engine than any audi, bar the rs6,
nice brakes (f50-derived brembos), and beautiful interior as well.

its when you are at speed over a familiar piece of road and you hit a bump,
and the car tracks true without a kick, without a twitch, that you realise
that there has been some serious time spent on getting the rear suspension
of this car nailed.  gone is the bump-steer of the rs2, or the vertical air
of the 20v ur-quattro - rather the car soaks up the bump, stays planted, and
keeps the power down.  highly impressive.

turn-in is sharp, certainly better than the s6v8 or s4tt, without the overly
"heavy" feel of the s6/rs6.  less roll than anything bar the rs6, and none
of the pitch which still bothers the s4tt (although this is not a huge
problem with these cars as it is with the ur-s4/s6).

tip & electronic throttle is a learning experience.  both take instructions
so you approach the electronic throttle with the attitude of using it to
"instruct" the engine, rather than as a way of controlling the throttle
butterfly valve.  electronic throttle sends a "torque instruction" to the
motronic, and the throttle valve is opened as far as it takes to meet the
request.  so a quick lane change is a matter of a sizeable prod of the
pedal, and the car will shift nicely.  dawdle with the pedal and the car can
feel like a luxo-barge.

the ability of the tip to downshift is better than standard 01l (zf 5hp24a)
trannys, but still not as good as it could be.  you can re-code the tranny
to improve shift points etc., but this is not a known science on the s8, as
it is with the a8's (code 011 anyone?).  drive the rs6 and you see how good
the 01l can be.  i'd got readings on an s6, my s8, and i want to get coding
from an rs6 01l to compare.  i'd love to drive the 6-speed manual, and the
6-speed 6hp26a from the new a8 to compare, but i suspect that i'd only want
the 6-speed manual 1% of the time, the rest of the time it's be a
slow-shifting pain in the neck.

the interior is fabulous, build quality superb, and the amount of kit in the
car highly impressive.  fit and finish excellent, the mechanical build
gob-smackingly good, and overall a lovely place to spend time - less tiring
over a distance than any other car i've driven.

overall a fabulous car, much under-rated.  i now get the idea of what walter
rohrl liked about the car when he drove me around in one...

dave
'01 s8

-----Original Message-----
Date: Wed, 7 May 2003 14:31:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: Brian O' <briano_72 at yahoo.com>
Subject: brought an s8 home today, wow !!!
To: quattro list <quattro at audifans.com>

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
we got one at the shop, did about 52k in body repair to it, well we did hal=
f and the frame a8 shop did the other half. it was t boned pretty good, the=
y said it was the hardest hit they have done !! but finnally got it drivabl=
e today, and im racking up some test miles. very nice power-wise, the tiptr=
onic still and always will suck, its slow, and does not do what ya want it =
to when ya want it too, and the throttle by wire is lame on it too, it is s=
low, and the car starts out in second gear, and if ya floor it, it shifts t=
o first, and takes off like a light switch, not very smooth. so all in the =
blink of the eye, your pulling away from a red light, mash the gas, car sta=
rts to roll, shifts from second to first, then full throttle kicks in, and =
bam !! your gone !!!                                                       =
              brian o'