Audi S8 (D2) review

The older S8 handles smartly, fulfilling neither of the worn fast Audi clichés (rigid ride, much understeer) by just getting about its business neatly, all underscored by a delightful eight-cylinder bassline.

With no turbos, the nat-asp engine needs working hard for big speedo numbers where a modern D5 ladles them on without a thought. Though it’s worth remembering the S8 was Audi’s flagship at the turn of the century – its most powerful and expensive car.

Nowadays it’s hard to pin down Audi’s flagship – an R8 is the most overtly sporty and objectively most expensive, while the electric RS e-tron GT is most powerful (and perhaps most likely to be cast in a cinematic chase scene nowadays). And then there’s stuff like the RSQ8, perhaps the car that today’s equivalent of the D2 S8’s target audience might be now buying. Amongst them all, though, the S8 continues production in its D5 generation. Is it just us that misses the small, uncomplex car ranges from the turn of the century?

And what of that gearbox?

Slot the selector of the D2’s five-speed automatic into Drive and you’ll pull away in the same silky-smooth manner as the eight-speed D5. Both have the potential for impolite acceleration but encourage a polite way of travel. Whatever the movies tell you.

It goes without saying the difference in shift speeds between the two autos are ‘marked’. And yet we’d say the older transmission doesn’t disgrace itself; in D it can be hesitant, but in S it hangs onto gears pretty gamely as you accelerate and drops them reasonably keenly on the way down. Those steering wheel switches have a whiff of ‘gimmick’ about them, but the gearbox responds to your pushing of them relatively quickly. Not whip-crack like a modern paddleshifter, but good enough. What we’d give to try the six-speed manual S8 that left-hand-drive markets got to enjoy, though…