Test drive Audi A8 D2 1994 - 2002 Sedan

Aura of power

Sooner or later it should have happened. Mercedes-Benz has a S-class, BMW has a seven. The matter remained only for Audi AG. And now the parity is restored: the new Audi A8 is represented in Barcelona.
 
Now I know for sure how to return to life tired of a long flight from Moscow to Barcelona a man. Neither cognac, nor even a skilled masseuse will do with him what can make just a look at a good, really good car.
 
When a dozen new cars pass through your hands a month, you stop admiring them. Rare specimens touched for the living. Audi A8 is just the case. How much magnificence is in this cold severity, how much confidence! Nothing more: chrome - only where necessary, optics - exactly the area that is necessary for normal work. This forms the image of a car, which, except with wealth and power, is no longer associated with anything.
 
So, there was no trace of oppressive fatigue. Another moment, and with all my appearance I will personify prosperity and power. Give, give the keys! However, the young man in a T -shirt with the Audi AG logo, who opened the car door in front of me, explained that holding the keys in his hands is optional. It is enough if they lie in their pocket or, as now, in the armrest. To start the motor, you need to simultaneously press the brake pedal and the start button on the central console.
 
But first, we will examine the salon, more precisely, its central part, where the Multi Media Interface (MMI) control unit is located, which is nothing more than an on -board computer. In fact, this is about the same system that is installed on the new BMW - Idrive seven. But, as it seemed, the MMI interface is more understandable. In any case, a thick book is not given to him.
 
Almost everything is controlled and controlled using MMI: navigator, radio, radio, TV, salon lighting, air suspension, battery charging, tire pressure (including reserve) and much more. You can even rummage on the Internet and work with e -mail. The parameters are displayed on a fairly large liquid crystal display, which automatically leaving the central console after starting the engine.
 
The car is packed with electronics to failure. Perhaps there is not a single node that she would not follow. Sometimes it seems that the driver in the car is useless. A8 even determines the distance in front of the coming car itself - this is followed by adaptive cruise control, the sensitivity of which is also regulated using MMI.
 
You can talk about this system for a long time, but then there will be no room for describing simple iron, however, what iron, if the body and parts of the suspension are made of winged metal!
 
Having adjusted the seat, mirrors and steering column for me, I conquer the engine. Judging by the fact that the arrow of the tachometer broke away from zero, something worked under the hood. This is something-a 335-horsepower V-shaped 4.2-liter eight-one of the powerful engines installed on serial Audi. Is it a joke, the car accelerates to a hundred in just 6.3 seconds!
 
But the track is still far away. First you need to go down from the upper floor of the parking. I transfer the automatic transmission selector to the drive position, click the parking brake key, and the machine begins to move.
 
Despite the impressive A8 dimensions, it is not difficult to maneuver on it in constrained conditions. A sufficiently large angle of rotation of the wheels and the complete absence of any resistance from the steering side are affected. The adaptive amplifier knows its business - in this mode, the steering wheel can be twisted with your finger.
 
By the way, depending on what angle the steering wheel turns to the main headlight in the headlight block, another light bulb lights up - on the left or right - even before the car’s nose begins to enter the turn. The idea is not new, but the fact that Audi decided to reanimate it is very good - there really is the effect of this bauble.
 
Traditional optics is strong enough. The main light is bixenon, the rear lights are LED. Plus, there are many auxiliary lamps - external, illuminating the space around the car, and internal. Absolutely everything is illuminated in the cabin - from keys to legs. The intensity of light and its inclusion options are regulated using the same Multi Media Interface.
 
But the car breaks into the scope. The roads in Spain, of course, are not the best in Europe, however, there is where to shoulder have to play. It is enough to pay a certain amount, and you find yourself on a pretty good highway with five, or even six stripes in one direction. The speed here is limited to 120 km/h, but the Spaniards come off in full.
 
If so, what are we worse? The leg literally drives the gas pedal into the floor. Further words cannot be conveyed - you need to feel it yourself. Renewal of speed and power. Control over the machine even 250 km/h is one hundred percent. Perhaps, with further dispersal, this sensation would weaken, but the car did not go faster - the maximum speed is limited by electronics.
 
In addition to the 4.2 -liter engine, the eight will be equipped with another - slightly smaller volume and power. We are talking about a seriously modernized 3.7-liter power unit of 260 hp. I managed to drive by car and with such a motor. The difference in dynamics was only a second, and the maximum speed was the same 250.
 
The gearbox is completely new. It was thanks to her that A8 became so responsive to pedaling. Launching in the operation of the machine gun is felt, but you can switch the transmissions and manually, by moving to sequential mode. At the same time, it is not necessary to remove the hand from the helm - it has appropriate buttons.
 
Calm riding gives no less pleasure. In the end, A8 is also intended for passengers. A separate climate for each, heating the seats, electric curtains on the doors - all this, like much more, creates an indescribable atmosphere of comfort in the rear seat with its supercomfort.
 
The car has excellent sound insulation. It is enough to close the door and raise the glass - and you are like in a vacuum. You can turn on the high -class audio system. Some speakers in the cabin are 11 pieces, and even a 300-mm subwoofer on the rear shelf.
 
How much will this work of technical art cost? Representatives of the company promise that it is not much more than the previous model. In any case, people who are accustomed to ride cars of this class do not seem too high.
 
Technical characteristics Audi A8 4.2 Quattro
 
The body is absurd., All -metal.
Equipped mass, kg - 1780
Complete mass, kg - 2380
Dimensions (length/width/height), mm - 5051/1894/1444
Base, mm - 2944
Maximum speed, km/h - 250
Acceleration time to 100 km/h, s - 6.3
Fuel control (mixed cycle), l/100 km - 12.0
Engine:
- Type - V8
- working volume, cm3 - 4172
- Power, L.S. at MIN -1 - 335/6500
- torque, NM at min -1 - 430/3500
- power system - multi -point injection
Transmission - automatic., 6 -speed, with a sectral regime
Tire size - 235/55R17
Wheel suspension - unenc., On pneumoel.
Brakes - disk., Ventilated
Steering gear-rake, with varying effort
 
Vivat August Fery!
 
In 1904, engineer Augustus Horch founded a named car company in the city of Zvikkau, but after a few years, without getting along with companions, he left the case and in 1910 organized a new enterprise in Ingolstadt, also under Horch. Naturally, the owners of the first plant went to court and defended their rights to the brand. After a short thought, Augustus christened the Ingolstadt company with the Latin word Audi, meaning the same as the German Horch - listen!.
 
Audi products quickly earned a high reputation. In 1912 - 1914, model C, equipped with a 3.6 -liter four with a capacity of 35 hp, won the most difficult alpine mileage three times in a row, after which Alpensieger (winner Alps) became called. After the First World War, the company tried to get into the luxury car class, but the situation in the German economy sharply reduced the demand for expensive cars.
 
At the end of the 20s, Audi passed into the possession of the Dan Yorgen Rasmussen, the founder of DKW, who immediately reoriented the production of a new acquisition for the production of inexpensive cars.
 
In 1932, Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer united in the Auto -Union. Machines produced by a new concern, in addition to their own emblem, carried four intertwined rings on the radiator grate, symbolizing the components of the union. The idea of \u200b\u200bthe logo arose after it became known that in 1936 Germany would accept the winter and summer Olympic games. Olympic symbolism gained huge popularity, which took advantage of the Auto-Union leadership.
 
The first Audi car created within the framework of the Union was Front in 1933 with in -line six (1965 cm3, 40 hp) and front -wheel drive. The engine with an aluminum alloy unit was developed by the Ferdinand Porsche design.
 
After the Second World War, Auto -Union enterprises were divided: factories in Zvikkaau were in the GDR, the rest in Germany. In 1949, the Ingolstadt and Dusseldorf branches began the production of DKW low-profiles, and after 8 years-Auto-Union. The affairs of the company were not bad, and in 1958, Daimler-Benz acquired it.
 
After that, the Auto-Union design bureau created DKW F102 with a three-cylinder two-stroke engine (1175 cm3, 60 hp), and in 1964 a machine with a four-stroke 1.7-liter engine was developed on the same base (72 hp (72 hp (72 hp .), called Audi.
 
In 1965, the Stuttgart company unexpectedly sold the Ingolstad plant to the Volkswagen concern. For him, it was the gift of heaven - to get the model ready for production (created for other people's money). No one knew that she would become a bestseller, and that after eight years, when the demand for the beetle will catastrophically fall, it was the car of the revived brand that will save Volkswagenwerke from the collapse.
 
The release of Audi with two- and four-door bodies began in September 1965. In May 1966, the cargo-passenger version of Variant added to them. The business of the enterprise confidently went uphill.
 
In the Audi AG production program, and there are both small, affordable models, and very expensive. The largest of them is A8. Its top modification with a W-shaped 12-cylinder engine (5998 cm3, 420 hp) became a formidable competitor to Mercedes-Benz S-class and BMW seeds.
 
Text: Nikolai Belousov
 

Source: Magazine 5 wheel