Luxury Cars: Prior to the Beijing Auto Show and as we said in this post, Audi revealed this week the 2011 A8 L W12 quattro flagship sedan. With an overall length of 5,267 millimeters (17.28 ft), the new Audi A8 L is 130 mm (0.43 ft) longer than the regular version. The wheelbase has grown by the same amount, to 3,122 mm (10.24 ft) while the width remained unchanged at 1,949 mm (6.39 ft). The height has increased with 2 mm (0.08 in) to 1,462 mm (4.8 ft). As the name says it, the new A8 K comes with a W12 6.3 FSI engine capable to deliver 368 kW (500 hp) and an impressive 625 Nm (460.98 lb-ft) at engine speeds at 3,250 rpm. With these numbers the car can accelerate from a standstill to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just 4.9 seconds and effortlessly reaches its governed top speed of 250 km/h (155.34 mph).

Although it a big engine, in the EU cycle test it has a fuel consumption of just 12.0 liters per 100 kilometers (19.6 US mpg). The engine is mated to a eight-speed tiptronic gearbox and gearshifts are performed electronically ("shift by wire") from an elegant yacht-style selector lever or at steering wheel paddles. For the moment Audi offers just this W12 6.3 FSI engine but by the end of the year it will be available with all the engines currently offered for the A8.

As you may know already, the new car is built for business men and the full extra length of this sedan benefits rear-seat passengers. The doors are longer and the space available inside the can only be described as opulent. The luxury four-zone automatic air conditioning is controlled by no fewer than 25 adjusting motors. Regarding the design of the interior, the Valonea leather is tanned exclusively with plant extracts and is especially soft and able to "breathe" actively. An interesting option is the panoramic glass roof that has two glass panels that allow plenty of light to reach the car's interior.

For extra comfort, the car comes as standard with an adaptive air suspension with controlled damping and the driver can choose between four different operating settings of the engine. The design of the car is completed by the 19-inch alloy wheels with a 15-spoke design reserved only for this model and wrapped in 255/45 tires. As an option, Audi offers the 20-inch but also the 21-inch wheels. The A8 L W12 quattro, the new top model, naturally has a high-performance brake system, with ventilated disks at all four wheels. The front disks are 400 mm (15.75 in) in diameter, with 356 mm (14.02 in) disks at the rear.

Other options include the MMI navigation plus, which operates with the aid of a high-capacity hard disk, has a touch-sensitive control panel known as MMI touch, a Bang & Olufsen Advanced Sound System with an output rating of more than 1,400 Watts and 19 speakers, and the Rear Seat Entertainment system. The new Online services in cooperation with Google use the car phone to capture news and current information on the weather or points of interest (POI) from the Internet.

Andrew Christian
4WheelsNews
JustLuxe Contributor

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Andrew Christian

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