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2011 Audi A8

2011 Audi A8

Audi launched its all-new 2011 Audi A8 at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami Beach, where the automaker is a major sponsor of Art Basel December 3-9, the sister event of a show in Switzerland. Actress Lucy Liu emceed the gala.

The Audi A8 launches in North America about this time next year, a few months after the summer '10 release in Europe. While Western Europe gets a 3.0-liter TDI V-6, a 3.2-liter FSI V-6, and 4.2-liter turbodiesel and gas direct-injection V-8s, we get the car only with that latter engine, upgraded to 372 horsepower and 328 pound-feet.
The direct injection allows a 12.5:1 compression ratio and Audi's "modular efficiency system" converts kinetic energy to electric power, buffered in the battery, upon deceleration. A computer monitors actuators for the ideal distribution of the heat flows between the engine, transmission and interior. At cold start, the system uncouples the engine temporarily from the cooling circuit to shorten the warm-up phase with its high friction losses.
The 4.2 may be a short-termer, however. Audi is preparing a supercharged 4.0-liter V-8 gas direct-injection engine to supplement, for the time being, the 4.2. While we don't have a timeline, an insider assures us it comes very soon after the luxury flagship's launch. Also rumored to be in the pipeline is a hybrid model.
The power is transmitted through a new eight-speed automatic to the quattro all-wheel-drive system. Audi claims a 0-62 mph time of 5.7 seconds and an electronically controlled top speed of 250 kp/h, or, in the automaker's exactitude, 155.34 mph.
The dynamic shift program now networks with the optional MMI navigation plus system to anticipate curves in its gearshift strategy and avoid unnecessary gear changes. Taking a swipe at BMW's and Mercedes' modern gearshifts, the A8 comes with a selector lever on the center tunnel, shaped like the thrust lever of a yacht. You can change gears with a quick tap of the lever, or use the rocker switches on the steering wheel.