Well then why did you think I saw the new one?

I was talking about the similarity in looks, which Chrome mentioned. If you read his post he said "it's always been a problem..." Past tense. I replied in kind. You assumed something else obviously.

 

I didn't think you had seen it, I was being facetious. See the rolleye smiley at the end of my post.

 

Guys...

Anyway, I sometimes see current gen A8L's around here and it's only the size and the squarish boot that give it away. Other than that, the A8 looks almost exactly like the A6, especially from the front. I guess the target market wants boring conservative designs.

 

And you're right, a certain target market does want conservative design or Audi would be suffering fiscally. What makes a marque attractive to one also makes it unattractive to another. We see this across the board.

Anyhow, I like it a lot. That said, I've been a fan of Audi's design language for some time now. I can't wait to see it in person.

 

I too like the conservative look. That's a car you can drive for 10 years and it will still look good.

I actually like the A6 more than the outgoing A8 stylingwise. The A8 seems bulky in places for no reason other than to appear bulky...

 

I can believe it, very often German cars are understated. These are folks who put an external oil cooler in a car, and it's not in the brochure. Coming up on a bridge toll booth, from the distance, I thought I was going to be behind a new A4, and it was a A8L. I don't think the owners of these care to be flashy, I liken it to the big dog/little dog conundrum.....I've always considered Audi to be ahead when it comes to styling, and they were early in the LED tails deal, and seem to once again be ahead with oled...

 

I have a '16 A6 and it does have a conservative look that should (hopefully) age well. Mine has S Line trim with sports suspension and 19" wheels, and the car sits just a little bit lower. IMO they add some visual interest but it's still a conservative look.

 

If the refreshed A6 was out when I was picking up my GS that's what I'd be driving now.

I like the A8 and although dual touchscreens aren't my usual cup of tea, I'm a fan of the interior

 

Slightly off topic but what's with the Japanese reluctance to use LEDs for outside lighting? The latest Lexus and Toyota models have LED headlights but the front and rear indicators still use bulbs. VW and Audi have been using LEDs for pretty much everything for two generations longer than Toyota and Honda. I'm not a fan of sequential indicator LEDs though, they're distracting and they look like cheap Knight Rider props.

I wonder when we'll see laser phosphor headlights like the ones on Audi WEC race cars. Doesn't the Euro R8 have them?

 

what does bold part have to do with anything?

ha, next german infotainment system is called KITT

 

My guess is cost.....Corollas have had led headlamps for a while now, I don't think that's for performance though. Pretty sure Prius has LED tails, I think for energy consumption.

To think the way Germans do, I remember when I test drove the A6 for a $100 gift card, the brochure equated LEDs to lessening the carbon footprint, and style. It's pretty honest to include style. Not sure if the Prius looks at it that way or not, but in general, I don't think Japanese look at it that way. I mean German car ps fluid lists for $30/liter, why not use dexron 3 or whatever? Why not use dot 3 brake fluid, and on and on....I mean darn my 2007 BMW has heat for 30+ min after you turn off the motor. I've used it maybe 2X in 10 yrs. and it is a nice feature, but that's where they spend their engineering....performance, and overengineering the features. My hunch is the Japanese don't have budgets to overengineer like that...

Within my budget, I still like xenons, I am used to them. One of our cars does not have adaptive, no biggie but nice to have. At least they do consume less energy than halogen....

 

I like the dynamic signals although they are not legal here. Only in Europe. The US spec cars will have different signals.

I like the conservative look and styling. Obviously others do too as Audi has bucked the sales decline trend.

In fact, since June of 2016, the sales gap between Lexus and Audi has shrunk by over 2000 cars in one year's time. Lexus with it's wild styling and Audi with its conservative look. That's a 10% split.

If that trend remains, Audi will overtake Lexus in one to two year's time in domestic sales.

 

dunno if this has ever been mentioned on the new A8.....one thing I don't like about Audi, Jaguar, Range Rover, Volvo, is those **** rear fog lamps. Nothing could be worse than driving on a clear day, and having those **** lit up because the driver has their front fogs on all the time. I think they should be banned. They are deactivated on BMWs, though I saw people on my forum buying the switch which was blanked out, and now they work....how do the OLEDs handle it? Maybe unnecessary based on the light itself...

 

FWIW my LS460 has all LED lighting outside, all blinkers, running lights, etc.

 

Yeah I didn't even know what rear fog lights were until I got my car. I imagine it's just to increase your visibility to cars behind you. I turned mine on they didn't seem blinding in any way. Just like a mild brake light that's always on.

But yeah the LS 460 refresh did have a lot of LED lights, but the Audis have LEDs everywhere on all models, inside and out. The interior LED ambient lightning is really nice. I like it. The LS 460 didn't have much inside in regards to the interior lighting, at least when it comes to panel lighting. It looks really nice and something I didn't appreciate until I had it.