Audi S8 lends its suspension design to the regular A8

The young always aspire to be like their seniors, and Audi’s next-gen A8 proved no exception. Now, the spacious executive car has the same suspension type as the ‘sported-up’ S8.

The upgrade is no simple matter, because the S8 features what they call a ‘smart’, or ‘active’ suspension design. Let us settle on ‘active’ for the purposes of this article. Here is how it works.

The simplest feature of active suspension is the ability to read the properties of the surface the car is driving on and adjust settings on the go. A front-facing video camera is responsible for warning your car’s suspension in advance when it needs to become softer or stiffer. The whole adjustment lag lasts mere milliseconds.

When cornering, the bulky-looking sedan unexpectedly feels almost like a motorcycle. Almost, anyway. This happens because the electronic system automatically lifts one side of the car and sinks the other one for optimal cornering performance.

What’s really cool, you don’t even need to be driving to appreciate the benefits of active suspension. The car will automatically lower itself by 50 millimeters (2 inches) whenever someone needs to get in or out. Nifty!

For the whole setup to work, each wheel comes equipped with its own small electric motor sourcing its power from the car’s 48-volt on-board network.

Are we forgetting anything? Yes, we are! It is a paid option. You will have to pay €5,450 extra when buying your new A8 in Germany, and even that only if you chose the TFSI engine version. The other versions are not supported, sorry.

Sales start in August.