Big, bruising sedans are some of the coolest cars on the market. The idea of having a luxury car with all of the niceties of a private jet, along with all of the power of one too, and the ability to embarrass genuine sports cars in a straight line is such a tantalizing one. Two of the best uber-limos on the market are the BMW M760Li and the Audi S8 Plus. Both of which are superb at what they do. The only real question is, which one is faster?
To be honest, the Audi S8 Plus is at a pretty significant disadvantage, here. Not only is it significantly older than the M760Li, as it’s not only a few years older but the A8 on which it’s based is even older still, but it’s down some cylinders and torque. However, it is a bit lighter. So let’s see how they stack up on paper.
The BMW M760Li sports a 6.6 liter twin-turbocharged V12 that makes 600 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, which is paired with an eight-speed ZF automatic and all-wheel drive. While the Audi S8 Plus uses a 4.0 liter twin-turbo V8 that makes 605 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque. It uses the same ZF eight-speed and also has all-wheel drive.
According to Audi, the S8 Plus can get from 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds, while the Bimmer takes a claimed 3.9 seconds to do the same sprint. The Audi S8 Plus in this video has its optional higher top speed of 190 mph (307 km/h) and the BMW M760Li has its standard top speed of 176 mph (283 km/h). So don’t look too into the top speed of each car but rather how fast they reach their top speeds.
In this video, during the side-by-side comparison, the Audi S8 Plus definitely hits 62 mph (100 km/h) quicker and continues to accelerate faster all the way to its top speed. So despite having four fewer cylinders and considerably less torque, the S8 Plus is actually faster than the BMW M760Li, with its stonking V12. That’s likely due to the S8’s lighter curb weight from not having said stonking V12 over its front wheels.
The interesting part is that the Audi S8 Plus is old and getting replaced soon. The new Audi A8 has already debuted and the folks in Ingolstadt are already working on a much faster S8. We don’t know if Audi will make an actual S8 Plus out of the new car but it’s likely that it could get an S8 e-tron version, using the same hybrid powertrain as the Porsche Panamera S E Hybrid. That car makes damn near 700 hp, so BMW is going to need to up its game a bit if it wants to compete.
