It’s not a bad couple of days when you have to massive, six-figure luxury cars to hoon around. Thankfully, I had a couple of those days recently, when I had the chance to drive the all-new BMW 750i LCI facelift and 2019 Audi A8L back-to-back to see which land yacht is best. In this new video, we break down the two cars a bit and see which is the better luxury car.
Now that’s a bit interesting because the two cars drive quite differently. The BMW 750i is the brand’s latest luxury limo but it’s surprisingly agile for such a big, heavy barge. Its steering is actually quite accurate and its chassis is more willing to play than you’d imagine. Of course, it’s still a two-and-a-half-ton, leather-line tank of a car, so it’s not exactly nimble but it’s more fun to drive than its appearance, and weight, would suggest.
There’s a bit of a trade-off for that surprising athleticism, though. While the BMW 750i is fun-ish to drive, it suffers a bit of a luxury penalty to do it. So its ride, even in its most comfortable settings, is a bit stiffer than I’d expected. It’s also not the quietest car in its class, with more road and wind noise coming into the cabin than one might like from a six-figure limo.
While the Audi A8 is a different machine. Its focus is on smooth, serene luxury. Its cabin is far quieter, its ride is better in any setting and it’s just far more relaxed of a machine. The trade off is that it’s not as fun to drive but, then again, it’s a luxury car and not a sports car. That being said, the A8 is no lame duck to drive. It’s reasonably sharp, its steering is responsive and its chassis is rock-solid stable. In fact, its smoother ride makes it feel more sure-footed at high speed than the 7er.
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So while the BMW 750i is sort of hilarious to drive, thanks to its surprising agility and remarkable speed from its 523 hp/553 lb-ft twin-turbo V8, the Audi A8 is actually the better luxury car. If I want a four-door land missile, I’ll buy the BMW M5. Judging luxury cars by their handling dynamics is like judging a nun by how well she can shotgun a beer; sure, it’s funny if she can but it’s not what she’s supposed to be good at. The Audi A8 is better than the BMW 750i at what these cars’s were built to be good at. It’s the better luxury car of the two. Therefore, it wins this comparison.
Audi grille looks like bottom feeding plow, while BMW more of a push-up bra (a large one!). Or a radiator, ironic given that grilles are to hide rads.
Let me know if you need guidance on your thoughts from me.
Because you have none of ur own.
Audi’s cabin FAR quieter? Think you went a bit too far there. OK, it is quieter, it’s a fact, but every other reviewer said it was only A BIT quieter. This surprises me a bit.
I’m not surprised Audi rides better, though. BMW for some reason puts those rubbish run-flat tires on their cars, hence the worse ride quality. I’m sure that it would come close to the A8 in terms of comfort if it had normal tires.
Still, both are excellent luxury limos, and I’d trully love to own either.
From my experience, it was significantly quieter. However, I think a lot of that is also attributed to the 7’s run flats. That was the most prominent noise: Tire thwack over bumps.
The Audi cabin is quieter than a Maybach S class. Check out the C&D Instrumented test section. Out of all of the luxobarges, it’s quieter, and in some cases, by far. The 7 is closer to the LS500 in noise levels, which is a few notches above the S. (e.g. louder).
Quieter than a Maybach?! Didn’t know that. Maybach said that their car is the quietest in the class. But that was before the new A8 came.
US sales report July 2019
Bmw 7er 760 units
Audi A8 114 units.
Wow, that’s a fair bit more. How is it compared to the S-Class sedan?
S class 919 units total with coupe, convertible, 4 doors, long wheelbase and S class – Maybach.
That’s quite shit knowing it’s Coupe, Cabrio, long wheelbase and Maybach combined. Do you know how many normal sedans did Mercedes sell?
That’s quite shit knowing it’s Coupe, Cabrio, long wheelbase and Maybach combined. Do you how many normal sedans did Mercedes sell?
https://www.daimler.com/investors/reports-news/financial-news/20190801-mbusa-sales-jul.html
The S-Class saloon sold around 5,800 units worldwide in the past month (+ 17.7%). The Chinese market in particular, the largest sales market for the Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan, contributed to this development. The S-Class Maybach Saloon also achieved strong growth worldwide last month.
The A8 is a brand new model. What are you smoking?
They are on cocainum from long time ago. Audi got one model in line like a russian doll. They make one car that looks exactly like facelifted model from 10 or 20 years ago and call it “the all new” :D what a joke. BMW is worst because “sheer driving pleasure” doesn’t mean nothing to them obviously . By the way why should one buy Audi over Merceses??? Rebadged VW is more premium than full blood luxury make? Thank God that the people who read this article have brain .The world say is you want more comfort buy a Mercedes, if you want more sporty feel buy a BMW, sales show it too. BMW frog the slogan of this particular make is “sheer driving(not riding) pleasure” and people buy it because of that. Keep that in mind.
i could care less about sales but A8 >>>>
Couple days ago I saw 7er LCI for the first time. It was with M-pack and shadow line. It looked stunning! New A8 doesn’t even close, it’s just boring…“Ugly Face” Off is more appropriate.
Luxury, if they term it, it’s subjective, but based on the previous D4 I own, it’s pretty high, but Audi always seem to have a few things off, it’s a real turn off. On their D4, the knobs are so cheap, and the shifter is so awkward laid out along with a few jerks when shifting during certain circumstances, even the gear indicator on screen is so untidy and intrusive, that’s why they are not quite there with the 7 and the S.
This D5 A8 also has been reported with things like transmission kick down issue, along with screens that aimed more on beauty contest rather than user friendliness, they are like Bloomberg, far too much info, and screens attract fingerprints making it a mess for real usage.
Styling on the new A8, is even more ridiculous, their concept car should be the real one, because it looks far better than the one on sale.
The G12 7 even before the LCI update is far more consistent, everything just right, only conservative styling, along with OEM Runflats are the turn offs, but their recent LCI has addressed its styling by putting better finishing touches on its exterior, and its new grill clearly has given the 7 a more serious character.
The A8, on the other hand, has its grill being designed to be weird, not only it doesn’t standout, but Audi manages to make the A8 look even uglier than their outgoing generation.
So only judge the ride on the 7 when they are fitted with proper tires, not those jumpy ones, because I swap mine to PSS and PS4S, compared those with OEM Bridgestone RFT, the OEM doesn’t even come close in ride and handling, they are all Max Summer tires.
Many thoughts.
Some of what I see I agree with, others have me confused.
Certainly, I think the A8 is more comfortable than the 7, on a binary basis. I’ve driven both back to back, and yes the A8 is more comfortable, and it’s noticeable.
I’ve always said the road feels “higher resolution” in the 7 than in the competition, and that’s just the nature of the beast. Still, with runflat tires on the BMW, I think the comparison is a little lopsided.
Much quieter? I’m skeptical of that one, again since you had the runflat tires. First thing I do is go straight to a tire shop and swap those out and get something quieter and more comfortable.
I am also confused as to how the A8 is simpler, especially since by everyone’s judgment (including yours) it’s harder to use in the real world. Perhaps it’s physically simpler, but I don’t think that translates in to simpler to use.
Looks are subjective. I like the front end of the A8, but I think the rest is styled like a bar of soap. The 7 has more road presence and looks more imposing, in my opinion.
I like a lot of the A8’s interior. That door panel alone was almost enough to make me buy the car. But it was hard to get over all of that black plastic. Audi calls it piano black, but a piano is made of heavily lacquered luxurious wood; what you see in the A8 ain’t that. It looks alright, I don’t think it’s ugly, but when you tap on the largest component of the dashboard, and even more bizarrely, the center console, it shouldn’t be hard plastic. I don’t get why they didn’t at least make the center console in that beautiful open pore wood they have.
Finally, judging a car on its intended function. I am a huge proponent of this. A pickup truck is not a luxury vehicle, it’s a work vehicle; don’t sit there and try and tell me it’s better than an S-Class because you got the leather package, that’s delusional.
BMW’s intended function is slightly different than Audi’s in this segment though. BMW intends for the car to be better to drive, even if that’s not what the others in the segment are striving for. So, to say it misses the mark by not doing what the other cars in the segment do, I think is a misinterpretation of the variety of the class. I’m also a little surprised at how respectable you found the A8’s handling. I found it more comfortable yes, but much more difficult to place on roads and harder to drive precisely. Compared to the 7, it was wallowy and leaned with gusto. It was a noticeable difference that I didn’t think was good or bad, just a reflection of differences in character. I’m also surprised you equated wallowy and boaty with Lexus, since the new LS500 is closer to the 7 series in driving dynamics than either the Audi or the Mercedes, I found in my test drive.
I’m not completely opposed to your conclusion, since I agree with the foundation of it; I am of the opinion that the margin between these two cars is so slim that the tires become significant, as does the intended differing nature of the two cars, within the confines of the segment.
Many thoughts.
Some of what I see I agree with, others have me confused.
Certainly, I think the A8 is more comfortable than the 7, on a binary basis. I’ve driven both back to back, and yes the A8 is more comfortable, and it’s noticeable.
I’ve always said the road feels “higher resolution” in the 7 than in the competition, and that’s just the nature of the beast. Still, with runflat tires on the BMW, I think the comparison is a little lopsided.
Much quieter? I’m skeptical of that one, again since you had the runflat tires. First thing I do is go straight to a tire shop and swap those out and get something quieter and more comfortable.
I am also confused as to how the A8 is simpler, especially since by everyone’s judgment (including yours) it’s harder to use in the real world. Perhaps it’s physically simpler, but I don’t think that translates in to simpler to use.
Looks are subjective. I like the front end of the A8, but I think the rest is styled like a bar of soap. The 7 has more road presence and looks more imposing, in my opinion.
I like a lot of the A8’s interior. That door panel alone was almost enough to make me buy the car. But it was hard to get over all of that black plastic. Audi calls it piano black, but a piano is made of heavily lacquered luxurious wood; what you see in the A8 ain’t that. It looks alright, I don’t think it’s ugly, but when you tap on the largest component of the dashboard, and even more bizarrely, the center console, it shouldn’t be hard plastic. I don’t get why they didn’t at least make the center console in that beautiful open pore wood they have.
Finally, judging a car on its intended function. I am a huge proponent of this. A pickup truck is not a luxury vehicle, it’s a work vehicle; don’t sit there and try and tell me it’s better than an S-Class because you got the leather package, that’s delusional.
BMW’s intended function is slightly different than Audi’s in this segment though. BMW intends for the car to be better to drive, even if that’s not what the others in the segment are striving for. So, to say it misses the mark by not doing what the other cars in the segment do, I think is a misinterpretation of the variety of the class. I’m also a little surprised at how respectable you found the A8’s handling. I found it more comfortable yes, but much more difficult to place on roads and harder to drive precisely. Compared to the 7, it was wallowy and leaned with gusto. It was a noticeable difference that I didn’t think was good or bad, just a reflection of differences in character. I’m also surprised you equated wallowy and boaty with Lexus, since the new LS500 is closer to the 7 series in driving dynamics than either the Audi or the Mercedes, I found in my test drive.
I’m not completely opposed to your conclusion, since I agree with the foundation of it; I am of the opinion that the margin between these two cars is so slim that the tires become significant, as does the intended differing nature of the two cars, within the confines of the segment.
Also manufacturer, VAG is out.
What? Spam? Why?