The Current A8 Will Be The Last Audi With A W12
It might come as a surprise to you, but you will eventually be able to have the current Audi A8 with a W12. Yep, among all the obvious options like petrol and diesel V6s and the Porsche co-developed twin-turbo V8 in the S8, VW Group’s quirky 6.0-litre, 12-cylinder engine will join the line-up.
The engine - which effectively joins together two narrow-angle ‘V6’ VR6 blocks together at a 72-degree angle to form a ‘W’ arrangement - seems like a bit of an anachronism in today’s climate of downsizing and electrification, but sure enough, it won’t be in the Audi line-up for much longer.
Audi R&D chief Peter Mertens is quoted by Car and Driver as saying: “There are customers who really want the 12-cylinder and they are happy with it and are going to get it. But this is going to be the last installation.”
The engine will live on to some extent in various Bentley products - for how long we can’t be sure. We can expect more larger-capacity VW Group engines to be dropped too, largely thanks to the more stringent Worldwide Harmonized Light vehicles Test Procedure (or WLTP, since you’ll struggle to remember all that).
“Think of every engine and transmission combination that has to be homologated. That’s a hell of a job we are doing,” Mertens said. If you’re thinking that means engines like Audi’s legendary 5.2-litre V10 are at risk, you’d be right. Mertens insisted that performance cars are here to stay in Audi’s line-up, but long-term they are - as you’d expect - more likely to be electrified rather than packing big internal combustion engines.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
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The A8 is one of the cars I wouldn’t mind to be eletrified: more torque, smoother, quieter and so on.
But losing the 5.2L V10 R8 is where it’s gonna hurt :(
I’d rather they electrified ALL Audi models, from A1 to A8, except the S/RS stuff. In fact, this way, the overall impact on the environment will be much less: RS products represent only a fraction of total Audi sales. It’s the diesel Q3’s and Q5’s (both selling in millions) that need to be electrified, not the R8, if actual benefits for the environment are to be achieved (that is, if we assume that electric cars are clean, which they are not).
Bet they won’t make a V8 R8 but it has a turbocharger
Yes that would be exactly what I want. I don’t mind cars going electric, as long as the performance cars remain petrol powered.
Yeah, but… W12 are simply quite cool. Electric motors really just aren’t.
I wouldn’t mind if mass production cars get electrified but no one can touch n/a v10s, v12s, sportscar and supercar
Agreed. I’m much more bothered about sports/supercars switching to downsized turbo/hybrid engines than huge cruisers.
GD bye W12! Long (actually short!) Live the inline 4 and 6. No five tho…
What about the Bentleys?
I had a ride in the last gen W12 A8 a few years back. I was really impressed at the combination of power, torque and refinement. I thought it worked together really well and it wasn’t trying to be sporty unlike the S8 or a 7 series with the V12. I liked it a lot, and BOY could it shift! It makes you feel effortlessly powerful. Although tbh, the S8 is objectively better…
It’s a tough time to be a petrol head.
If the 5.2 V10 end up in the a8 with two turbo…
I never even knew Audi made a W-engine at all! Like Volkswagen yeah! But I’d never think Audi. Like the biggest engine I’ve ever heard of from them is the V10, and we all know and love the car THAT belongs to (R8 Quattro).
Though to see this type of engine in any car is interesting considering it looks like it’s so jagged it’s surprising one can make an engine like so balanced, but you really don’t have to look hard for great examples today like Bugatti, Volkswagen (again), and I think Vector back in the 80’s (Who’s not around anymore but at the same time it’s been a while since I’ve heard of anything Vector-related). It’s really sad to see an uncommon engine type like this go away but at the same time every good thing has its consequences, and unfortunately their end as well.
Goodbyeeeeeeeee W12
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