STUD or DUD? First REAL-Life Shots of The Next Audi A8/A6? Surface

Overall it looks nice but there are many minor details that makes me shudder. I've never been a fan of led headlights and this car doesn't change my opinion, the aged yacht or whatever interior dash board looks exactly like what they were trying for... aged, and the use of white leather brings back horrible scarred memories of padded toilet seat cusions... but not is all bad! I really like the update on their front grill, the rear tail lights are stunning, if the seats still look very comfy while being sporty, and the lines on the car are nice classic flowing lines. If you can get over or have a hard on for the negative aspects I listed, it's a stud, otherwise it's just another expensive car, a good attempt but not class leading. The negatives aren't bad enough to call it a dud though.

Are we ever going to get an edit function?

Have to disagree with you there Joe.

I think the Wood on the dash looks flawless and will age beautifully, Withe Leather is mostly used for Show Cars, most buyers will choose Black, Brown or Grey.

LED headlights that is not arranged in the typical Round Cluster {A8 W12, LS600h} is something i think i will like. and like DaHarder stated below, This is the most successful synergy of all the things i expect from a Luxurious & Powerful Vehicle.

Sorry. Withe is supposed to be White

Ya really,the readers have spoken. Can you guys behind the curtains do something,most sites/forums have edit buttons.

very nice I am not too crazy about the back end of it but I know this car is still in concept phaze. they have really done an immaculate job. the interior is top notch and plain at the same time. I love the diamond stitching in the seats nice touch. I just wonder for a big car the trunk lid is kinda small I wonder how deep that trunk goes. all in all they made a great car now it has too size up too the BMW 750i/Li and the merc S-Class but i am preety surer it will get some sort of design award if it looks like the concept and actually come to think about it I see a little of the LAMBORGHINI ESTOQUE in this design

The Single Most Successful Melding of - Ultra-Modern, Purposeful, Aggressive, Elegant, Clean, and Tasteful Automotive Design In Its Class - Brilliant!

Additionally: The A6 they caught testing (complete with up-side-down Mitsubishi badging) looks pretty darned nice as well(if a bit conservative)... It's good to know that at least one of the German marques has resisted laughably trendy and over-wrought designs, festooned with superfluous slashed/bulges about their flanks - Great Job Audi!

I'm not sure on the grille. I'd like to see it in person before making a call. The front end is certainly dramatic. Kudos to Audi for not playing overly conservative here. I have to agree on the LED headlights. I hope they're a passing fad but I like them better than the over-sized and oddly proportioned headlights that seem to be popular with the Asian cars these days.

I think the rest of the car is drop dead gorgeous. I like the interior quite a bit but agree that the wood trim might be for particular tastes and not to everyone's liking. In any event, I'm sure there will be other options of the wood trim appearance. The seats and other surfaces in the interior seem to be typical Audi excellence notched up a bit.

I've got to give Audi propers here. While its competitors are playing things close to the vest and introducing "evolutionary" (another word for 'not changed much') designs (BMW 7 Series, Mercedes S Class, anyone?), Audi is developing their design language at a much faster and more stunning rate. I'm totally surprised they don't receive more attention from the other front runners in the luxury class. I will not be surprised when they eventually overtake their competitors and become the leaders in their segments. This is a beautiful and highly distinctive flagship.

FAIL from here ^^^^^^

dat's da Sportback concept...

did you guys rear the article, the A8 is in the vwvortex link, the car pictured above is just a concept....will have to wait for undisguised shots to make judgement...

Anyways awesome catch there...I remember driving through Arizona a while back and spotting a fleet of previous generation A3's in the middle of nowhere...this was before digital cameras I think ;^)

Actually, I did read the article and am fully aware that the pics are of the concept car. If YOU had read the article, you would have seen this, "Looks like the cat is out of the bag now as it looks a lot like the Sportback Concept (Minus the sloping rear roof) from the 2009 Detroit Auto Show."

well you must be blind then, the black car doesn't resemble the sportback concept at all, maybe the LED lights but that is it. The interior we can't see but again I'm pretty sure it looks nothing like that....

You could be right my friend...In my haste to break the story, I didn't read the entire thread so it could be an A6.

Maybe I should run for Congress or the Senate.

And regarding my ineptness...That has been well known among my friends for many years ;)

001

i love your comebacks 001, they always manage to keep the insulter at bay LOL

Or I keep them at eBay ;)

001

Great...this car looks a lot better than the 7 series any day, In every aspect....now the next question is: what about the performance..?

honestly the black car looks just like a big A4, hope the details set it off or it's really the C7 A6, but it's probably the D4 A8 since that car is due very soon....

Dig the exterior, but the dash looks cheap, and may I dare say; plastic.

If they used a Litle more leather with a darker color trim It wouldn't be so bad.

The seats must go, sure they look sporty but not inviting at all.
Love the grill and the headlight/tailight is excelent, the side looks luxurious

I think my main beef is that the outside looks glamourus and the inside looks empty, add more meat (bullhide) to the interior and extra cushion to the seats and you got a winner.

And wth is with the 4200 rpm redline, what's on it a tractor engine?
also what's up with the lexus ads on the photos.

Lexus sponsors some of our photo galleries so their ads get watermarked into the photos.

001

LOL @ achiles

I most of the times read the posts on this site and get a good laugh, however I have no choice today but to sign in and clarify a few things.
The first set of pictures is the Sportback concept which will give "birth" to the A7 Sportback in a couple of years.
The "spy shots" of the black car show most definitively the D4 A8 due in Detroit next year and later in the showrooms. Any so call car enthusiast that read other web sites than crap-o-spies.com would know that.
The car is heavily camo'd still and for Ignorant001 to call it "stud or dud" is just... well I'd rather not say.

Ah, Audi, how do your designs warm my heart ever so! The simplest (simple, not plain), cleanest, (and thus) most beautiful designs in modern automobile design.

If Audi switched to RWD (and the advantages that go with it - reduced front overhang, better axis-to-dash ratio, etc.) and maybe made their hood longer, IMO they'd become an ALL-ROUND winner.

To Audi, the Armani suit of the auto industry!

The black car reminds me of the last gen A8,but im sure it will look better once its revealed. Out of all these expensive luxary sedans, Im still sticking with the XJ. Hey!wheres the cd player in the sportback concept?and is that a flip-up coming out of the AC vent?Whats up with Audi's steering wheels?I like the flat bottom ones,but the regular ones look tacky. The 3 spoke design is thrown off by the bulging circle in the middle displaying the Audi symbol.

Audi simply bores me to tears, everything from their interior/exterior designs, to the driving experience. That dark car, that the audi nutlicker said is the new 8, is a complete dud. The fact that you cant tell it from the lowly 4 is sad, for them.

Like the 7-Series is some beauty!? Get serious. BMW design needs some serious redo.

Ya thats the only problems i have with Audis. The driving experience on non S models is not as good as its gassed up to be or on par with the non ///M models from BMW. Finally, most Audis with the exception of the R8 and RS models look too similar.

http://image.motortrend.com/f/10710421+w750/112_0810_06z+2009_audi_a5+front_three_quarter_view.jpg

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/autoshows/frankfurt/2007/2009audia4.09audia4f341500.img.jpg

http://image.automotive.com/f/new_and_future_cars/2009/10665051+pheader/0808_03_z+2009_audi_a6_sedan+front_three_quarter_view.jpg

How about a single side profile shot? That is so Typical Autospies. LOL!! I cannot make a judgement until I see a side shot.

But from what I can see; The grill is too large, the headlights are too small, and the interior looks like a BMW Z wannabe. Whatever happened to Driver centric interiors? The long flat dash on that A6 reminds me of American car dashes from the 70's. LOL!!

Looks pretty good!

OMG Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car! Please make that car!

The side shot looks horrible!!!! The car looks like it has zero athleticism, is oddly proportioned, and looks like a Doofus. The car looks like a mixture of the Infiniti "M" and the Lexus ES. Anyone who thinks that the A6 concept is a good looking car needs to have their eyes checked. That car looks about as odd as the Acura TL (even odder). Guess what? There are folks that think that the Acura TL is an attractive car. LOL! Then there are folks that find Rosanne Barr to be attractive. That doesn’t mean that they actually are attractive. Some people just have crappy tastes.

Its a dud!!

In fairness to 001, Leftlane news says the same spy images are of the A8- not the A6.