Audi S8 review: a supercar-fast limousine that hides it well in Bahrain traffic
4.4/5MotorsSouq Editorial Team
The S8 is a genuinely quick car wearing a chauffeur-grade limousine's clothes, and in Bahrain that dual identity works better than it has any right to — air suspension soaks up neglected side roads, quattro handles a sudden downpour without drama, and the V8 is there in reserve for the causeway on-ramp. The catch is Audi's flagship depreciation: buy used, well after the first owner absorbs the worst of it, and budget for air-suspension and electronics repairs the way you would on any German flagship out of warranty.
Pros
- 571 hp twin-turbo V8 delivers genuine supercar pace behind a limousine's manners
- Air suspension irons out Bahrain's rougher side roads while staying composed at speed
- Deep used-market depreciation makes a second-owner S8 real value
- Quattro handles sudden rain without drama
- Mechanically identical to the new car once depreciation has done its work
Cons
- New-car depreciation against the M760i and S63 rivals is severe
- Air suspension and 48V hybrid components are expensive specialist repairs out of warranty
- Full luxury-flagship service pricing at the Bahrain dealer
- Not meaningfully more practical inside than the standard-wheelbase A8
Audi builds the S8 to be the quiet answer to the M760i and the S-Class AMG line, and in Bahrain it plays that role convincingly. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with mild-hybrid assistance makes 571 hp and 800 Nm, enough for a genuine supercar-troubling 0-100 km/h time, all delivered through an eight-speed automatic and quattro so smoothly that rear-seat passengers rarely notice the car is working hard.
Air suspension is the real party piece for this market. Bahrain's older neighbourhoods and the causeway approach roads are not always freshly resurfaced, and the S8 reads the road well enough to iron out most of it while still tightening up convincingly the moment the throttle opens.
The flagship-depreciation trap
New, the S8 is priced against long-wheelbase Mercedes-Benz and BMW flagships and loses the popularity contest to both in the Gulf, which means used values fall hard in the first three years. That is bad news for a first owner and genuinely good news for a second — the car you get for the depreciated price is mechanically the same 571 hp machine, provided the air suspension and electronics have been kept in working order.
Out-of-warranty running costs are the honest reason to buy used rather than new: air suspension struts, the mild-hybrid system's 48-volt components and anything involving the adaptive dampers are specialist repairs, and Bahrain's Audi service network, while competent, will price them at full luxury-flagship rates.
Who it actually suits
Buy it if you want a car that can be driven hard on an empty stretch during a Bahrain International Circuit open day and then deliver a client to a meeting in total silence an hour later. If you only need the second half of that sentence, a standard-wheelbase A8 does the same job for meaningfully less money.