What It's Like To Drive The Audi A8

Jump Into the passenger seat and we'll show you what it's like to drive the new Audi A8.

- Stephen Corby

It’s genuinely difficult to engage in road rage, or even feel slightly stressed at the wheel, while you’re having a deep-tissue massage in the new and almost obscenely luxurious Audi A8.

The original idea of massage seats was that they would help to keep you awake and alert, and they certainly did that, by rubbing what felt like a thinly covered ironing board up and down your spine, but the very latest versions are genuinely splendiferous.

There are various kinds of massage and different levels of force, and if you turn everything up to 11, as I did, every time I went anywhere, it feels like a small but perfectly trained massage therapist is hiding in your seat.

Add in the heating and cooling functions, the overall couch-like comfort of the seat and the relaxing quietude of the unfeasibly noiseless cabin, and the whole experience of driving this A8 is almost blissfully effortless.

Indeed, the only thing that might slightly stress you is if you’ve got someone in the rear passenger seat, because they might be even more relaxed than you. Opt for an executive package and the rear occupant can collapse the front passenger seat, providing them with not only a comfortable footrest, but one that offers a heated foot massage.

(And never have I been so dirty on myself for being rubbish at research as I was when I found out about this after dropping the A8 back to Audi, because apparently my car had it and neither I, nor my horribly spoilt children, knew about it.)

The regally reclining rear-seat passenger will also be enjoying some entertainment on their (detachable) tablet screen, or further annoying their chauffeur by playing with the little detachable remote control between the back seats. Looking and feeling like a smartphone, this remote allows them to control the music in the car, as well as the lighting, the blinds and their own, magical massage seats.