raruae

Yesterday a friend who owns a new Audi S8, 450 hp, 5.2L, 0-60 claimed to be 5.0 sec. He was quite sure that he would easily beat my 550i. when the challenge started, the result was draw, until 240km/h we were equal then slowed down. EDMUNDS.COM road test proved that the S8 could get better than 5.6sec.

ssevon

That sounds to me like You are the one to be congratulated as a driver, rather than it being the situation, that Your car is faster

raruae

My friend said that he was surprised, but I had a real trust in 550's power. By the way, he used SMG while racing, whereas I just shifted the gear into "sport" position.

madoon

you have lots of courage going up against a S8....
Seems that you have a very powerfull 550i. go easy on her, summer is comming...
But sound like a clear victory for you, his car should be faster, even if it is new, and a bit heavier...

Congrats on the win..

doug_999

The S8 is a lot heavier no?

550isport

Actually the Audi is only about 400 lbs. heavier. A difference indeed, but not a huge margin. The S8 is still lighter than a 750i. The Audi seems to be a solid 5.0 car to 60 aided by a quattro launch. The fact that it posts a 1/4 mile time almost identical to the 550 - 13.4 (S8) vs. 13.5 (550i) tells me that if the Audi was rear drive and susceptible to wheel spin, then it would probably be a tick slower than the 550 in the quarter mile. I know I'm biased, but the 550 seems to be truly underated and underestimated in the automotive press. I would love to see a comparison of a new 2008 550i with the sport transmission, vs. an S6; a 997 911 tiptronic (non-S); a 650i; a CLS550 and for kicks an E39 M5. As far as handling, I'd bet the benz would secure the last spot followed by the 550 and 650 (with an alarmingly small gap between them) then the E39 and 911. I can't say where the Audi fits in, perhaps as low as 2nd to last? But I'd bet the acceleration results would be very enlightening. In the 1/4 mile I'd guess there would be about 8/10th of a second between the fastest and the slowest. When I jump to light speed on the highway in the 550, I think some other motorists are surprised since the 525/530s they are most used to seeing can't/don't accelerate so violently. Hopefully the fact that the 550 sport now comes with the body kit will help to change its image for the better.
DRP

raruae

Just correcting the following statement which was posted at the topic:
"EDMUNDS.COM road test proved that the S8 could not get better than 5.6sec.

SergeyM

Road & Track got 4.7/11.4/13.1 (60mph/100mph/?mile) for S8. Interesting enough for S6 they've got 5.1/12.0/13.5 and called the performance sports-car like mentioning Boxter S/Cayman S. In the same issue though on the stats page BMW 550 has 5.0/12.1/13.5.
No reference to 550 was made in S6 article. I guess something like "performance wise S6 is right there with such cars as BMW 550) would not be appropriate in S6 story.

raruae

A friend who owns a chevy SS 2007 wants to race. Should I go for it??

AlexFW

You are right and is obvious the 550i is faster : you have to count that the Audi has 4WD that eats HPs .
The maior weight and the fact than BMW imho has more efficient transmissions .

I have encountered an S6 Avant and it wasn't faster than me (now I think to have 360-370 HP .. I have to do a dyno test) .