[IT]

What Dave has neglected to shout and scream about with joy is that the SWB is thus a heck of a lot quicker off the mark than the LWB equivalent. and sportier, and handles better, and and and and......

The noise from this slightly tweaked exhaust is to die for. I'm not sure a V8 rumble will ever feel as satisfying again.

I've always heard it said that it takes 300 bhp in a manual 4wd to break traction on dry tarmac. I've also noted that I've never broken traction in a straight line in a quattro, probably hindered by the auto box.

Both Dave and I have witnessed this beast scrubbing rubber at set off - This really puts the linear power delivery into perspective. This isnt a fault with ESP, its just raw power.

Yes, Amars RS6 is fecking quick and will beat a W12 hands down, but until the turbos spin up its just 8 cylinders, and you can feel the W12 lift off quicker. Really you can.

In sports mode, the W12 goes rev-tastic and just wants to rip your head off with acceleration. Its mind boggling that the only A8 I've ever driven with an official weight over 2 tonnes is *that* quick.

Tapping the throttle at 90 will see 100 in the blink of an eye, it seems to know no bounds.

I did 500 miles in this car yesterday, with the only annoyance being the massage seats which only massage for 15 mins at a time, requiring the movement of the right arm to press the button again. The refrigerated drinks, acres of cow trim, handfree phone, comfort seats, sunroof, adaptive cruise, auto wipers and oooodles of power just soaked up the motorways.

If money were no object, I'd buy a fleet of these today and run them for ever.

But, here in Yorkshire, where money doesnt grow on the trees, a W12 isnt in my sights still. Yes, the SWB is better than I ever dreamed, but it doesnt change the fact that the engines are hopelessly complicated and cost more to keep going than Her Majesties Navy fleet.

And then theres the fuel.

Even if you could afford the fuel, can you afford to stop every 300 miles to spend 10 minutes filling it up? A sensible motorway run reels in a fraction over 20 mpg, with it dropping into high teens the second you indicate off the slip road.

A typical B road journey will be lucky to see mid teens if you're driving it like it urges you to, and if you drive it gently, what was the point?

Yes, you could LPG it (which in itself is a feat of using 2 6 cylinder conversions and hoping for the best), but its not like the engine bay is blessed with room for this little additions. Adding the LPG makes maintenance even more combersome, and cylinder choice is not what it would be with the fridge eating away at boot space.

The extra weight of the engines prematurely wears the front suspension, hubs and bearings, along with double the regular number of engine ECU's, cats and lambda sensors makes for really expensive motoring if anything goes wrong.

Even the gearbox uses a W12 specific fluid which is significantly more expensive than other D3's

You'd think that driving a high spec W12 D3 is just like driving any other high spec D3, but with more power. Well, its not. Its like raising the bar, and realising that every other D3 out there is actually a comprimise. Its like driving a Subaru Impreza sport, knowing theres a turbo version, or the 150bhp TT knowing theres a 225bhp version that really moves.

Its like the whole D3 platform was designed to generate, deliver and handle all this power, and using it for any lesser engine is just a waste...

The W12 SWB is an engineering masterpiece, and I encourage everyone to find someone to borrow one from, just be very wary of actually buying one to run daily...

I've not driven a D3 S8 yet, but I'd love to. I'm struggling a bit to understand what the S8 can deliver differently to this perfect looking package......... I cant afford to run either, so its highly irrelevant, but if any D3 S8 owner dare bring their motor to a meet, expect me to be pining for a test drive....