2023 Audi A8 vs 2020 BMW 850I

What's the difference?

Audi’s flagship is the A8, a long, luxurious sedan where being driven is often as important as doing the driving.

To put this ultra-premium machine in context, it competes with other German heavyweights like BMW’s 7 Series and, of course, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class as well as Porsche’s Panamera. Not to mention the Lexus LS or Maserati’s Quattroporte.

What’s life like at the top of the Audi pyramid? Stay with us to find out.

Can a car company show off? It seems absurd; the kind of embarrassing, unedifying behaviour that only ego-driven, status-obsessed human beings engage in. And yet look at BMW’s new 8 Series, with its shinily silly cut-glass gear lever, its laser headlights, its outrageously powerful V8 engine and its bullfrog-but-beautiful stance - surely this is showing off on a corporate scale?

To be fair, when a car company makes a new range-topper - and BMW only applies the number 8 to its most special vehicles, think Z8 and i8 - it really is about making a kind of look-at-me statement. 

A car as obviously ostentatious as the M850i xDrive Coupe (and Convertible) has to appeal to buyers, even if it’s only a small and wealthy target market. And there is plenty that’s appealing about this old-fashioned yet modern-looking grand tourer, from the incredible way it accelerates to its luxuriant ride quality and decadent interior.

It would want to be impressive, of course, with a price tag of $272,900 (or $9000 more for the Convertible).

So, has the new 8 Series BMW got what it takes to separate the very rich from their hard-earned megabucks? We donned our shiniest shoes and went to the launch to find out.