Audi wins this part of the match hands down. The A8's interior is artfully designed, representing a beautiful mix of shapes, textures, materials, lighting, and technology. The seats have more adjustments than the others, and they're covered with three different types of leather. There are Alcantara inserts in the door panels, and an extra set of makeup mirrors for the rear passengers. The company's Multi-Media-Interface employs a central controller system on the lower console, philosophically like BMW's iDrive, but this one is much easier to learn and use. Functions used the most are still accessible via buttons. And the rear cabin area feels roomiest of all.
Quality is important in any car, indeed any product. Jaguar has been criticized for decades over poor plastics, unreliable electronics, overheating, you name it. But the company finally has this issue under control, at least on this XJ platform. Our tester performed flawlessly, and the fit, finish, and materials befit a luxury car.
Just as the Jag has risen to the standards of the class, Audi has raised the bar another notch. Every millimeter of this car looks and feels well designed and engineered, even in the trunk and underhood. Body panel gaps are close and even. Everything works with a polished, hydraulic fluidity. The cabin lighting is soft, elegant, and makes innovative use of LEDs; only a 300K-plus Maybach is better.
Italian cars, like most British ones, have long suffered from marginal assembly and finish. The Quattroporte is the highest-quality Maser ever brought to market, but it still has a way to go to compete with the best of the Germans (and Japanese, for all that). The body gaps on our car were hit and miss, plastic trim beneath the rocker panels was wavy, and rough pavement yielded a few rattles and squeaks inside. That said, the electronics and other systems worked fine, so major progress has been made.
Jaguar's long-wheelbase Super V8 is an exceptional execution of a well-known theme. It's definitely the best XJ ever--and by some margin. It does a fine job of blending performance, luxury, and comfort. It packs a fair amount of technology. But at $90 grand, it struck us as pricey, and it doesn't move the luxury-car meter forward in any way. And while it looks pretty, you can't help wishing Jaguar had been more forward thinking in terms of the styling, rather than fixated on the scene in the corporate rearview mirror.
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