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Audi S8 Plus Wins Drag Race With Porsche Panamera Turbo Despite Smaller Engine

I have watched every turbo launch, walkaround, and engine sound video regarding the Audi S8 Plus. You name it! However, there was nothing that prepared me to see a Porsche Panamera Turbo losing a race.
Audi S8 Plus Wins Drag Race With Porsche Panamera Turbo Despite Smaller Engine 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
I mean, the Panamera is the simbol of going faster than you should in a 4-door sedan. Its gearbox is designed to launch the car as fast as possible, its 4.8-liter twin-turbo engine is the culmination of several decades of development and the shape looks like it cuts through the air.

The Audi S8 started out as the "when are you going to make the RS8?" car. To which Audi said "never" but quietly began developing a brand new 4.0 TFSI for it and the RS6. It's got 605 horsepower, which as we tell you all the time, is almost as much as the Lamborghini Huracan.

Because Audi's twin-clutch gearbox can't handle anything more than the 450 hp S6 motor, this S8 Plus has an 8-speed automatic. In theory, Porsche should be better. But you can take that theory and throw it out the window for all we care.

The drag race we're showing you comes from Top Gear Polska (Poland). Yes, it' Eastern Europe, but they seem to have more creativity than the actual Top Gear, which recently put the Golf GTI, GTD and R to the test. Not only are they old cars, but everybody knows what will happen. We'd say a Porsche Panamera losing to an Audi, any Audi, is big news.

We know that there is a faster version of the Panamera Turbo and that the S8 Plus looks like the clear winner on paper. But consider the fact that the S8 starts at €145,900 while the Turbo costs exactly the same: €145,990. When the next generation of the Panamera arrives, chances are that these two rivals will have the exact same engine. We can't wait for that drag race!

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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