Start with what the Audi S8 is: a 4-door sedan with (D2) 4.2 L V8, built from 1996 to 2026, when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. What it meant takes a little longer.
The background
The Audi S8 is a full-size luxury car produced by the German automaker Audi AG, manufactured by Audi Sport GmbH at the Neckarsulm plant, and part of Audi's S model range. The S8 is the high-performance version of the Audi A8, fitted standard with Audi's quattro all-wheel drive system, and was only offered with a short-wheelbase for the first three generations, being joined by a long-wheelbase variant option for the fourth generation.
The engineering
The engine is (D2) 4.2 L V8; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The layout matters: drive goes to all four wheels, which is what lets the power be used on a wet road. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
In the Audi line-up the Audi S8 has a clear place: it replaced the Audi V8; the factory was Neckarsulm, Germany. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Alfa Romeo 156, the Škoda Auto Škoda Octavia, the Lotus Elise. Its Audi stablemates include the Audi 200 and the Audi 225.
Owning one today
Buying one now means $21,200–$79,400 for a typical example, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $4,650–$7,151 a year. Insurance sits around $1,980–$4,390 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.