 The A8L is head and shoulders above the other cars I considered. The Mercedes dealer let me take an S500 for the weekend, the BMW dealer gave me a new 750iL. Both of them were much more common on the road than the A8. To match the A8's list of features, you have to add thousands of dollars of options to both the MB and the BMW. And you still don't get a car that looks as good or feels as good as the Audi.