Audi A8

These large-footprint premium sedans have very outspoken fan clubs, for at this scale a company's design logic is laid out big on the table for all to dissect. Speaking for myself, I am an Audi A8/Volkswagen Phaeton kind of person. I absolutely enjoy the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class and have a certain weakness for the BMW 7 Series, but it's the A8 in this class that yanks me by the ear lobe. The large Japanese models, Jaguar XJ and Hyundai Equus are great work, and the newer Cadillac XTS is good stuff, but I'll still take my A8. The 2015 model is a mid-life updo for the A8 (and S8), and it is…