Competition

Audi faces few competitors in the premium luxury sedan class, yet its sales trail the heavy hitters from BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Lexus. That's a shame: this is a terrific automobile. The Mercedes S-Class (pictured) is the only other car at this price point to offer AWD like the Audi. Additional European competition includes the soon-to-be-replaced BMW 7 Series and the updated-for-2008 Jaguar XJ. Lexus offers the hot-selling LS, which is available in hybrid format next year.

Photos courtesy of Christian J. Wardlaw and Audi