If money’s no object, get the ’17 Audi 3.0T Quattro
THERE are people who comfortably can afford the 2017 Audi 3.0T Quattro sedan with “competition” trim. “Comfortably” means they can buy it immediately with cash; they easily can afford a 48-month car note of $800 or more without endangering funds for housing, food, health care, or education; they won the car in a competition of some sort.
It is a fine automobile that, loaded with costly options, has most of the latest advanced electronic safety and driverassistance technology. Truly, it is a car that can keep you alive, crash free, or otherwise safe from injury on a long drive.
It is like the best of the very best health insurance policies. As outfitted for this column – replete with “competition” trim and a full suite of items such as blind-side monitoring, forward-collision mitigation, and one of the most advanced head-up display information systems available in the US market – it costs $80,450.
Why am I writing about new automobile purchase costs and financing instead of how much fun it is to take the Audi 3.0T around curves, or how well the car’s all-wheel-drive system works in nasty weather? The numbers bother me. I’ve been going over vehicle finance reports by Interest. com, a consumer finance company, and they disturb me. Heck, they should disturb everyone in the automobile industry.
According to Interest.com and similar consumer finance reports, most residents of the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas can’t comfortably afford the current average newvehicle price of $32,086. It has to do with median household income and new vehicle down payments. Here’s the thing, according to Interest.com: Only well-employed folks – largely enhanced by federal largess boosting an average annual household income to about $75,000 – can comfortably afford a new car costing $32,086.
What does that mean for the $80,000-plus 2017 Audi A7 3.0T Quattro with “competition” trim? If you are Audi, it means you are looking for buyers in the more affluent households of Washington, San Francisco or Boston – homes that have average household incomes of $95,000 or more.
Some people actually belong to that very tiny market, and Audi is going all out to woo them with the A7.
Those buyers are getting a very nice car.
It comes with a supercharged (force air), 3.0-litre petrol V-6 (340 horsepower, 325 poundfeet of torque). The engine is linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission that also can be operated manually.
The A7 is very smooth, very fast – truly capable of moving from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under five seconds, assuming that thrills you. It has an interior of impeccable fit and finish featuring the best materials. The driver assistance package includes items such as Audi’s adaptive cruise control with stop & go (a fuel-saving device); blind-side monitoring; and lane-departure warning.
But the price floors me. If In- terest.com is right about vehicle affordability, I don’t expect to see many A7s running up and down the Interstate. But I will smile every time I see one.