Audi RS7 Sportback
It’s surprisingly practical, easy to live with and oh-so fast, but is it worth £140k?
DESPITE THE RS7 RAPIDLY NEARING THE END OF ITS TIME with us, I’ve only just managed to secure a stint behind its wheel. You can blame Covid for that. So these are the kind of thoughts you might expect at the beginning of a relationship, not the end.
The RS7 is very big, and very red, and very fast. Obvious, I know, but it’s almost a caricature of a supercoupe, from its cartoonish alloy wheels and gaping vents to its oversized wheelarches and sloping rear deck. Yet when you drop down into the driver’s seat, it’s all entirely recognisable as an Audi, and – as long as you’ve left the car in its Auto setting – no more taxing, noisy or demanding than say, an A7 (or any A6) with a big diesel engine. How strange: it’s a superhero car with 592bhp, and yet for many people, who’ll never fiddle with the Drive Select modes, all the stuff that its exterior is shouting about is almost entirely subsumed beneath an impenetrable layer of generic German big-car refinement.
This means the RS7 eats distances whole, with generous seating for five and a fair old luggage volume in the boot, too. It’s really a much more versatile vehicle than its coupe-like looks would have you believe. Then again, mess around with those settings and the 4-litre twin-turbo V8 steps up as it always does, regardless of the car it’s been inserted into. It roars, it whooshes and it makes 2 tons of Audi disappear into the distance in a slightly surreal fashion. The RS7 really handles too, certainly for one so, well, big. The only problem is that on British roads it can feel like flying low and fast in an Antonov transport plane. And one painted bright red, too. Subtle, either visually or sonically, it ain’t.
I’m hoping to discover hidden layers in the time we have left with the RS7 – a depth of character that might make me feel more disposed to the thought of spending £140,000 (options included) on one. I’ll let you know what we find out.
Date acquired April 2020 Total mileage 6139 Mileage this month 901 Costs this month £0 mpg this month 26.1