Audi A7 Sportback
Audi’s big five-door coupé is banking on enhanced tech to put it a step ahead of key luxury rivals On sale Summer 2018 Price from £56,000 (est)
THE OUTGOING AUDI A7 may have been fast and luxurious, but it wasn’t as good to drive as rivals such as the Mercedes-benz CLS. That, then, is the main area in which this new version has to be better.
Audi has given the latest A7 many styling cues from the new A8 luxury saloon, but it has a wider, lower front grille and narrower headlights than its bigger sibling.
Initially, the A7 will be offered with only a 3.0 V6 turbocharged petrol engine, but that will be joined later in 2018 by other four and six-cylinder petrol and diesel options. Of these, the lower-powered V6 diesel is likely to be the biggest seller.
All engines are fitted with a mild hybrid system that recoups energy when the car brakes.that energy is then used to help the car get up to speed when you set off again, saving fuel in the process. There’s also a clever ‘freewheeling mode’ that enables the A7 to coast at speeds between 34mph and 99mph with the engine deactivated.
The A7’s interior looks clean and minimalistic.all the controls and information readouts are housed in three digital screens: the Virtual Cockpit in front of the driver, plus two centrally mounted high-resolution touchscreens that replace the rotary dial and conventional buttons of the previous model.this is the same system that’s fitted to the A8, with the top screen showing infotainment functions and the lower one dedicated to the climate control.
Options include a voice control function and a head-up display that projects information onto the windscreen. Later in 2018, the A7 will be available with an automatic parking system that will steer the car into a space or garage with the driver controlling it via an app. The A7 is expected to cost around £8000 more than the CLS and £9000 more than the upcoming BMW 6 Series GT.