Audi A7 3.0 TFSI Quattro 2010 Review

Audi A7 3.0 TFSI Quattro

We liked
>> Terrifically assured handling
>> Surprising luggage capacity
>> Astounding interior quality

Not so much
>> Bum looks like it's sagged a bit
>> Hard to guess what residuals will do
>> Big car for only four seats

Audi has made big ground recently marching boldly into territory no other car maker is brave enough to enter. It was among the first to put a diesel engine into a convertible sportscar (the TT); it found a tiny hole to squeeze in a whole new range (the A5 Sportback); it stretched the top end with V8 and V10 R8s and now it's going all-electric with more sportscars. But the trouble with walking uncharted through minefields, though, is that sooner or later something will explode in your face. Certainly, plenty of (German) rivals have been hoping for an Audi misstep by now, but so far, it hasn't really come -- even if the Q7 was late, then failed to set the world alight as Audi had hoped.

And so the focus turns to the A7. It seems Audi's found itself another niche to fill, so the latest, larger five-door hatchback (this writer refuses to tow the corporate line and call any of these things, like the CLS or the 5-Series GT, coupes) has been built to entice a mysterious band of mostly-male buyers for whom an A6 is too stodgy, an A6 wagon is too family, a Q7 is too tall and an A8 is too corporate.

The job the A7 does is kind of at the confluence of all of the talents of the abovementioned cars. And it's easy to see how you could simultaneously admire its abilities and deride its necessity. Certainly, it's a mixed bag in terms of design, where it serves, according to Audi Group design boss, Wolfgang Egger, to demonstrate where Audi's heading in the near future.

There are angles (like the front three quarter and the pure profile) from which it looks superb, particularly in lighter colours. Alas there are also angles from which it looks, well, ungainly. The much-talked about 'kamm' tail might be true to the original 2009 Detroit Motor Show concept car, but visually it seems to drag the car's backside too low. Its pop-up rear wing, meantime, is so small that it looks, when deployed, like it's come straight off a TT. It really doesn't fit with the size of the A7.

Even so, there's a lot to like about the car, including its all-new modular chassis that will also sit beneath next year's all-new Audi A6. That car will outsell this one by about five to one, so the A7's underpinnings are the most-important thing about it.

One of the most important things beneath all this curvy Audi aluminium and steel is that the engine sits lengthways in the engine bay. This might seem like a triviality but, like it is in BMW and Mercedes rivals, it is actually a huge step for ride and handling packages for A6 and A4-derived models. Because longitudinal engines sit on top of the axle line, rather than in front of it, they lend themselves to better dynamics (and weight distribution).

The downside of a longitudinal engine is that it can eat into the cabin space, yet, Audi boffins worked to shorten the length of the A7 dashboard to keep the interior size. The result is the A7 can fit four full-sized adults with room for a week's worth of their luggage in the back.

Even with the two rear seats in the upright position, the A7 accepts 535 litres of luggage and, on the evidence we saw, that's enough space for four huge suitcases and a mixed bag of smaller ones or, taking advantage of a little niche cut into the hatch's trimmed area, two full golf bags.

Drop both the rear seats down and there's 1390 litres of space there and the floor is almost flat, so it can easily double as a wagon when you need it to, or you can split the rear seat into either of its 60:40 parts as you see fit. There's no need to draw the cargo cover, either, because it's been designed in two pieces, with the long part attached to the hatch.

Another helpful piece of thinking is the remote control for the hatch, so it opens at the push of a button. It can also be controlled by the button on the hatch itself, and you can program it to stop where you want it to, so it doesn't hit a low-lying garage roof. Or so you can reach it if you're short.

The rear headroom is compromised, but not by as much as you'd think by looking at the curvy swoop of the roof line. The legroom, though, is terrific -- far more than you get in BMW's new 5-Series -- and the interior itself has taken plenty of ideas out of the new A8 limousine. There is a system that turns a 3G signal into a full wireless internet hotspot for the whole car, and that includes letting Google Earth take care of the artistic layouts of the satellite navigation.

One of the issues with the cabin, gorgeously driver-oriented as it is, is that you'll pay extra -- and by some margin, if recent history is any guide -- for the fruitier options, including the internet hotspot setup. But there's more on that list, including the head-up display, any number of seating and interior trim options, infra-red night vision screens and even a system that ties the satnav into the steering and skid control systems to give them a heads-up that the car is entering tricky territory.

Most early adopters will combine the 3.0-litre, direct-injection, supercharged V6 petrol engine with Audi's Quattro all-wheel drive system (which inherits the RS5's new centre differential with faster reactions) and the seven-speed double-clutch gearbox.

It's an engine that gives out 220kW of power, but does its best work down in the middle of its range, where it punches out 440Nm of torque between 2900-4500rpm. That's just as well, because up high, where you want a sports engine to zing, the Audi V6 instead gets a fraction harsh in the last 1000rpm or so.

That's not a big problem, usually, because the midrange is so strong and the gearbox manages its swaps to ensure the engine is always working in ways that show it off in its best light.

It will sprint pretty well, too, hitting 100km/h in 5.6 seconds, and that was real sportscar country not too long ago. At the same time, it averages 8.2L/100km in combined fuel consumption.

This all sits in an all-new chassis that is at least 20 per cent aluminium. What steel there is seems to all have patents attached to it. For example, for the transition zones between the engine bay and the cabin, the floor cross braces, the A-pillars and a few other areas, Audi uses a steel that is fed through a furnace to hit almost 1000 degrees C before it's shaped. Audi says a sliver of this stuff 30mm wide and two millimeters thick would be strong enough to hang five A7s from.

Complementing the metallurgy is technology right across the car. Trick bits include a new electro-mechanical steering system that allows (again, an option) the A7 to park itself in parallel parks at the push of a button. Then there's Audi's Drive Select System, which when combined with the (again, optional) air suspension, shifts the gearchange points, the throttle response and the steering feedback to make the car exactly how you prefer it for whatever you're doing.

Audi Select may draw criticism in its Comfort and Automatic settings, purely because around town and at low speeds, the steering is very, very light. Yet, for a lot of normal driving situations, that's relaxing and it works day in and day out.

If you switch across to Sport (or change it in your customized settings), you'll find a heavier steering that help to show off just how much grip and poise this new chassis has to offer.

And there's plenty of that. In its Quattro all-wheel drive format, it's astonishingly grippy. It's comfortable doing it, too, and it never feels like it's even remotely strained by anything the road throws at it or any sudden circumstances throw up.

The A7 will simply go where you put it, and it will get there as fast as you like. And it will do it while riding with a combination of terrific comfort and quiet, and just enough road feel to keep you in touch with what's going on around you. This is no car to drift along in splendid isolation.

The issue could come with the optional S Line suspension system, which lowers the car 20mm on its suspension and, traditionally, stiffens up the ride considerably. The way it is in standard form, the A7 is a wonderfully composed operator.

And it's a wonderfully composed, integrated car. It just needs to find a way to dig up the buyers who understand all of that.

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