Audi RS 7 Performance 2024 Review

This is the part where I attempt to convince you that spending $255,800 plus on-road costs on the 2024 Audi RS 7 Sportback Performance represents good value.

That is obviously a stratospheric amount of money and yet quite reasonable when compared to its competitor set.

It doesn’t matter which other premium four-/five-door you look at, the Audi offers more power for less money. Its closest rivals are probably the 390kW/750Nm BMW M850i Gran Coupe (from $294,900) and 353kW/620Nm Porsche Panamera GTS (from $316,400).

However, you could certainly throw into the same pool the 450kW/850Nm Mercedes-AMG E 63 S (from $270,469), although it’s not available for much longer, and the 422kW/730Nm Maserati Ghibli Trofeo (from $279,600).

As the name suggests, the 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance includes several mechanical upgrades and alterations over the previous RS 7.

Of most note is the standard inclusion on Australian cars of the lightweight 22-inch wheels which shed 5kg per corner and wear the latest Continental Sport Contact 7 tyres in a massive 285/30 size.

The RS Dynamic Package is also included standard, with a raised speed limiter, rear-wheel steering and the quattro sport differential at the rear that can shift power left and right as required.

The RS 7 Performance is also stacked to the absolute hilt with features and equipment. [Deep breath.] There’s adaptive Matrix LED headlights with laser light high-beam assist, keyless entry and start, electric hands-free tailgate, soft-close doors, quad-zone climate control, a 16-speaker B&O stereo, panoramic electric sunroof, heated and ventilated front sports seats, heated steering wheel and a head-up display. Just to name some.

Even so, the options list is extensive. The biggest-ticket item is the $19,500 RS Dynamic Package Plus that adds carbon-ceramic brakes – shaving weight by a further 34kg – and a higher-again speed limiter.

At $11,000 apiece you’ll find the Sensory Package (rear sun blinds, black headlining, heated rear seats and a 19-speaker B&O stereo) and matt carbon exterior styling package, though the same package with gloss carbon is $8700.

The $2900 RS design package jazzes up the interior with an Alcantara steering wheel and plenty of either red or blue contrast stitching, while the plus version of the package extends the treatment to the seat perforations, embroidered logos on the seats and changes the arm rests and inlays to Dinamica (recycled artificial leather).

You can also add more carbon interior trim for the doors and dashboard or RS Sports suspension for $2850, replacing the standard air springs with steel ones along with three-stage adaptive dampers.

Seven colours are standard (white, a pair of greys, silver, black, red and blue) while crystal black is $1400 and a selected number of matt finishes cost $10,900.

Audi offers a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty and the five-year service plan is $4360 with intervals of 12 months or 15,000km.

Roadside assistance is topped up for 12 months with every service at an authorised Audi dealership.

The 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance has no official ANCAP rating as it is excluded from the standard A7’s five-star award from 2018.

However, given the fundamentals are broadly similar it’s reasonable to assume a high level of safety.

Autonomous emergency braking (including pedestrian and cyclist detection), adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, lane assist, intersection crossing assist, exit warning and a 360-degree camera with park assist keep an eye on proceedings at all times.

Front, side and curtain airbags front and rear are also on board.

Those who are a fan of screens are in for a triple treat inside the 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance.

First up is Audi’s virtual cockpit, a 12.3-inch digital instrument display that is still one of the best executions in the business of this tech with its ability to show a variety of different part- or full-screen information.

On the dash is another pair of screens, a lower 8.6-inch display for climate control functions and handwriting recognition and a 10.1-inch infotainment unit. These are touch-screens with haptic control, which always feels a bit strange; you think you should just be able to tap it, yet you need to press it like a button, but then it doesn’t move. No great drama, just a bit odd.

The RS 7 Performance has an impressive suite of features. Smartphone mirroring is wired only, but there’s wireless charging, and Audi connect can provide online traffic information and parking information and weather as well as the ability to remotely find your car and notify emergency services automatically in the event of an incident.

Audi’s Google Maps sat-nav remains one of the very best, too.

Bigger turbos and a lift in boost pressure from 20 to 23psi results in the 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance producing an extra 22kW/50Nm compared to its predecessor.

The resultant 463kW/850Nm from the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 allied to all-wheel drive results in a 3.4sec 0-100km/h claim, an improvement of 0.2sec.

As mentioned earlier, the inclusion of the RS Dynamic package as standard lifts the speed limiter to 280km/h, though the RS Dynamic Plus package lifts it again to 305km/h.

An eight-speed automatic is the only available transmission.

This is one of those cars where when the tank is empty you put more fuel in and don’t think about it.

Despite the presence of an efficiency mode and the ability to ‘coast’ by turning off the engine and reducing mechanical drag, the 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance’s claimed combined-cycle fuel consumption is still 11.6L/100km.

It’s possible this could dip into single digits on a highway cruise yet also triple under hard use. On track, the sky may well be the limit.

You can’t accuse the 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance of being incorrectly named. If it’s performance you want, performance you most certainly get.

The engine is absurdly powerful, making a mockery of the 2065kg kerb weight, and endowed with fantastic response and a deep, angry snarl.

Full disclosure, I jumped into the RS 7 after a week in an EV – a BMW i5, if you’re interested – and immediately the Audi felt clunky and a bit agricultural, such is the smoothness of an electric drivetrain.

Then you change down a couple of gears and pin the throttle and everything is instantly forgiven as the twin-turbo V8 tries to tear your head off.

The chassis tweaks are relatively subtle but for its size and weight the RS 7 Performance is, well, remarkable. It has an incredible resistance to understeer; it might be heavy but being low-slung it’s so much more agile and predictable than an equivalent SUV and traction is simply phenomenal.

It doesn’t subscribe to the on-throttle oversteer programmed into similar all-wheel drive Mercs and BMWs, yet it doesn’t have the ‘pulling’ sensation than can sometimes afflict Audis, either – it just buggers off at a borderline frightening rate.

Those who like to feel intimately involved in the process of driving quickly will likely find the RS 7 lacking some communication, but there’s enough feedback to provide plenty of confidence and it isn’t flustered by any dynamic situation.

Unfortunately, there is a price to be paid for this monstrous performance and that is refinement.

Our test car – and every current-gen RS 6/7 I’ve driven – came on the optional steel-sprung RS Sports suspension, and while the ride isn’t too bad – certainly better than I remember from prior experience – those I trust who’ve sampled air-suspended cars say they’re definitely more comfortable.

Road noise can be a significant factor as well, but the biggest flaw in the RS 7 Performance is hopefully limited just to this car. Between 60-80km/h in particular there was a resonance that set up a beating sensation in your ears like one window was cracked open slightly.

Initially I put it down to having a cold but that cleared up and the sound remained, to be confirmed when on her first outing in the car my wife turned to me after a couple of minutes and asked if a window was open.

Hopefully it was just a quirk of this example as it was incredibly irritating. While we can’t sample another RS 7 to check as there is only one on fleet, we will book the very similar RS 6 Performance and report back.

The 2024 Audi RS 7 Sportback Performance driver’s seat manages the neat trick of feeling low and high all at the same time.

The car itself is quite low-slung and everything in the cabin is ergonomically sound, yet there remains this distinct feeling of sitting on the car rather than being ensconced in it.

That aside it’s all very nice, feeling its age a little compared to the latest offerings from rivals but that’s likely a design thing as there are no particular shortcomings. It’s a premium environment and feels like the expensive car that it is.

There’s plenty of room in the rear seats for adults despite the sloping roofline – as you’d hope given it’s more than five metres long! – and the 523-litre boot is handy with its liftback access, though anyone particularly concerned with luggage space will be looking at the RS 6 Avant Performance.

To say it’s down to personal taste might seem like stating the obvious but it’s a statement that’s more accurate than usual.

The 2024 Audi RS 7 Performance is phenomenally fast and capable, yet in terms of driving dynamics the Porsche Panamera GTS has more poise and the Mercedes-AMG E 63 S is even more of an animal.

Nevertheless, its talents will certainly appeal to fans of fast Audis, but those people are likely to be drawn to the cooler, cheaper and more practical RS 6 Performance, which would certainly be my pick with the standard air springs. In Ascari blue with gold wheels, thanks.

But if wagons aren’t your thing and you love the RS 7’s fastback looks, then it’s a lot of car for, admittedly, a lot of money.

2024 Audi RS 7 Sportback Performance at a glance:
Price: $255,800 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbo petrol
Output: 463kW/850Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 11.6L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 265g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Unrated