Audi S7 2012 Review - International

Audi S7

What we liked:
>> Same brilliant V8 engine
>> Same brilliant gearbox
>> More accurate chassis

Not so much:
>> That droopy tail still doesn't sit right
>> Even more expensive than S6
>> Still lacks intimacy

OVERVIEW

The A7 donor car is, after all, based on the S6's donor car (the A6) entirely. Even if the A7 came out before the A6, both cars use the same architecture and are essentially identical underneath.

The S7 is, though, a measly two millimetres longer than the S6, though it's considerably wider and 50kg heavier at 1945kg.

Like the A7, the S7 was designed to be a more-stylish interpretation of the core A6 chassis, and the S7 sits 10mm lower than its base model.

It's also carried on bigger boots than the S6, with 20-inch wheels being the base package and the tyres are also a touch wider.

The heart of the matter is still the twin-turbo, all-alloy, 4.0-litre V8, complete with cylinder deactivation (so it can run as a V4 when you don't need all of its performance), start-stop and direct fuel injection.

It's a lovely package, and a detuned version of the engines found in the S8 and the Bentley Continental GT, and the S7 sits it ahead of a seven-speed double-clutch gearbox. And it's all-wheel drive.

It's also fast, with a 4.7-second sprint to 100km/h and a 250km/h upper speed limit that is (very easily) attainable.

That's based, loosely, on the fact that the S7 costs a fair chunk more in Germany (its €79,900 plays the S6's base tag of €72,900), yet the equipment levels are largely the same.

It carries the same standard Xenon lights, with LED tail lights and daytime running lights, it has the same thicker sills and, beneath the skin, it runs the same Active Engine Mounts and the identical Active Noise Control.

It has a moderately tuned version of the S6's adaptive air suspension, with eco, comfort, auto and sport settings.

But where the A6 interior is designed around a working executive's lifestyle (and the S6 is based around that), the A7 is based around a more-luxurious, supposedly more stylish interior in the first place. It's this extra effort and a few more steps towards classiness that tell in the S7's cabin, too. The S6 will doff its lid to very few cars for interior style and cabin design and materials, and the S7 is one of those cars.

Like the S6, the S7's option list runs far longer than I have the patience to write or that you have the patience to read. Or that your wallet has the size to order, probably.

Some of the key features, though, include Audi's terrific crown-wheel differential for the rear axle, full-on LED headlights, a head-up display, a huge range of audio systems and an infotainment system that includes internet connectivity.

Oh, and there's also the infra-red camera system (banned in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan, amongst others) that helps you see beyond the lights.

With a black-and-white view that fills the infotainment screen and linked to software that identifies at-risk pedestrians with a separate alert, it's a brilliant idea that nobody (Audi, BMW, Benz) has properly utilised yet. For example, you can't get the vision in the HUD yet, which is where it would actually be useful, straight in front of the driver, rather than in the middle of the dash. I mean, who looks there when they're straining to see in the dark?

MECHANICAL

Detuned, but still potent, this 4.0-litre V8 was brand-spanking new last year, making its debut in the S8, and this is the first time we've seen it in this form.

Its 309kW of power is almost 100 horses less than Bentley gets for the Continental GT, even though it's mechanically (almost) identical. The upside is that you can rest assured the thing is under-stressed.

That doesn't stop the technology being top shelf, because it flips conventional wisdom by having the spent fumes exit the cylinders through the middle of the 90-degree vee, where a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers wait eagerly to employ them.

The all-alloy motor doesn't stop the strange there, because it has also had all of its chain valve drive gear and all of its ancillaries (oil pump, water pump, power steering, etc) moved to the back of the motor.

And it still doesn't stop there, because not only does it use direct fuel injection and couple variable valve timing with variable valve lift, but also it can actively shut down four cylinders on the fly if it thinks you don't need their input.

Effectively, it can drop from a V8 to a V4 and with start-stop technology standard it can even fall down to V0, too. Yet when it turns into a V4, it closes the second, third, fifth and eighth cylinders, full of air, so they can be refired in 30 milliseconds whenever you prod the accelerator pedal.

If you get it in the right zone, which means when the engine is hot, you're between 960 and 3500rpm, using somewhere between 25 and 35 per cent of the maximum torque load in third gear (or higher), then it will deactivate the unnecessary pots to save fuel.

Mind you, it doesn't seem to save that much, even with Audi's claims of a 20 per cent aluminium mix in the bodyshell, because the 1895kg sports sedan posts 9.6L/100km on the combined cycle.

But it never ever lacks for urge. The V8's twin-scroll turbo's help add boost right from idle and very few diesel engines arrive at their maximum torque figure as early as the S8's 1400rpm. To have 550Nm available then, just 500 revs up from idle, means the thing is ready to fight anywhere, anytime, and it holds that torque in a flat plateau all the way to 5200rpm.

After that, the power curve has well and truly taken the reins, peaking at 309kW at 5500 revs and holding it until 6400. It makes for a seamless, unburstable engine.

This engine matches up to Audi's well-regarded seven-speed double-clutch gearbox that can shift through the cogs like an automatic, but without the wasted energy and it does it much faster as well.

One significant difference is that while Audi dropped the S6 by 20mm over its stock sibling, the S7 has only come down 10mm. The higher-riding look created by this decision (but, let's be serious, people, it's only 10mm) is offset by riding on 20-inch wheels, even in the base package.

So 2914mm it is between the axles, instead of 2912mm, and it's 4980mm long (the S6 is 4931mm), but even bigger differences lurk once you spread the tape measure sideways.

Where the S6 is 1874mm wide, the S7 stretches out to 1911mm and, where the S6 runs a 1627mm front track, the S7 ekes that out to 1644. It's also wider in the rear track, with 1635mm playing 1627mm, and it's considerably lower at 1408mm in the roofline (the S6 is 1440mm high).

That doesn't seem to have harmed the interior packaging much, though, because genuinely tall folk can ensconce themselves effortlessly in the rear and it still gives 535 litres of luggage space, too. And it has the S6-like ability to fold its rear seats flat to give stupendous, wagon-esque carrying ability.

So, there are no negatives inside the cabin to complain about, though finding parks this long and wide can be a nuisance (more in Europe's crowded environs than Australia's SUV-friendly shopping centres). At a touch under two meters, you do notice the width and you have to be quite precise whenever you negotiate seemingly innocuous driveway gates.

The cabin is laden with cubby holes, though the door pockets are smaller than the ones in the A4, much less the S6. Audi's rationale is that it's more premium than the S6, so its richer clientele can afford to stop for fresh water bottles instead of carrying more of it…

Does it do anything demonstrably better to justify it, then? Well, aside from being bigger, its interior is a touch more refined and, frankly, it handles better.

Yet there are rivals within the Audi franchise that are not named "S6" and they include the A8 family (you can have a V8 in either petrol or diesel form for $234,500) or you can head down market for the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel A8 at $188,000. If an even bigger, slower sedan and smellier fuel is your thing.

Like the S6, the S7 isn't as hard core as the stuff coming out of M and AMG, though it's probably on a par with BMW's new M Performance Automobiles line and its M550d xDrive, which doesn't come to Australia so forget I mentioned it.

Instead, you have to look more closely to cars like the BMW 550i, with its 300kW of power and 600Nm of torque at $179,900, the Panamera S (294kW/500Nm) at $284,700, the aging Maserati Quattroporte (295kW/451Nm) at $250,000, Benz's E 500 Avantgarde (285kW/530Nm) at $183,685.

Jaguar might wave its arms around a bit and claim its XF V8, at $146,600 has enough to compete, with 283kW and 515Nm, but the Benz CLS 500 (at $210,800) is closer to the money, with 300kW and 600Nm of torque.

You could always look at BMW's 5 Series GT, but nobody else is looking at it because it hurts their eyes, endowed as it is with so much extra ugly. It's also only sold in Australia with a 225kW in-line six and is about $100k cheaper than the S7 is going to be. If you think there is no point even mentioning it, you're wrong. It gave me a very good giggle at the time.

ON THE ROAD

It sure doesn't start with the weight, because at 1945kg it's 50kg heavier than the S6s sedan and that's largely because of the glass and hinge gear from its hatchback roof and the extra metal that comes with extra width.

Yet, unlike the S6, the S7 seems to shrink around you every time you deviate from cruising straight ahead and ask it to do something.

It helped a lot that our test car came with the optional sport differential (Audi's crown-wheel diff that's also in the RS5 and the upcoming RS4) and the equally optional dynamic steering.

These two gadgets alone combine to help the S7 turn in to bends harder and sharper, but they help it to hold its line through faster bends and to fire out the other side of any corner with a degree of enthusiasm lacking in the S6.

It makes the biggest difference on tighter bends, where the diff works to lock up the back end's torque withdrawal as you turn in, then punches its drive with a dose of fairy dust to a set of tyres that dispatch any hint of wheel spin or sliding into history.

The difference is less pronounced on faster bends, because the inherent benefits of the long, long wheelbase and a wide front track make it pretty foolproof there anyway.

And all the while, the big S7 feels smaller and smaller the harder you throw it around, which is usually the sign of a well-composed chassis.

The ride quality is usually terrific, with its extra 2mm making a disproportionate influence on keeping the thing on an even keel.

The other side of that is the air suspension, with five different settings ranging from Efficiency and Comfort to Dynamic and Individual, with the lazy man's Automatic in the middle. Those settings don't just work on the suspension, though, because they include everything from the throttle maps to the steering weight, sharpness and setup, to the active cruise control's re-acceleration patterns to the damper settings and the traction- and skid-control systems.

You can tailor your Individual mode to any mix of those things, which is why it's often the way to go. The Efficiency mode actually handles well, because it lowers the suspension at speed (because that's actually more aero effective), while Comfort is just a fraction slow in dealing with rear rebound.

Dynamic is the place to play, because it also makes the exhaust as loud as possible (which, again, you can dial into Individual). The only real difficulty with the S7 is that as loud as possible still isn't loud enough.

The clever stuff inside the Active Engine Mounts wobulates its way into keeping the vibrations out of the cabin and the Active Noise Cancelling does such an effective job that it cancels out too much of the noise you actually want.

It's a mighty motor and you want to hear it. At 9.7L/100km, you're paying enough to enjoy its eighty burble, but it isolates you from the burning bits just as much as the S6 does.

And that's a shame, because it's fast enough to be a genuine sporting beastie.

The flipside is that it's superbly quiet, rides beautifully and charges hard when you want it to, overtakes like a demon and handles whenever you ask it to.

But it never asks the driver to do too much, never disturbs the serenity it's spent so much effort generating. There will be an RS version which won't quite be like this, and that'll be the A7 derivative for me. Until then, though, I'd be pretty happy living with an S7.

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