While we're still living with the effects of the Mercedes-Benz R-Class and prepping ourselves for the impending arrival of the BMW 5 Series GT, we now need to add the latest entry in this category of premium German people-and-stuff carriers, which would be the 2011 Audi A7 Sportback. While all three candidates work really well at their given tasks, the difference here is that the A7 Sportback is actually pretty sexy and is shooting unashamedly for premium adult comfort.
First introduced at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show (in fact, the car's internal designation is "D09," which stands for "Detroit '09"), this is actually a version of the showcar made ready for the streets of Beverly Hills, where we've just driven it, complete with earnest police escorts and all. It was 10-4s from the motorcycle cops all around, and while this experience really showed us only a limited amount of the ample list of day-to-day things an owner of an actual production 2011 Audi A7 Sportback will be able to do, passing time at the wheel within this new A7 space tells us a lot.
The Real Competition
Talking with Audi engineers and designers at this special event, it was clear that even they sense how special the 2011 Audi A7 Sportback Concept is, in that this is a whole new category for them as well as for North America. They're just hoping that people see as clearly as Audi does just how much more pleasant the A7 Sportback will be to live with compared to those aforementioned rivals with their aesthetic challenges and functional compromises.
Seeing as the North American market has summarily rejected every outstanding German premium station wagon in the past, Audi is thinking that this new configuration might be the solving of the riddle of the Sphinx and we honestly hope that it's right. We love driving around wagons and good hatchbacks, and this large 'tweener-size Sportback is a pleasant piece of work.
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