DRIVEN: FIRST Review Of Audi's All-New RS7 – Does It IMPRESS Or DEPRESS?

There's something a bit disappointing about the results here, specifically the Dynamic mode ride. Although, it's the same criticism of the CLA/A45 AMGs.

Too much carbon fiber. Also, if the car has an "r" or an "s", especially when they are put together ("rs") it MUST be offered in stick!

German TV review of RS7 (in English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgk6z7bnH6w

Audi's picture gallery of the RS7
http://tinyurl.com/n3updzx

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The carbon fiber inlay in the interior is just one of six different inlays available in Germany: carbon, aluminum/wood Beaufort black (1,450 euros), aluminum, matt brushed aluminum, piano black finish. Simply click on the circle of your desired inlay to see how the inlay looks in the picture. Five of the inlays are no-cost.
http://tinyurl.com/m5wtxk4

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This is not a Nissan 370Z, Subaru BRZ /Scion FR-S, Volkswagen GTI, Mazda Miata, Hyundai Genesis Coupe or Mini Cooper where a stick is more fun.

Here is Car and Driver's review of the BMW M5's manual transmission.
"here, awash in glowing autumnal paint, was the M5 with a conventional manual transmission. A manual-transmission car, in case you've forgotten, is one with that lever in the center console and the clutch pedal that, by forcing a driver to be more involved, can increase the driver's involvement with the car.
We North Americans feel strongly that such a thing should exist in performance vehicles, so BMW is making the six-speed manual available as a no-cost alternative to the dual-clutch seven-speed automatic that is the M5's standard transmission all over the world.
For the M5, BMW has taken over the six-speed ratios and all, from the 550i model and bolted it to the M5's 560-hp, twin-turbocharged V-8.
The time has long since passed when we expect manual-transmission cars to be quicker than their auto-shifting counterparts. So it was no surprise that the manual car was three-tenths of a second slower to 60 (4.0 seconds versus 3.7) and a couple of tenths less quick through the quarter mile (12.1 at 120 mph versus 11.9 at 123)...
The surprise was that, after our time in the manual-equipped car, we might actually choose the DCT, were we buying an M5. Yes, we're the "Save the Manuals!" guys. And we're delighted that BMW decided to make the manual available. But this marriage of manual transmission to M5 is not an especially happy one.
The clutch takeup is abrupt. Perhaps it will mellow with age, but our tester, with 4800 miles, is all we have to judge. What's less likely to improve over the car's life is the shifter, which is long of throw and rubbery in action. The M5 manual also suffers from a distressing amount of fore-aft movement, which we're attributing to driveline windup and inappropriate throttle mapping.
Try as hard as we might, a run through all the gears had all of our passengers nodding their heads in sympathy with every shift. This is a difficult car to drive smoothly."
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2013-bmw-m5-manual-test-review

That's why, in Germany, both Audi A6 and Mercedes E Class above 204 HP do not have manual transmission. And why the BMW 550 and M5 also do not have manual in Germany. That's why most auto makers have stopped offering manual transmission on their high pow

what does that have to do with the RS7? I thought you said the American car magazines are a joke and everything they write about is biased. Now you are quoting Car & Driver? Can you pick something to make a stand on and stay with it. Autocar comes out and doesn't like the drive of the car due to the suspension dampening, and to rebut the argument you then quote Car & Driver and speak about the M5....

too funny

BMW4me4ever: "what does that have to do with the RS7?... Autocar comes out and doesn't like the drive of the car due to the suspension dampening, and to rebut the argument you then quote Car & Driver and speak about the M5...."

What's really, really funny it that you're pretending what I wrote and quoted wasn't a response to SamFriedman's comment: "if the car has an "r" or an "s", especially when they are put together ("rs") it MUST be offered in stick!"

The Car and Driver report was very relevant to helping him understand why his view is wrong. It was a great example that manual transmission tends to work badly on cars with this much power, not an indictment of the M5's lackluster driving abilities even with a DC auto transmission. There were no examples from Audi or Mercedes to use because they've stopped offering manual trannies on its high-powered cars as their customers are not mindlessly addicted to manual trannies for the sake of manual trannies. The beauty of the example is that BMW caved in to its few North American customers demanding manual trannies (even though those BMW customers are too ignorant and too dinosaur in their thinking to accept that they are buying the wrong option that will not well) -- giving Car and Driver the opportunity to test the manual transmission and then educate the ignorant car buyers how wrong this option is. No doubt BMW is hoping all this education allows them to eventually stop offering manual transmissions on its M5 cars -- and therefore cut costs.

BMW4me4ever: "I thought you said the American car magazines are a joke and everything they write about is biased. Now you are quoting Car & Driver?"

I've quoted Car and Driver many times, such as the Audi S5's comparo test win over the BMW M5. Don't you remember this...
http://media.caranddriver.com/files/2013-audi-s6-vs-2013-bmw-m5-2012-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-1.pdf
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/2013-audi-s6-vs-2013-bmw-m5-2012-mercedes-benz-e63-amg-comparison-test

In this case, quoting an American car magazine was highly appropriate and relevant because they had an answer regarding ignorance on the part of certain North Americans on manual transmissions in high-powered sports cars.

HD clip of the RS7 driving
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYW08ivLI5E

On the racetrack, the RS7 will probably be faster than the BMW M6 Gran Coupe and Mercedes CLS 63 AMG Perfromance Package... based on the heavier RS6 Avant wagon's actual laptimes against both cars. The slowest car on track is probably the BMW M6 G C.
http://fastestlaps.com/cars/bmw_m6_gran_coupe.html

Eventually Sport Auto's Horst von Saurma will supertest the RS7 and M6 GC at Nurburgring and Hockenheim -- he has already set lap records for the CLS 63 AMG Performance Package at Nuburgring (8:03 min) and Hockenheim (1:13.9 min) this year.
http://www.sportauto.de/vergleichstest/mercedes-cls-63-amg-gegen-ducati-848-evo-nordschleifen-duell-auto-gegen-motorrad-4182778.html

This Autocar review is probably the worst of the many RS7 reviews on the internet today. OOR probably got this review from Autocar's tent at Bimmerfest :)

There are more useful first drive reviews out there... which happen to contradict many of Autocar's opinions.

Matt Davis provides a more useful first drive review on the RS7, with short video. He provides useful info on what options are appropriate for what situation. (Davis is the co-chairman of the World Car Awards and World Performance Car awards).
http://www.autoblog.com/2013/07/17/2014-audi-rs7-first-drive-review-video/

http://www.wcoty.com/web/steering_committee.asp

Road and Track first drive review
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/first-drives/performance-tests-first-drives-2014-audi-rs7

Edmund's first drive review
http://www.edmunds.com/audi/rs7/2014/road-test.html

Car and Driver first drive review
http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2014-audi-rs7-sportback-first-drive-review

Australia's Motoring first drive review
http://www.motoring.com.au/reviews/2013/large-passenger/audi/audi-rs7-2013-first-drive-37536

Top Gear first drive
http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/first-drive-audi-rs7-2013-07-16

Motor Trend first look
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/hatchbacks/1301_2014_audi_rs_7_sportback_first_look/

cidflekken: "There's something a bit disappointing about the results here, specifically the Dynamic mode ride."

These are not measurable results, but simply the subjective opinions of the Autocar reviewer.

The Autocar reviewer incompetently claimed "the RS7 seems an unlikely circuit tool". If he had done his homework, he should have known that the heavier RS6's laptimes relative to the Mercedes CLS63 AMG S and BMW M6 Gran Coupe already suggest that the RS7 will probably be a faster car than the CLS63 AMG S and M6 Gran Coupe on the track. At Nurburgring, I'll bet that Sport Auto's competent driver/tester Horst von Saurma will probably drive the RS6 closer to his laptime for the Porsche Panamera Turbo S (7:52 min) than he drove the Mercedes CLS 63 AMG Perfromance Package (8:03)... and von Saurma will probably drive the M6 Gran Coupe slower than the CLS (even with the competition package, I doubt the M6GC wll break Nurburgring's 8 minute barrier). It would be an indictment against Autocar's reviews if the Audi RS7 outshines the Mercedes CLS63 AMG Performance Package and BMW M6 Gran Coupe at the benchmark Nurburgring and Hockenheim racetracks... despite Autocar's litany of criticisms of the RS7 (lack of feedback, natural agility, responsiveness, balance, high-speed fun, ride quality, blah, blah).

Autocar is known for its lukewarm or negative reviews of Audis. If the Brits trusted Autocar's negative reviews of Audis, then the fourth largest selling brand in Britain this year would not be... Audi.
http://tinyurl.com/jvjeawj

Why would anyone trust anything Autocar says about an Audi RS car? Autocar testers showed their incompetence in drag racing an RS6 against a Nissan GT-R.

Another British car mag also drag raced the RS6 Avant wagon against the top-of-the-line Nissan GT-R coupe with Track Pack (both cars about the same price;

GT-R is 600 lbs lighter) -- yet its driver accelerated the RS6 faster in the 1,000 meter drag race (as well as in 0 to 60 mph and 0 to 100 mph acceleration tests)

than the Autocar testers could.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmIjQRmZ4Q

In any case, Autocar isn't one of Britain's seven largest car magazines -- and Britain's top seven car mags combined are smaller in circulation than each of

Germany's two largest car mags, which are the largest car mags in Europe. There are no great big car makers in Britain (except for boutique car makers like

McLaren), Brits haven't been the best racing drivers recently and British roads are not the best roads to test or drive cars like the RS7. Let's face it: British car

reviewers aren't the world's best car reviewers (despite their ability to write in the English language) either. They test/review mostly the small, fuel efficient cars

that Brits buy for their roads. This Autocar writer sounds like someone who used to do volume planning marketing analysis before he started writing reviews on

cars.... wait a minute... he actually is. Every car

(correction to the broken up sentences above)

Why would anyone trust anything Autocar says about an Audi RS car? Autocar testers showed their incompetence in drag racing an RS6 against a Nissan GT-R. Another British car mag also drag raced the RS6 Avant wagon against the top-of-the-line Nissan GT-R coupe with Track Pack (both cars about the same price; GT-R is 600 lbs lighter) -- yet its driver accelerated the RS6 faster in the 1,000 meter drag race (as well as in 0 to 60 mph and 0 to 100 mph acceleration tests) than the Autocar testers could.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FmIjQRmZ4Q

In any case, Autocar isn't one of Britain's seven largest car magazines -- and Britain's top seven car mags combined are smaller in circulation than each of Germany's two largest car mags, which are the largest car mags in Europe. There are no great big car makers in Britain (except for boutique car makers like McLaren), Brits haven't been the best racing drivers recently and British roads are not the best roads to test or drive cars like the RS7. Let's face it: British car reviewers aren't the world's best car reviewers (despite their ability to write in the English language) either. They test/review mostly the small, fuel efficient cars that Brits buy for their roads. This Autocar writer sounds like someone who used to do volume planning marketing analysis before he started writing reviews on cars.... wait a minute... he actually is. Every car reviewer thinks he is more than a "keen driver" but rarely are they highly competent drivers and car testers.

I'd rather wait for proper, detailed German car mag comparo tests before jumping to conclusions based on Autocar's dubious opinions, many of which are contradicted or put into context by other reviewers.

Damn those seats are ugly...

This is Audi -- you have options to change things.

You can change the seats (those are RS sports seats) to comfort seats
http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant.html#page=/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant/interieur/sitze-pakete.html

You can also change the seat cover material (leather, alcantara, etc.)
http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant.html#page=/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant/interieur/sitzbezuege.html

You can change the decorative inlays
http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant.html#page=/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant/interieur/dekorelemente.html

You can change the steering wheel
http://www.audi.de/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant.html#page=/de/brand/de/neuwagen/a6/rs-6-avant/interieur/lenkraeder.html

nice front, ugly back, and played out dashboard, ala buick from the 80s style. the interior materials are 1st grade but the design is boring.

Everybody's entitled to their minority opinion on this car's design. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and not everyone has the same good taste.

But fact is that Audi A7 was a finalist in the 'World Car Design of the Year' 2011 (in other words, experts on design and beauty chose it) -- while none of its rivals was a finalist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Car_of_the_Year#Finalists_and_Top_3_Finalists

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Car_of_the_Year#Total_wins_by_manufacturer

Road and Track has been long term testing the A7. One of the things R&T keeps mentioning is that this car's curb appeal has been getting a lot of admiring looks: "Despite a meatier back end, the Audi A7 manages to look pretty svelte. I asked a half-dozen friends for their opinions, and remarks ranged from "it looks like an Audi" (which, by their intonation, was a very positive thing) to compliments on the dark metallic color (Dakota Gray) to how "mean" it looked (thanks to the S line side sills and fascias found on the Prestige Package). As I was filling up at a downtown Los Angeles gas station, an LAPD officer inquired about the make and model of the car, and followed up by declaring how good-looking it was. Of all the people polled, not a single mention of a disagreeable rear." "And the packs it in with style. The envious glares from fathers loading Ikea boxes into their minivans alone are worth the price of admission. As handsome as the A7 is on the outside, it also excels on the inside. " And these positive comments of its curb appeal have continued into R&T's latest long-term test report (unfortunately not available on R&T website yet).
http://www.roadandtrack.com/boot/long-term-tests/test-car-intro-2012-audi-a7
http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-reviews/road-tests/2012-audi-a7