It really wasn't that long ago on this that if you mentioned Audi and the competition a roar of chuckles would erupt from the comments section. Just how was Audi planning on taking on the heavyweights? they would say. Quattro was just a gimmick, true performance cars are rear wheel drive ONLY. Turbocharging is cheating.
Now we circle around to 2012 and we see the competition is beginning to follow suit. Mercedes-Benz has already announced that future AMG models will be AWD. BMW has adopted turbocharging. All of the brands are now moving to technologies that Audi used back in the 90's and moved from novelty status to the mainstream.
The point of the diatribe above is that the buyer in general is seeing Audi in a totally different light than it did just a few years ago.
This quote by our friends over at TTAC earlier in the week sums it up pretty well.
"VW and Audi were mobbed for so long after their press conferences that it was hard to get photos of their debuts. Volkswagen debuted a new Crossover concept with three rows of seats, while Audi debuted the SQ5 and the RS7. All of the vehicles on the Audi stand were immensely desirable and made the BMW and Mercedes products look like reasonable facsimiles of desirable luxury vehicles. I am more convinced than ever that Volkswagen Group’s goal of 1 million units in America by 2018 is feasible, and Audi will likely reach their 200,000 unit sales goal as well."
Now that John Q Public is seeing what we have been saying for years now, how does our own Agent001 think the $73,000 2013 S7 stacks up against the competition?
Just watch below to find out: