2023 Audi A7 Reviews

The 2019 Audi A7 45 TFSI model is the entry-point to the second-generation large luxury hatchback range.

The sole diesel offering in the 2019 Audi A7 range is the 50 TDI, which is priced identically to the flagship petrol 'normal' model at $131,900 plus on-road costs.

The flagship petrol variant in the regular Audi A7 range is the 55 TFSI, which has a list price of $131,900 plus on-road costs.

The all-new, second-generation version of the Audi A7 is startlingly familiar - and to the untrained eye, there mightn't have been enough change here.

Craig Duff road tests and reviews the 2015 Audi A6 and A7 at its Australian launch.

Meet the car you can drive with your eyes closed.

How does the Audi A7 Sportback fare against the multi-door luxury coupe Porsche Panamera and the Mercedes CLS?Audi A7 Sportback 3.0 TDIPrice: from $135,750Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel; 180kW/580NmTransmission: 8-speed auto, AWDThirst: 5.9L/100km; 156g/km CO2Porsche Panamera SPrice: from $287,100Engine: 4.8-litre V8 petrol; 294kW/500NmTransmission: 7-speed dual-clutch auto, RWDThirst: 10.5L/100km; 247g/km CO2Mercedes-Benz CLS 350 CDIPrice: from $159,200Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel; 195kW/620NmTransmission: 7-speed auto, RWDThirst: 6.2L/100km; 163g/km CO2

A tax cut, low ownership costs, outstanding performance and luxury accommodation for five people. It's not a negatively-geared property but one of the most comfortable, fastest and longest point between two fuel stations.It's a win-win situation. The only catch is the $148,600 for the Audi A7 Bi-Turbo diesel to start the ball rolling. This is Audi's third, and most expensive, A7 with the extra dollars supporting an extra turbocharger for the V6 diesel engine, extra chassis components to compensate for the extra oomph plus a higher equipment level.VALUEDistinction has its price. The A7 is no cheapie and even the frugal fuel economy and the tax savings - it avoids luxury-car tax because of its low fuel consumption - will take some time to compensate for the $5000 premium over the A7 petrol model.The A7 is mainly a styling exercise - see also the Mercedes CLS and BMW GT models - and canny buyers realise the equivalent bi-turbo A6 is about $30,000 cheaper. The change could buy an extra car.DESIGNThis is a big car, its swoopy lines making it hunker down to 1.4m high and stretching to 5m in length. It's not the easiest car to enter and exit and rear seat headroom won't take anyone higher than 1.8m.The rear seat was built for two but recently changed to three, so the centre is a rather uncomfortable perch. Boot space is excellent in length but shallow as the tail slopes down towards the bumper.Dash treatment is superb with easy-to-rear screen and switches. Quality is brilliant and little touches like the four ventilation outlets for the rear passengers shows thought.TECHNOLOGYThis is more than just bolting on another turbocharger. Now the smaller turbo pumps until 2500rpm, then starts handing over the boost duties to the big turbo that takes over from 3500rpm.Peak torque of 650Nm is from a very low 1450rpm and flat to 2500rpm, while the 230kW of power hits at 3900rpm and assists in the sparkling 0-100km/h time of 5.3 seconds - about a second quicker than its rivals.This engine is also in next month's SQ5 SUV. There's all-wheel drive, big 19-inch wheels and a sophisticated multi-link suspension set up.SAFETYA five-star crash rating, lots of electronic aids, constant all-wheel drive, 10 airbags, reverse camera and park sensors, heated mirrors, xenon headlights though the spare is a space-saver.DRIVINGIt sounds meaty at idle, without the typical diesel clatter, but squeeze the accelerator pedal and this transforms into a guttural roar.Audi has upspecced the exhaust with a loudspeaker so it sounds nothing like a diesel and more like a big-bore petrol V8 that is tuned to within a millimetre of its life. It's an addictive sound that may cause owners to become unwary fodder for speed cameras.You have been warned. It's such a responsive machine, from the locomotive torque of the engine to the rapid upchanges of the torque-converter auto to the firmness of the electric-assist steering.It boasts excellent handling, ride comfort that is compliant rather than plush, and it quickly endears itself to the driver. The downside is its size and limited driver visibility, though the sensors do help.VERDICTDistinctive car for the individual owner. Sensational performance and features but the A6 equivalent is the better buy.Audi A7 TDI Bi-TurboPrice: $148,600Warranty: 3 years/unlimited, roadside assistCapped Servicing: NoService interval: 12mths/15,000kmResale: 47%Safety: 10 airbags, ABS, ESC, EBD, TCCrash rating: 5-starEngine: 3-litre V6 bi-turbo diesel, 230kW/650NmTransmission: 8-speed auto; constant AWDThirst: 6.4L/100km; 169g/km CO2Dimensions: 5.0m (L), 1.9m (W), 1.4m (H)Weight: 1850kgSpare: Space-saver

Canberra is no Le Mans and the road leading to Parliament House is certainly no Mulsanne Straight. No matter, Audi used the national capital to launch its race-bred turbocharged diesel engine in Australia.Audi now features diesel power in all segments but the R8, with diesel sales last year taking up 43 per cent of the Australian market. The A6 already has a strong TDI presence in the market, with 53 per cent of buyers favouring an oil burner. The biturbo pair will be joined later this year by the SQ5 high-performance SUV.VALUEThe fuel efficiency places both models under the luxury car tax threshold of 7.0 litres per 100 kilometres, allowing Audi to gain a distinct price advantage over rivals. The A6 sedan has a manufacturer’s list price of $118,800, while the A7 Sportback carries an MLP of $148,600.Both vehicles share many features with other high-end Audis. For example, the A6 sedan includes18-inch alloy wheels in 10-spoke V design, Audi drive select with efficiency mode, Audi music interface and Audi parking system with rear-view camera.Bose surround sound leads the way for a Bluetooth interface with music streaming, electric front seats are clothed in Milano leather and have driver memory function, MMI Navigation plus features retractable screen and touch pad and Xenon plus headlights show the way at night, while an electric sunroof brings enjoyable weather outside inside.The A7 Sportback adds 19-inch alloy wheels in 10-spoke design, while four-zone deluxe air-conditioning puts occupants seated on premium quality Valcona leather upholstery at ease.TECHNOLOGYThe new 230 kW 3.0-litre TDI biturbo V6, which owes much of its high performance technology to the Le Mans 24 Hour-winning Audi engine, can now be found in the A6 sedan and A7 Sportback.‘Fast and frugal’ is the biturbo byword with both vehicles sprinting to 100 km/h from rest in a tick over five seconds – making the A6 sedan, at 5.1 seconds, the quickest diesel-powered vehicle in Australia – and fuel consumption down at 6.4 litres per 100 kilometres with carbon dioxide emissions of 169 g/km.In the process, a sound actuator in a side channel of the exhaust orchestrates a glorious symphonic note in tune with the robust performance of the cars. Essentially a loudspeaker, the instrument produces a sonorous accompaniment to engine revs rising all the way to 5200 rpm. Further ‘philharmonic’ is carried into the passenger cabin via the vibrating windscreen which dances to the deep-throated note of the motor when hurried along. Nothing ‘largo’ here.The heart and soul of the pair is the biturbo engine, which features, as its title suggests, two water cooled turbochargers connected in series. A switchover valve directs intercooled air to a small turbo at low revs, with a large charger performing pre-compression. From 2500 rpm, or thereabouts, the valve begins to open and the small charger shifts most of its workload to its big brother. Between 3500 and 4000 rpm the valve opens fully, the large charger taking on all the work.The engine itself has come in for modifications, with the cylinder head cooling, the timing and lift of the intake cam shafts, the pistons and their oil jet cooling all being improved. A special coating reduces the friction of the piston pins, while plate honing and laser exposure, are used during the fabrication of the engine block at the plant in Gyor, Hungary.The common-rail fuel system develops up to 2000 bar of pressure and injects as many as eight partial amounts of fuel into the cylinder. The regulated oil pump and the water pump have been optimised for maximum efficiency. The top-of-the-line TDI provides peak torque of 650 Nm from 1450 to 2800 rpm.DRIVINGAt idle, the ‘dieselness’ (i.e. the distinctive rattle) of the engine is indiscernible, but tramp on the pedal and the ‘orchestra’ fires up through the aforementioned exhaust sound system. Wagner would have approved. A heavy foot once or twice had the engine hesitant to respond, which we put down to the electronics of engine management rather than turbo lag.An eight-speed Tiptronic transmission and quattro all-wheel drive make sure both biturbos are model performers in either bustling city driving or on the open road, a fact that was borne out by a launch test drive between Canberra and Sydney. Parking is a breeze thanks to front and rear cameras, and electric tailgate operation makes for easy access to a generous cargo area, the latter being a welcome feature of both vehicles.VERDICTThe state-of-the-art technology results in immensely powerful performance.MODEL LINE-UPA6 3.0 TDI quattro 230 kW sedan: $118, 800A7 3.0 TDI quattro 230 kW Sportback: $148,600Audi A6 TDI QuattroPrice: from $118,800 driveawayWarranty: 3 years/unlimited kmEngine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl, 230kW/650NmTransmission: 8-speed auto, AWDBody: 4915mm (L); 1874mm (w); 1455mm (h)Weight: 1790kgThirst: 6.4L/100km 169g/km CO2Audi A7 TDI QuattroPrice: from $148,600Warranty: 3 years/unlimited kmEngine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl, 230kW/650NmTransmission: 8-speed auto, AWDBody: 4969mm (L); 191mm (w); 1420mm (h)Weight: 1850kgThirst: 6.4L/100km 169g/km CO2

It's here, charting a rural back route between the nation's capital and its biggest city, that diesel sells itself. We're doing nothing to add to the state's road fine revenue, nor are we sparing the horses.Being the newest recipient of Audi's biturbo diesel V6, this A7 Sportback has stables full of them putting out 312 horsepower or 230kW and a fat 650Nm from its three litres. Barely animate at the legal limit pulling well under 2000rpm this latest beneficiary of Audi's Le Mans dominating diesel program can return 6.4 litres per 100km in ideal usage less than most popular small hatchbacks. Even by the end of this 340km run, we'll have enough juice in the 75 litre tank for more than week's commuting in Australia's worst traffic.As SUVs outsell cars, diesels are becoming more prevalent in driveways, if only by default. The pulling power and possible economy of diesels make them a default choice for soft- and off-roaders and a no-brainer for buyers from the bush.Yet Australian mornings unlike those in, say, Germany have not come to be filled by the sound a million cold diesels rattling into life. In fact, the take up in diesel passenger cars has fallen off since they started to come online in numbers less than a decade back a wave that included the previous generation A6. That was car showed us diesel could dwell in the same sentence as prestige. Part of it's down to the premium usually asked for diesel variants. More recently the new wave of turbo petrol engines has charted new heights of efficiency. Audi remains one of exceptions to the rule and as the A7 remorselessly reduces the distance to Sydney, it occurs that the petrol/diesel comparison is all but irrelevant a variant this accomplished should be considered on its own merits.Being introduced as the range topper of the A7 and A6 sedan ranges, the biturbo V6 is refined to the point of inaudibility at speed. There's little agricultural about it even at start up. Just as you can fiddle with throttle, steering and suspension settings via the multi-media set up, you can modulate the engine note which is fed into the cabin via loudspeaker. It's an almost worthwhile fixture for its gutsy V8 petrol-like tone, the best sounding diesel this side of a Porsche Cayenne (which employs a twin turbo diesel adapted from none other than Audi).Pushing the previous issue 3.0 TDI down the pecking order, the now range-topping A6 and A7 gain the A8's eight-speed automatic transmission, a happier marriage which does not eliminate doughy throttle response off the mark. Still, it feels more pronounced than it is in reality a 5.3 second 0-100km/h sprint time (5.1 in the lighter A6) is serious sports sedan terrain.Where the A7 it gets lost in the translation from German is (as ever with sportier Audi) in the ride. While it would crush the clicks between German cities with the best of them, the Dynamic suspension setting is borderline unbearable on the B-roads of the so-called Premier State. It's better in that respect when turned to Comfort mode, but the edge is blunted on the bends for which you'd want it. Even on the flat freeway the A7 is too apt to transmit coarse chip irregularities to the cabin.Barmy taxation means both cars, but especially this uber cool liftback, are wildly overpriced next to Audi's own SUV. The top notch Q5 is $75,800 against the $166,795 asked for this optioned up A7. Even its $148,600 starting price looks none too clever. The A6 sedan is $118,800 before you touch the options list.We bet heavily on the same engined SQ5 SUV well beneath this point.Audi A7 3.0 TDI BiturboPrice: $148,600Warranty: 3 years/unlimited kmResale: 66 per centService interval: 12 months/15,000kmSafety rating: 5 starsEngine: 3.0-litre Biturbo V6 diesel, 230kW/650NmTransmission: 8-speed auto; 4WDThirst: 6.4L/100kmDimensions: 4.9m (L), 1.9m (W), 1.4m (H)Weight: from 1750kgSpare: space-saver