The Audi A7 Sportback is a compromise between a classic sedan and a sports coupe for buyers who seem to want to buy a sports car, but do not want to or cannot sacrifice seats and trunk. The car has a sporty silhouette with a long bonnet, a predatory grille grin and narrow Matrix HD headlights with a recognizable pattern of running lights. The roof is low, with a smooth transition to the liftback trunk. To bring the Sportback closer to the flagship A8 sedan, the manufacturer has put the integrated rear optics, which the A6 lacks, and left it effective on and off. The pattern of the taillights differs from that of the flagship, but this is only for the hand of the model, which turns out to be more recognizable. I like the body design of the Audi A7 Sportback, the only thing I would like to see such a car in a brighter color, yet this strange Triton Blue color, like that of the test car, hides some body elements and does not fully reveal the exterior design.
Inside, everything is nice and tidy, and the design is similar to that of the new A6. Yes, here you can find fault with the black glossy “ski”, which cannot be replaced with anything else and you have to wipe it from dust and prints more often than you would like. But in general, the interior leaves a pleasant impression, both in appearance and in the selected materials and assembly. In the evening, you can customize the contour lighting of the cabin by choosing its color and brightness.
Visually, it looks like the car is huge, and when you get inside, you think that the A7 will be as spacious as the flagship A8, but it turns out that there is less space. No, you do not rub your shoulders with the passenger, you do not rest your head against the ceiling, but there is no such spaciousness as in the A8. On the other hand, the Audi A7 Sportback is more of a sport, so the visual squeeze in the driver’s seat is even appropriate here. We sat down, adjusted the comfortable seats with fully electric adjustments for ourselves, sank a little lower, slightly clamped the side support rollers so as not to chatter in turns, pulled the steering wheel a little closer to you, which also has electrically adjustable, and that’s it, you already have the impression that you are sitting in a sports car. The A7 has an abundance of different seat adjustments, partly from the buttons on the left side, and partly from the touchscreen. On the lower screen, press and hold the chair icon, and on the upper screen, a settings menu with visual explanations is displayed. And also the massage function is configured from the screen, something this time I directly tried and appreciated it, it is especially good to turn it on at the end of the day, when you return home through the eternal Moscow traffic jams. Yes, three-level ventilation and seat heating are activated from separate icons on the lower screen of the system, where you can also activate the steering wheel heating.
To make it clear, let me explain, the new Audi system consists of two displays on the center console, the lower one is always 8.8 ”, it contains all the data on climate control and some other functions. The top one in the maximum configuration is the same as in the test car, 10.1 ”, the base may have a smaller diagonal, it contains all the basic data. It uses high-resolution OLED touchscreen displays with pressure feedback, similar to 3D Touch on the iPhone, where you push the screen a little harder and feel the moment you press. When you play with the system in a parking lot, it seems that the feedback touch screen is not so bad and can replace the usual buttons, but in motion it turns out to be as inconvenient to use as a regular touch screen. Yes, in Audi you feel the moment of pressing, by the way, the strength of the feedback can be adjusted or completely disabled, as well as the sound notification of pressing, but blindly you will not feel the buttons, as is the case with ordinary physical elements, so you still have to be distracted on the screen. Of course, some of the options can be controlled using a voice assistant, but not all, and he does not understand Russian very well yet.
Good navigation is available on the upper display (optional) with up-to-date maps, the ability to display traffic jams, search for parking lots at the final point of the route and search for points of interest (shops, restaurants, pharmacies, etc.), for this, the built-in LTE modem is used. The system builds the optimal route to bypass traffic jams, but sometimes it malfunctions and may ask you to turn off at an inconvenient exit, or even bring it under the “brick” sign. Built-in navigation provides both voice and visual prompts on a virtual dashboard that can display the entire map, as well as on the head-up display. Another interesting hint that is present even without route guidance is the vibration on the gas pedal, which is triggered if you exceed the permissible speed (the system takes data from its maps) or approach an intersection. All these tips are also duplicated visually on the dashboard screen in the “Driver’s assistants” section.
The virtual dashboard has a diagonal of 12.3 inches, it is also an OLED display with a resolution of 1920 x 720 pixels. There are no questions about the quality of the dashboard, the data is read perfectly both at night and in the bright sun. As mentioned above, you can display a map on the dashboard, and you can even stretch it to full screen and scale it in order to see detailed data on the route or points of interest nearby. It can also display a list of contacts, radio stations and a playlist being played, and all control is carried out from buttons and rollers on the steering wheel. There are also no questions about the controls on the steering wheel, the buttons are all large enough, and the scroll rollers are comfortable, but the gloss is superfluous here, although it looks impressive.
What else can the Audi system do? And she knows how to display the weather and news from her own selection of resources, and with text and pictures, as well as the ability to read out in a voice, however, the latter turns out to be clumsy, since the Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology is used. There is also support for Android Auto and Apple CarPlay platforms, they work flawlessly, but it should be said that there is no feedback on the touch screen for them. Yes, a wireless connection should also be available for Apple CarPlay, but for some reason my iPhone 11 stubbornly refused to work in this mode, and I still could not find the reason.
For charging devices, the Audi A7 Sportback has four USB-A connectors, two in the front of the passenger compartment in the armrest and two in the back. And wireless charging is also optionally available, also in the front armrest, which is not very convenient, since you can not even quickly view the notifications on your smartphone. Modern gadgets are charged from the on-board network of the car quite vigorously, so that even during a short trip, you can have time to charge a fully depleted device.
Connecting smartphones via Bluetooth does not raise any questions, everything goes quickly and smoothly, and it is also possible to work simultaneously with two devices at once. The speakerphone works perfectly, the interlocutors will never complain that you or even the passengers in the back are hard to hear.
There was a full set of driver assistants in the test car, here is the collision avoidance system, which in the event of a critical situation, in her opinion, will close all windows and tighten the seat belts. There is, of course, monitoring of blind spots with a visual warning on the body of the mirrors, which I think is the most convenient, since there you can immediately see it with your peripheral vision even before you turn towards the mirror. Separately, I note the adaptive cruise control, which seems to have been updated programmatically and now works just flawlessly, very gently and correctly slowing down and accelerating the car and keeping in the stream no worse than a person does. The system also works in traffic jams, and just as correctly and smoothly, perfectly seeing even cars wedging in at the last moment. In this respect, the A7 outdid Volvo with their Pilot Assist, which was my benchmark driver’s assistant in the past. In the Audi A7 Sportback, the driver assistant guides the car accurately, sees clearly any markings of any quality and easily goes through any turns, driving with it was a pleasure.
The A7 also has a high-quality all-round view system with an excellent picture from cameras and good image projection, which allows you to maneuver even in very small spaces. Of course, there is a system of assistance when leaving the parking lot and the system of crossing intersections, which warns of traffic in the perpendicular direction and is able to stop the car on its own. And for novice drivers, an automatic parking system will come to the rescue, although it is worth considering that it requires a lot of free space around and will not be able to park in parallel on a narrow road, as it will constantly try to drive onto the curb.
Somehow the story about the salon smoothly went towards electronics, so let’s get back to it again. The Audi A7 Sportback seat can comfortably accommodate a driver of any size and height, a lot of settings allow you to make a comfortable landing. With a height of 187 cm, I can easily sit down by myself, and there is still a margin of space to the back of the front seat, and the roof over my head does not press. The child in the chair can also sit quite calmly behind me, and his feet do not reach the driver’s seat. For the child seat, the Isofix mounts are located on the edges of the rear sofa under the plastic covers, which makes it much easier to install. Two chairs stand in the back without any problems, and between them someone thin and puny can even sit down, however, even such people will no longer be comfortable there. Also, the Isofix mounts are located on the front passenger seat, here they are hidden between the pillows, but access to them is still free. For rear passengers, a separate climate control unit is available if this option is ordered.
In addition to the fact that four people sit comfortably in the A7, the car also has a decent trunk for 535 liters. If the backrests of the rear sofa are folded separately, then the useful volume of the luggage compartment can be increased to an impressive 1390 liters. The luggage compartment lid is electrically operated, and there is also a separate button to close it and lock the car.
For comfort, I liked the car, it is quiet, although for some reason the noise of tires makes its way into the cabin, perhaps changing the rubber will solve the problem. It is soft, with air suspension in a comfortable mode, irregularities are practically not felt, and by raising the car as much as possible, you can even drive with relative comfort on completely broken roads. So you can safely set off on a long journey in the Audi A7 Sportback, you will not get tired on the road, but just enjoy the ride.
In Russia, the car is available with two gasoline engines, this is a two-liter engine with a capacity of 245 hp. and a three-liter with a capacity of 340 hp. And more recently, a three-liter diesel engine with 249 hp has become available. Diesel comes in conjunction with a tiptronic box, this is a classic automatic, but gasoline engines are supplied only with a robotic S tronic box. In all variants, the car will be all-wheel drive with the proprietary Quattro Ultra system. The Ultra prefix means that the car will be front-wheel drive by default, and the car’s electronics will connect the rear axle at its discretion, depending on road conditions. On a dry road, I didn’t really understand how good the new Quattro Ultra all-wheel drive system is, you have to drive in the winter to understand its features. From the usual all-wheel drive Quattro, which I was able to test the year before last on the Audi A4, I have only pleasant impressions.
The test was an Audi A7 Sportback with a 340-horsepower engine, which in conjunction with the S tronic robot allows you to accelerate to 100 km / h in 5.3 seconds. The car uses the new Mild Hybrid (MHEV) system. The belt-driven starter generator works with a lithium-ion battery to provide energy recuperation for acceleration or fuel economy. The manufacturer says that the use of this technology provides a reduction in fuel consumption to 0,7 l / 100 km. The mild hybrid connects when accelerating, and at low speeds it can turn off the internal combustion engine, allowing it to move in this mode for 40 seconds, thereby saving fuel. I would not say that the savings are visible, with the declared consumption of 9.3 liters in the city, 5.9 on the highway and 7.2 liters in mixed mode per 100 km, I got about 12-13 liters in the city, and about 9 liters on the highway. Of course, everything must be considered here, comparing head-on cars with and without this system. Perhaps, in several years of operation, a mild hybrid will make it possible to gain several tens of liters of fuel. Yes, the use of the Mild Hybrid system during acceleration does not give a bass roar of a gasoline engine, but a specific sound of an electric car, however, for the third consecutive jerk it is the sound of the engine that already breaks through. So fans of loud cars may not like the A7.
The new Audi A7 Sportback is controlled accurately and recklessly, there are practically no rolls, you enter the turns confidently even at speed. At speed, the fully steerable chassis helps to adjust and enter corners, thanks to which the turning radius of the car is also significantly reduced. In general, the A7 resembles BMW cars in spirit, it encourages the driver to accelerate once again from the traffic light, take a turn a little faster – in general, it gives emotions while driving. The only thing is that the new Audi has a clamped gas pedal, which gives the desired response depending on the force of pressing, so it is difficult to get used to it from the first minutes. It’s not enough to lightly stroke the pedal to make the car jump forward, you have to adjust to it in order to get the desired reaction, but when you get used to it, no questions arise.
The price of the Audi A7 Sportback in Russia starts at 4 rubles. A car with a diesel engine, which, in my opinion, is the most interesting, costs from 285 rubles. If you want to get an A000 with a good range of options, you will have to shell out about 4 rubles.
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