 2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
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Manufacturer’s Website |
Review and photos by Justin Pritchard
Photo Gallery:
2013 Audi A7
If you’re shopping for a premium coupe that’ll garner comments, glances, and pointed fingers from your fellow motorists and passersby, Audi has you covered. The German automaker’s TT and A5/S5/RS 5 ranges offer among the sexiest two-door models on the road today. There’s also the R8, which is particularly kick-ass, because Ironman drives one.
Alas, gorgeous as they are, these sheet-metal icons are subject to the perpetual coupe conundrum: what to do when you’ve got more than one passenger requiring a lift.
The A5, S5 and RS 5 have decent rear seats – but no doors to access them. The TT’s rear seats are too small for people with legs, and the R8 doesn’t have rear seats at all.
So, for some shoppers, Audi hopes their new A7 might be the solution since it blends the emotional lines and low-slung silhouette of a coupe with the functionality of a four-door.
The unique and striking ‘four-door coupe’ styling will likely be what shoppers fall in love with first.
A departure from the chiseled, chunky and muscular looks of many recent Audis, the A7 is soft, sweeping, smooth, elegant and graceful – albeit capped off with a piercing, LED-illuminated scowl that’ll stare lesser machinery into submission. It’s like a rolling sheet-metal Miranda Priestly.
  2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
That face, as one of the most glaring on this side of six-digit territory, is a striking bit of styling. All said, this ‘four-door coupe’ looks like a seriously big deal rolling down the road.
The tester’s cabin contrasted starkly with the depthy, detailed and expressive body. It was mostly simple where shapes and textures are concerned, and was colored mostly with black and silver. It’s an understated look – perhaps slightly shy of its price point in terms of remarkable styling elements. I did wish for more flare and energy from the A7’s cabin to match the exterior look – but even if this isn’t Audi’s most exciting interior, it’s still virtually perfectly assembled and trimmed.
High-tech goodies included a unique doodle-pad gizmo that lets drivers use their fingertip to scribble a phone number or destination directly into the computer. This is a slick, easy-to-use interface that’ll become a conversation starter at the very least. A full driver computer, placed between the speedometer and tachometer, keeps drivers up on vital running data in real time, too.
