 2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
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Review and photos by Justin Pritchard
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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.
Front seats are heated and air conditioned, the steering wheel is heated, and a full suite of connectivity features makes the A7 fast friends with your cell phone or MP3 player.
   2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
The sleek, coupe-like roofline means rear headroom is limited for taller occupants, though it should handle four adults of standard height with no concern. The A7’s front seats are comfortable, equipped with storage drawers beneath, and flanked by deep, door-mounted storage pockets. Road-trip ready, indeed.
There’s a surprising level of utility, too. The wide, long trunk, accessed by a motorized hatchback tailgate, should offer up plenty of room for your gear. And with standard Quattro all-wheel drive, it’s a sporty bit of elegant utility you can use confidently, even in the middle of a blizzard.
The A7’s LED headlights are noteworthy. I’ve driven countless thousands of kilometres in hundreds of cars after dark, and the A7’s lighting system is one of the best I’ve ever come across. The colour, saturation and quality of its illumination is magnificent. Light floods a virtual 180-degree spread in front of the car, and sees illumination extend into the tree-line on either side of two-lane highways. After a 3.5-hour drive from Sudbury to Kirkland Lake, Ontario after dark, my eyes weren’t suffering the usual onset of fatigue typical of this trip.
A night-vision camera bolsters after-dark confidence even further. The thermally driven system can show drivers warm, large objects (humans, moose, deer, bears) even farther up the road than the high-beams. It can track pedestrians and warn drivers of a possible impact, too. Slick system – and it may have saved a fox from making friends with the A7’s front bumper on my late-night drive.
End of the day, this should prove to be a four-door, all-climate ‘coupe’ that’s ready for a day of shopping, a trip to the slopes in a blizzard, or anything in between.
With just three litres of displacement, the A7’s ‘3.0T’ V6 uses direct injection and a so-called “mechanical turbocharger” to boost power output. Us Canadians call that a ‘supercharger’, by the way.
As Audi has demonstrated for years, forced induction and direct injection work well together, the direct injection system enabling a cylinder cooling effect that combats the elevated combustion chamber temperatures that result from adding a blower. In plain English, using the two systems together allows engineers to safely run a higher, more efficient compression ratio, maximizing power and mileage.
Drivers get 310 horsepower, handled by an automatic transmission with a quick-to-react paddle-shift manual mode. Though it’s a conventional automatic, responses to shift requests are dealt with virtually immediately, complete with rev-matching in both directions. The eight-speed box helps the A7 perform strongly while enabling mileage figures that suggest otherwise.
My test average consumption landed at 10.9 L/100 km while drinking premium, with that figure falling just below 7 during late-night highway cruising when the darkness dictated a reduction in my usual cruising speed to just above the posted limit.
But the A7 is also a treat to drive when you’re in a rush. Opened up, it’s got a restrained but delightful howl, with a touch of exotic reediness that calls a Porsche flat-six to mind. The supercharger operates in silence, but helps crank out liquid smooth, linear, and strong power output at any RPM. And, since the supercharger is directly driven by the engine (rather than expanding exhaust gasses like a turbocharger), it does its job with absolutely no lag. Simply, it makes the A7 accelerate, right now, as if it had a much larger engine.
 2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
And seriously, you should see this thing get off the line. Massive low-end torque, aggressive gearing and Quattro AWD mean the A7 simply squats down and rockets away with no fuss when drivers jam on it. The nearly startling levels of off-the-line thrust, combined with the lusty sound effects, will become addictive for many drivers.
Handling is typical Audi – planted, stable and composed even ripping corners at high speed. In its ‘dynamic’ mode, steering is heavy and quick, encouraging dialed-in exploration of the A7’s limits when desired. Driven as such, the A7 feels eager to please, but also confidently locked on to the road’s surface.
Shoppers in locales with poorly maintained roads are advised to opt away from the large wheels and low-profile tires that come as part of the optional ‘S-Line’ package, as these will result in a rough or jarring ride on some surfaces.
After a week and nearly 3,000 kilometres, I didn’t find any one part of the A7 to be the single most overwhelming reason to check it out. It’s a machine that’s equal parts luxury, high-tech, year-round supercharged sportiness, and utility. A sophisticated ‘Jack of All Trades’, if you will.
There’s a laundry list of tasks the A7 is ready to tackle – and it’ll tackle them all with looks that’ll make the neighbours jealous, and pleasing performance and mileage that’ll make owners smile.
 2013 Audi A7. Click image to enlarge |
Pricing: 2013 Audi A7 3.0T Premium
Base price (3.0T Premium): $74,800
Options: S-Line Sport Package ($2,100), Vision Package ($4,000), LED Headlights ($1,700), Backup Camera ($400)
Freight & PDI: $1,995
A/C tax: $100
Price as tested: $85,095
Competitors
Lexus GS 350 AWD
BMW 650i xDrive Gran Coupe
Infiniti M37x
Mercedes-Benz CLS 550
Audi A7 3.0T Features
Engine: 3.0L V6, direct injected, supercharged, aftercooled, 310 hp
Drivetrain: Quattro AWD
Observed Average Mileage: 10.9 L/100 km
Transmission: 8-speed automatic with paddle shifters
Features: Navigation, night-vision, Bluetooth, heated and chilled seats, Drive Select controller
