Audi RS7
Car and Driver
Tested: two thousand seventeen Audi RS7 Spectacle
2017 Audi RS7 Spectacle
- Apr 2017
- By GREG FINK
- Photography By MICHAEL SIMARI
Few would call the 560-hp Audi RS7 underpowered. Yet Audi still felt it necessary to breathe more grunt into the RS7’s twin-turbocharged Four.0-liter V-8 engine. Dubbed the Audi RS7 Spectacle, the 605-hp model was introduced last year. Its extra power comes courtesy of a fresh turbocharger design, more efficient intercooler warmth exchangers, a reprogrammed engine computer, and revised camshafts that activate fresh harass valves. A maximum of five hundred fifty three lb-ft of torque is available from two thousand five hundred rpm to five thousand five hundred rpm in a makeshift overboost mode. Normally, the engine makes five hundred sixteen lb-ft at one thousand seven hundred fifty rpm and rails a wave that peaks at six thousand rpm—500 rpm higher than the standard car’s peak and only eight hundred rpm brief of redline.
Win, Place, Showcase
Extracting all six hundred five horses requires that the car’s driving mode be in the Dynamic setting or that the eight-speed automatic transmission’s Sport or Manual mode be selected. In the latter mode, the driver can exchange cogs by pushing and pulling on the shift lever or by pulling on the big but brittle-feeling steering-wheel-mounted paddles. Switch to the Convenience or Auto driving modes and place the transmission in its default setting, however, and the RS7 Performance’s engine opens the gate for only the basic-spec five hundred sixty horses.
At four thousand four hundred eighty seven pounds, our test car carried thirty four extra pounds of machine compared with the last RS7 we tested, an insignificant increase in the face of the Spectacle model’s forty five extra thoroughbreds. Zero to sixty mph takes just Trio.Two seconds, zero to one hundred mph requires 7.Three, and the quarter-mile zips by after 11.Three seconds, at which point the RS7 is traveling one hundred twenty five mph. Those figures are 0.Two, 0.Five, and 0.Three 2nd better than the standard car, and the quarter-mile trap speed is two mph swifter. A standard dual-mode harass system emits salacious songs when uncorked, but it actually diminished the Spectacle model’s decibels in our interior sound-level measurement at idle, while the noise level at a constant seventy mph remained the same.
Mashing on the left pedal resulted in the Performance’s standard carbon-ceramic brakes bringing the car to a halt from seventy mph in one hundred sixty feet, eleven more than a Cadillac CTS-V and seventeen feet greater than the distance recorded in the RS7 we tested previously. On our 300-foot skidpad, the Continental ContiSportContact 5P summer tires helped the all-wheel-drive hatchback cling to pavement to the tune of 0.94 g.
Specific to the RS7 Spectacle is Audi’s Dynamic Rail Control suspension system. Unlike the standard RS7, which uses air springs, the RS7 Spectacle features traditional coil springs paired with a set of three-mode adjustable dampers that are connected diagonally front to rear. When placed in the softest damper setting (Convenience), the RS7 Performance’s rail quality can induce backaches. Switch to the stiffest setting (Dynamic) and you’ll want to invest in a brace. The upside is that the Audi’s assets roll is kept to a minimum.
In the Money
Design-wise, the $130,450 RS7 Spectacle differs little from the $111,650 RS7. Both cars wear the same aggressive front and rear fascias. However, the Spectacle sports black surrounds for the grille, windows, and harass outlets, as well as carbon-fiber trim on its front and rear splitters, lower front air intakes, and mirror caps. Check the right boxes, tho’, and the standard RS7 can be decked out in a almost identical scheme, at a cost of $5500. In any event, the RS7 Spectacle is a beautiful car, its fastback form and pinched side glass serving as an elegant complement to the car’s audacious RS-specific bodywork. Our test car’s $1075 cover of Panther Black Crystal Effect paint made it all the more striking.
Inwards, the Spectacle largely mirrors the standard RS7. Strongly bolstered seats hug the driver and front passenger, while the thick-rimmed, three-spoke steering wheel is the model by which all others should be judged. The meaty wheel is connected to a quick 13.0:1 rack that’s nicely weighted but ultimately, and sadly, devoid of much road feel.
The Audi Design Selection package, sensational to the RS7 Spectacle, adds striking blue inlays to the car’s carbon-fiber interior trim and blue stitching to the black leather and microsuede seats. The package is a no-cost option, but it requires that you very first spring for the $3000 black microsuede headliner. All RS7 Spectacle models come standard with four-zone climate control, a sunroof, navigation, a head-up display, a 7.0-inch TFT instrument cluster, and an 8.0-inch infotainment screen that’s managed by Audi’s MMI system. A $2450 Driver Assistance package fitted to our test car added active safety items such as adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, lane-keeping assist, and automatic high-beam headlights.
Notably missing from both the RS7 and RS7 Spectacle, tho’, is a center seat in the cars’ otherwise reasonably roomy back seat. As such, the RS7 can carry only four people. Those in need of five-passenger seating should consider the Cadillac CTS-V or wait for the upcoming Mercedes-AMG E63 S. What the RS7 lacks in maximum seating, however, it more than makes up for in cargo room, with twenty five cubic feet of space available under the powered rear hatch, a figure that lightly bests its main rivals and even tops Audi’s A4 Allroad wagon by one cubic foot.
If the standard Audi RS7 is a chef’s knife, then the RS7 Spectacle is a Santoku. Both are capable multipurpose instruments, but the RS7 Spectacle is simply a more precise device.
Highs and Lows
Highs:
Earnestly quick, capacious cargo hold, looks fantastic.
Brutal rail, steering devoid of feel, seats only four.