Audi’s Renn Sport team have created a stealthy high-tech saloon in the RS 7 Sportback.

The world appears to have collectively fallen in love with the Audi RS 6, and we can fully understand why. After all, what can you not love about a 592bhp all-wheel-drive supercar-eating estate car? But as lairy and wild as that car might seem, there is another Audi RS car that lurks in the shadows. It wears a more discreet suit, but it is every bit as menacing. Say hello to the RS 7 Sportback. 

The first generation Audi RS 7 Sportback didn’t have the same visual impact as the RS 6, primarily due to it lacking those bulging wheel arches. Instead, that RS 7 Sportback stuck to the same body as the conventional A7 versions costing almost half the price, resulting in less kerbside appeal. This time around the engineers at Audi petitioned the management and beancounters to push the boat out so that this second-generation model gets a unique look. 

Audi’s designers had already made the A7 Sportback look attractive, tidying up its droopy bum that was such a part of the first-generation’s look, and the RS 7 gets an even meaner look. Now, only the bonnet, front doors, roof and tailgate from the A7 Sportback carry across, every other bit of bodywork is unique to the car. The front has enlarged vents that seem capable of sucking half the world in, while at the rear there’s an aggressive diffuser braced by two huge oval exhausts.

Ease yourself into the elegantly sculpted sports seats, which feature a honeycomb-like stitching pattern through the centre along with the RS logo embossed into the seatback, and you’re met by a typically high-end interior for which Audi has become renowned. It’s a mostly similar affair to the regular A7 Sportback, with a 12.3-inch ‘Virtual Cockpit’ digital instrument cluster and a set of two touchscreens stacked in the centre console and angled slightly towards the driver. A bespoke RS display in the Virtual Cockpit provides more detailed driving data including a shift light when you run into the rev limiter. The flat-bottomed RS steering wheel carries two RS-labelled buttons that let you adapt the car into an optimum preset performance mode in one press. 

Looks aside, at the heart of the RS 7 is a 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 that produces a total power output of 592bhp and 800Nm. That’s a hefty increase of 39bhp and 100Nm over the previous version. Yet despite all that power and performance there is a green streak in the RS 7’s make up. The boffins have added Audi’s cylinder-on-demand tech to the V8, meaning that when you’re just ambling along combustion in four of the cylinders is deactivated, meaning it runs as a V4 to help save fuel. The good thing is that you don’t notice this occurring other than a small symbol appearing on the digital instrument display. 

Aiding the powertrain is a 48-volt mild-hybrid system comprising of a small lithium-ion battery in the rear of the car and an uprated belt alternator starter. The former isn’t large enough to propel the car, but it does have enough capacity to keep all of the ancillary systems such as the electromechanical steering, brakes and interior systems operational while the engine temporarily switches off. The system allows this to happen from 55 to 160 mph and for the most part, you’d barely even notice it taking place. According to Audi, it can save almost a litre of fuel for every 62 miles, though considering the RS 7 averages 24.7mpg, we don’t think those buying one are going to be overly concerned about eking every penny’s worth from the fuel tank. 

As nice as these elements are and as much as they add to the Dr Jeckyll nature, the real reason you buy a car like this is for its Mr Hyde persona. So, flick the Drive Select to Dynamic mode, engage the eight-speed transmission’s Sport setting and prepare to be blown away by what a 2,065kg five-seat super saloon can do. Let launch control do its thing, and you can barely lift you head off that cushioned headrest as the Audi slingshots you past 62mph in 3.6 seconds without appearing to let up as even the digital speedo struggles to add numbers to its display. From 62mph the rear spoiler extends, and as it passes through the 74mph mark, the car lowers in height by 10mm to optimise aerodynamics and further improve stability. Top speed is limited to 155mph as standard, but buyers can optionally have it increased to 174mph as part of the RS Dynamic pack, while the RS Dynamic package plus fully delimits the top speed to 189mph. 

Once you think you’ve had enough of going fast, it hauls to a stop seemingly every bit as quickly when you drop anchor. The colossal 10-piston fixed calipers bite into the 420mm front discs (and 370mm rear discs) scrubbing off speed at a rate that sees you becoming well aquatinted with your seatbelt. Optional ceramic brakes are also available and increase to 440mm rotors on the front and weigh 34kg less than the steel brakes. 

But there’s more to the RS 7 than that straight-line pace, as you’ll discover when you get it into some twisty sections, as we did by sampling the almost 2.5 mile-long Zotzenbach hill climb in Germany. Helping to dispatch that power is Audi’s quattro all-wheel-drive transmission that comprises of a mechanical centre differential and a sport differential on the rear axle, which has been tuned by Audi Sport. It mostly provides a 40:60 front-to-rear split but can send up to 70 percent of drive to the front or as much as 85 percent of power to the rear. Alongside that is the dynamic all-wheel steering — standard on UK-spec cars — which helps to shrink the car’s size at slower speeds as it turns the rear wheels up to five degrees in the opposite direction to the fronts, shaving up to a metre from the turning circle. The opposite happens at higher speeds as the rears turn in phase with the front wheels by up to two degrees resulting in more precise changes in direction. 

Through fast flowing sections the RS 7 Sportback demonstrates prodigious levels of grip that have you feeling grateful for the side support in the front seats. Even as you ratchet up the pace the Audi never seems all that phased and only when you push towards the limits of physics does the RS 7’s bulk start to make itself known. The adaptive air suspension copes quite well across a variety of surfaces, even when running on the larger 22-inch wheels. One of the most impressive aspects of the Audi is its ability to cover vast amounts of ground with such ease. The user-friendly nature of its handling is a significant part of this 592bhp super saloon’s appeal. Sure, we’d like if those twin oval exhausts bellowed a little louder, but at the same time when you’re going about your daily business, it remains stealthy enough so as not to draw too much unwanted attention. 

Model: Audi RS 7 Sportback

Price: £97,090 

Engine: 4.0-litre turbocharged petrol V8

Power: 592bhp

Torque: 800Nm

Max speed: 189mph

0-62mph: 3.6 seconds 

MPG: 24.7 mpg (combined)

CO2: 261g/km

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