THE VERY FASTBACK(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 54

The second generation version of Audi's RS 7 Sportback performance model delivers a massive 630PS engine and puts that power through all four wheels to scuttle from standstill to 62mph in just 3.4 seconds. You'll pay nearly £115,000 for the privilege but the accompanying soundtrack might well be the clincher: pure V8 muscle car.

Background word count: 258

You never quite know what you're going to get with an RS-badged Audi. Some are excellent, others merely make great autobahn expresses while a few are just head-scratchingly patchy in their array of talents. Just lately, however, Audi has been on a decent run. The current RS 4 is one of the better examples of its vintage and the current fourth generation RS6 is the best example of a big, fast Audi estate to date. Minded of this slightly hit and miss record, we were a little curious to see quite how this second generation RS 7 would turn out. It was first launched in this current form in 2019, when it arrived with a 600PS 32-valve petrol V8. Three years later, to keep sales ticking over, Audi upgraded this model to 'performance' status, which meant power was uprated to 630PS: that's the version we'll be looking at here. Even up against the likes of the Porsche Panamera, the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG and the BMW M8 Gran Coupe, this Audi appears to holds its own. The price stands up well and there's lots of new tech, including 48-volt mild hybrid electrical engineering for extra efficiency. And there's a clever Launch Control system, plus wheel-selective torque control and a quattro sport differential that shifts drive torque between the rear wheels when cornering at speed. There's also a new five-link rear suspension design. Best of all, it's very fast. It's always reassuring to know that when you're spending this sort of money, you're buying something genuinely and demonstrably rapid.

Driving Experience word count: 287

Like its predecessor, this second generation RS 7 uses a 4.0-litre TFSI V8, but now it's provided with 630PS and gains 48-volt mild hybrid tech. Best of all, it remains a thoroughbred powerplant in terms of character and sound, as 62mph flashes by in just 3.4s on the way to a 174mph maximum. The driver can influence those aural fireworks by adjusting settings for the sports exhaust, one of the configurable elements you can influence, then programme into the car's customisable RS1 and RS2 drive modes. All of this power's controlled via an eight-speed tiptronic auto transmission with optimised shift times and a Launch Control function. Through the turns, the quattro 4WD system's Torsen differential pushes 60% of drive to the rear axle in normal conditions, though at the slightest sign of slip, up to 70% of torque can go frontwards, or up to 80% to the rear, depending on what's needed. As with the previous generation model, there's also a sport differential to vary torque across the rear axle; and wheel-selective torque control to maximise traction through the turns. Which should be all you need to ruin the day of that supercar driver behind. To this recipe, for this MK2 model, Audi Sport has further added a Dynamic all-wheel steering system, via which the rear wheels are steered in the same direction as the fronts at high speeds for greater stability. And there's air suspension on an RS 7 for the first time, with the other key change being the adoption of a variable-ratio 'Progressive' steering rack, which gives more direct responses to larger steering angles. But there's still not the kind of feel you'd ideally really want when pressing on at speed through tight turns.