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The Audi A7 Sportback has the looks of a (big) coupe but is still practical enough to be a family car. It鈥檚 quick and easy to drive, but it won鈥檛 entertain you like an authentic sports car.

On the flip side, few sports cars have an interior that鈥檚 as nicely put together as the A7鈥檚. You鈥檒l struggle to find any part of its interior that feels cheap and the minimalist design leaves plenty of room for optional luxury trim pieces.

The Audi A7 Sportback comes with one of the most high-tech infotainment systems of any car on sale, even in an era of huge, ultra-wide single curved glass in competitors. Its three screens vary from 8.6 inches to 12.3 inches and look far more futuristic than anything you鈥檒l find in the Mercedes CLS or the BMW 6 Series GT.

The 10.1-inch display in the centre of the dashboard sits in a brushed aluminium frame that鈥檚 designed to mimic the A7鈥檚 grille (and is also echoed in the centre of the steering wheel), while a second 8.6-inch display below governs the heating and ventilation.

Both screens are crisp and reasonably easy to read, but you鈥檒l need more than just a quick glance to choose between their mostly monochrome icons as you drive along. You don鈥檛 get any physical shortcut buttons to help you switch between the system鈥檚 main functions either 鈥� but then it鈥檚 the same story in both the BMW and Mercedes.

Sitting in the Audi A7 Sportback鈥檚 driver鈥檚 seat feels a bit like settling into the cockpit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but at least you won鈥檛 be distracted by an uncomfortable driving position.

All models have electrically adjustable heated leather front seats, though the A7鈥檚 sloping roofline comes at the expense of rear-seat headroom for the six footers. The upside is that even two tall rear passengers should have plenty of knee and elbow room.

On top of that, the boot is bigger than the ones offered in other cars of this type and its hatchback-style opening means it鈥檚 easier to load bulky items than it is in a traditional saloon.

The price of that big, heavy, practical body is that the Audi A7 Sportback doesn鈥檛 feel like a true sports car to drive on twisty roads. It鈥檚 not light on its feet and it leans in corners, although four-wheel drive is standard on all models so you won鈥檛 feel like it is ever short on grip.

While it鈥檚 not a sports car, there鈥檚 no doubt that driving the Audi A7 Sportback is a pleasure. Head for the motorway and you鈥檒l find the Audi is a relaxed (and also very safe) cruiser 鈥� particularly if you fit it with the optional air suspension. That said, even with it, the car bounces over potholes in town that would pass by unnoticed in a Mercedes CLS.

On the other hand, the Audi A7 Sportback is still an easy car to drive, thanks to a standard automatic gearbox that gives your clutch foot a rest in stop-start traffic. And, if that鈥檚 the kind of driving you鈥檒l be doing, the A7 feels at its best with the 335hp petrol engine. Otherwise, choose the 282hp diesel which is cheaper to run and has more effortless performance on tap.

Whichever engine you go for, you鈥檙e unlikely to be disappointed by the A7 if you鈥檙e looking for a car that blends style with practicality. But if you also want a car that drives like a sports car, you鈥檒l have to bite the bullet and choose the more expensive Porsche Panamera.

Check out some of the Audi A7 Sportback deals at carwow. You can also find some great used Audi A7 Sportback deals too.

The Audi A7鈥檚 range begins at over 拢50,000 and stretches beyond 拢85,000. The A7 range includes the 335hp 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which makes the A7 feel most alive, and there is also a plug-in hybrid version, which allows for 25 miles of electric driving.

There are similarly style-driven equivalents at Mercedes-Benz and BMW. The BMW 8 Series GranCoupe ranges from above 拢75,000 and and tops out at over 拢125,000, while the Mercedes-Benz CLS runs from a similar starting point as the BMW to over 拢85,000.

At the top of the A7 offering is the faster, sportier Audi S7, which ranges starts at over 拢70,000, while Audi鈥檚 own A5 Sportback nibbles at the bottom of the A7 range, starting from around 拢40,000 and topping out in excess of 拢50,000.

The Audi A7 is a wonderful long-distance cruise with strong performance, but the popular diesel is noisy under load, and its rivals are more entertaining to drive

In town

You might think a large, low-slung car like the Audi A7 Sportback would be tricky to drive in traffic 鈥� but not so. You get a surprisingly good view out thanks to the thin pillars beside the windscreen and it鈥檚 impressively manoeuvrable for such a large car.

This is thanks, in part, to its light steering and clever (optional) four-wheel steering system. The latter turns the rear wheels in the opposite direction to those in the front at low speeds to help you make tight U-turns in surprisingly narrow spaces. Sure, it鈥檚 no black cab, but it鈥檚 much easier to thread through congested city streets than a BMW 8 Series GranCoupe.

Unfortunately, it鈥檚 not all good news. Its sloping roofline means rear visibility is quite restricted, but at least you get rear parking sensors as standard. For even greater peace of mind you can get Audi鈥檚 optional Park Pilot system, which uses a variety of cameras and sensors to steer you into all sorts of parking spaces automatically.

Another upgrade you should consider for sustained urban use is the optional adaptive air suspension, which uses a cushion of air to separate your backside from bumps. It鈥檚 a significant improvement over the slightly bumpier standard suspension, or the firmer sports suspension you get as standard in S line models.

On the motorway

Most Audi A7s will spend the majority of their life on the motorway. It鈥檚 here where features like the standard-fit double-glazed windows really come into their own, too. These help quieten down unpleasant wind noise and make the Audi relaxing to drive for long periods.

It鈥檚 especially relaxing if you pick the optional Driver Assistance Tour Pack. This comes with adaptive cruise control that matches your speed to other cars and a system that steers for you on well-marked roads 鈥� providing you keep your hands on the wheel.

The Audi A7 Sportback hasn鈥檛 been crash-tested by Euro NCAP yet, but features such as these should help make sure it earns a high score.

On a twisty road

Don鈥檛 think Audi has sacrificed comfort to make the A7 sporty to drive. It鈥檚 more likely the other way around.

The compromise to comfort means the A7 leans a bit in tight corners but its standard four-wheel-drive system delivers plenty of reassuring grip on slippery surfaces.

The light steering is easier for town use, but doesn鈥檛 give the sort of experience keener drivers often look for on a twisty back road.

Quicker and more curvy roads are also more the forte of the petrol-powered A7s, because the diesels sound unpleasantly loud and rattly on full throttle and, possibly to avoid this, the automatic is reluctant to kick down to lower gears.

The Audi A7 is phenomenally comfortable in the front seats, but the low roof line compromises both the rear headroom and the otherwise-cavernous boot area

Practicality

Both front seats come with electric adjustment, lumbar support and heating features as standard so you won鈥檛 have any trouble getting comfy 鈥� or warm on a cold winter鈥檚 morning. Their supportive shape and soft leather trim make it easy to wile away hundreds of motorway miles without feeling cramped, too.

However, the dark roof lining on S line models can make the cabin feel a little cosy, (especially in the back, where headroom is tight for anyone over six-foot tall). Thankfully, the back seats are almost as well padded as those in the front and there鈥檚 a generous amount of knee room. Even with the front seats lowered as far as they鈥檒l go, there鈥檚 still just enough space for your passengers in the back to tuck their feet underneath the seat bases.

Need to carry three adults in the back at once? Better make sure your shortest friend takes the middle seat 鈥� it鈥檚 raised above the outer two and noticeably narrower. There鈥檚 also a very tall lump in the rear floor that鈥檒l get in the way of their feet, while the folding rear armrest in the seat back isn鈥檛 particularly comfortable to lean against for long periods. Having said that, the Mercedes-Benz CLS and 8 Series GranCoupe are no more comfortable.

The Audi A7鈥檚 low roofline means you鈥檒l have to stoop down to fit a child seat. Its rear doors open nice and wide, however, and the Isofix anchor points are a doddle to access beneath their removable plastic covers. Just make sure you keep them somewhere safe, like the pocket in the back of the front seats.

Space

The Audi A7 might be a low-slung coupe, but its cabin is still pretty roomy. There鈥檚 loads of headroom in the front seats and the wide footwells mean your passenger can really stretch out without having to sit at a slightly jaunty angle.

The Audi A7 might be a big car, but it doesn鈥檛 come with any particularly generous storage cubbies to help you keep its futuristic cabin looking neat and tidy. Sure, the glovebox is big enough for a 1.5-litre bottle, but the storage tray under the central armrest is only really large enough for a smartphone - which can be inductively charged - and the front door bins can carry a one-litre bottle each, or 1.5 litres at a pinch.

You do get a pair of cupholders in the centre consoles, but these will have trouble holding a giant cup of service station coffee securely.

The rear door bins aren鈥檛 any larger than those in the front, but you do get a neat folding tray built into the folding rear armrest. This armrest also gets a couple of flip-out cupholders but they鈥檒l struggle to hold anything wider than a small drinks can.

Boot space

The swoopy Audi A7 out-boots both the BMW 8 Series GranCoupe and the Mercedes-Benz CLS. With the back seats in place, the Audi will hold 535 litres of luggage 鈥� that鈥檚 115 litres more than the BMW and 45 more than the Mercedes.

It鈥檚 easier to pack bulky bags into the Audi than in its rivals, too, thanks to its large boot hatch that lifts the rear windscreen up and out of the way as it opens. You don鈥檛 have to heave large items over a tall boot lip in the Audi, either, and its wide load bay makes it a doddle to pack full of large boxes.

There isn鈥檛 any storage under the boot floor 鈥� that鈥檚 where Audi stores the batteries for the A7鈥檚 mild hybrid system 鈥� but you do get a 12V socket and two neat luggage nets to hold smaller items securely in place. All A7s come with a space-saver spare tyre, too.

Need to carry long luggage and some passengers in the back at once? The rear seats flip down in a three-way (40:20:40) split so you can load a few pairs of skis without having to sacrifice rear seat space.

Flip all the back seats down and the A7鈥檚 load bay grows to a roomy 1,390 litres. That鈥檚 more than double the CLS鈥檚 520-litre maximum capacity. The back seats don鈥檛 sit completely flat when folded, but there鈥檚 no annoying step in the floor so it鈥檚 still easy to slide heavy boxes or a bike right up behind the front seats.

Everything is stylish and looks good, but the infotainment is maybe not quite as responsive as some on the marketplace

When it was new in 2018, the Audi A7 came with one of the most high-tech infotainment systems of any car on sale. Even now, it is still technologically advanced and relatively intuitive to operate.

Its three screens vary from 8.6 inches to 12.3 inches, and while they looked far more futuristic than anything around in 2018, the Mercedes CLS has elevated the visuals considerably, but for little more practicality.

The A7鈥檚 10.1-inch display on the dashboard sits in a brushed aluminium frame that鈥檚 designed to mimic the Audi A7鈥檚 front grille, while a second 8.6-inch display below replaces the old car鈥檚 physical heating and ventilation controls.

Both screens are crisp and reasonably easy to read, but you鈥檒l need more than just a quick glance to choose between their icons as you drive. You don鈥檛 get any physical shortcut buttons to help you switch between the system鈥檚 main functions either 鈥� but then it鈥檚 the same in both the BMW and Mercedes.

What the Audi does give you is some feedback that makes pressing the screen feel just like clicking a mouse or unlocking a smartphone. It works reasonably well, but it鈥檚 still not as convincing as old-fashioned buttons and you do have to give the screen quite a hard prod before it鈥檒l accept your inputs. It can be slightly slow to respond if you tap rapidly to quickly change the temperature or heated seat settings, too.

Combine this with the rather small touch-sensitive shortcut buttons beside the larger central screen and the Audi鈥檚 infotainment system doesn鈥檛 feel quite as intuitive to use as BMW鈥檚 simpler iDrive.

Thankfully, the standard-fit Virtual Cockpit display helps make up for the other screens鈥� shortcomings. It looks fantastic and it鈥檚 dead easy to switch between screens showing a pair of large dials, detailed media playback information or a widescreen sat-nav display, using easy-to-reach buttons on the steering wheel.

Speaking of sat nav, the A7 comes with a handwriting-recognition feature that lets you write in an address letter by letter directly onto the touchscreen. It鈥檚 a neat gimmick to impress your friends with, but you鈥檒l probably end up using the much faster on-screen keyboard or voice control instead.

If you don鈥檛 like Audi鈥檚 own sat nav, you can always mirror your favourite smartphone navigation apps using standard Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, which also let you play music from streaming services through the Audi鈥檚 considerable stereo. There鈥檚 also a neat wireless charging pad and Audi鈥檚 Phone Box feature that uses the car鈥檚 stronger built-in aerial to boost your phone鈥檚 reception.

The A7鈥檚 standard 10-speaker stereo is perfectly punchy, but die-hard music fans will want to upgrade to one of two beefier Bang &Olufsen units instead. These come with either 16 or 19 speakers (depending on which option you choose) which help add a healthy dose of extra volume and bass.

The A7鈥檚 interior isn鈥檛 about glitz and gloss, but class and simplicity, using high quality materials to convey prestige and eschewing anything fiddly or garish, like the Mercedes CLS鈥檚 air vents, in favour of an overall theme.

So instead, you get masses of glossy black plastics, cold-to-the-touch brushed aluminium trims, plush leather and suede-like Alcantara on the seats, dashboard and doors.

Overall build quality is excellent, even in entry-level Sport models. Nothing creaks or flexes and you鈥檒l struggle to find any surface that feels even remotely cut-price.

Sport models also come with customisable LED mood lighting that鈥檒l let you bathe the doors and footwells, and highlight the dashboard, in an almost infinite combination of lurid colours 鈥� should you ever wish to.

Pick an S line version and you鈥檒l be treated to a sportier steering wheel with perforated leather trim and some fancy metal paddles for changing gear. The standard car鈥檚 grey roof lining gets a darker black finish and some extra metal trims appear on the door sills, pedals and dashboard.

The Audi A7鈥檚 highlight here is the plug-in hybrid version, which scores up to 235mph on fuel economy and attracts no road tax at all for the first year.

Despite pushing the near-two-tonne A7 to 60mph in only 6.3 seconds, the hybrid, which combines an electric motor with the 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbo petrol engine, manages just 30 grams of CO2 per kilometre.

The British favourite amongst the A7 range has been the turbodiesel, with the entry-level 2.0-litre four attracting a first-year road tax of 拢585, thanks to CO2 emissions of 152g/km, and eking out 50mpg.

The 40 TDI鈥檚 running costs change significantly depending on the trims. The聽Sport trim runs to 拢585 and 152g/km and the Sport Edition moves that to 拢230 of tax and 150g/km. The S Line鈥檚 bigger wheels raise emissions to 156g/km and push the road tax back to 拢585 while dropping the mpg figure to 48 (the Black Edition pulls it down again, to 47).

Audi has an enormous range of packages for the petrol-powered A7s, so it鈥檚 best to summarize the range, so you can check the rest in the tables.

The 45 TFSI 265 in Sport trim clocks 拢945 in road tax, 177 grams of CO2 and 36mpg, but the A7s don鈥檛 stay on that figure through the range.

The Sport Edition version of the 45 TFSI 265 quattro S Tronic lowers the emissions figure by a single gram, while the Sport Edition 45 TFSI 265 Sport ED takes it back again, with everything else remaining as is.

The S Line variant lowers the mpg figure to 35 and raises emissions to 182g/km but retains the same VED level.

The plug-in hybrid powertrain, wearing the bewildering official name tag of 鈥�50 TFSI e 17.9kWh Quattro Sport Ed S Tronic鈥�, can鈥檛 be bought in the entry Sport trim, but begins life in Sport Edition, where it delivers 29 grams of CO2 emissions, ekes out an official 235mpg and dodges the road tax altogether, thanks to its 25 miles of EV range.

The S Line trim drops its mpg down to 202 and raises its emissions to 33 grams, and that remains unchanged with the Black Edition and the Vorsprung.

The Audi A7 is rammed with the A6 saloon and Avant鈥檚 technology suite, and although there鈥檚 plenty of clever safety kit, the next-generation of the A8 is going to deliver a huge step forward when it comes.

Besides driver and seat-belt monitoring, the A7 delivers pre-sense emergency mitigation technologies at the front, which use radar and ultrasonic sensors to detect imminent crashes and prepare the car to meet them as safely as possible.

Driver assistance systems are many and varied, but include standard skid-control and lane-departure systems, and its active cruise control is one of the sharpest in the business.

All models use a ten-airbag occupant protection system from 2022, with dual airbags to take care of the front, the front-side, the front-knee, the curtain and the rear-side airbags.

The Audi A7 gets what is the most basic of car industry warranties - three years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes up first. Audi has a history of landing somewhere int he mid-table for reliability.