Audi A7 Sportback Review 2024

The A7 Sportback is glamorous enough to draw admiring glances from passers-by, and you don’t really sacrifice too much in the way of practicality to get it: rear headroom is a fraction tighter than in a saloon, but that’s it. It also gives you the impeccable build quality, generous equipment list, strong safety record and excellent refinement that you expect from a high-end Audi. Not as polished to drive as you might think, but still easy to recommend, even against impressive rivals like the Mercedes CLS.

Just because you’re a successful businessperson, it doesn’t mean you necessarily want to look like one. When somebody sees a luxury limousine like an Audi A8 or a Mercedes S-Class going by, they usually assume such a person is inside, but not all such people want that sort of attention. They might, however, want attention of a different kind, and that’s where the A7 comes in.

It’s designed to deliver most of the same traits as a luxury saloon, but with a good bit more style thrown in. It certainly achieves that, the bold details and crisp creases combining with the swooping roofline to create some proper visual drama. 

And yet, even though some interior space has been sacrificed in pursuit of this visual theatre, it’s only a tiny amount. There’s a pinch less rear headroom than you’ll find in an A6 or A8, but it is only a pinch and tall six-foot colleagues will be fine in the back.

What’s more, the boot is actually marginally bigger than an A8’s, and because it’s a hatch rather than a saloon, you also get better access to the space. In fact, you could argue that it’s actually more practical than the A8 overall, and we wouldn’t argue against you.

And what are these other luxury car traits on which the A7 delivers? Well, quality is the main one. The interior looks like it’s been lifted straight out of the A8, so the materials are dense and sophisticated, while the fit and finish are flawless.

This is a car that feels posh enough for the very highest of high-flyers. No matter which version you pick, there’s also a huge amount of luxury kit on board, and that also helps occupants feel spoiled.

The A7’s excellent rolling refinement is also very luxury limousine-like. Wind- and road noise are really well suppressed, while the whole range of petrol and diesel engines is quiet and smooth, not to mention powerful.

What’s not so limousiney? The ride comfort for one thing. All versions are on the firm side - uncomfortably so on the versions with lowered sports suspension - so this isn’t the wafty land yacht you might be expecting. It’s no sports car, either: it feels capable and assured in bends, but it’s not all that much fun due to its hefty weight and remote steering.

You might not get on so well with the complex touchscreen infotainment system, either, but other than that, the A7 is an incredibly tempting package. Still want that Mercedes CLS?

Depending on how your A7 is specced, you’ll get one of four-suspension setups. Sport cars get the standard suspension, and this is the one we’d stick with. It’s not perfect by any means, sometimes struggling to deal with lumps and bumps at all speeds, but it’s comfortable enough for enough of the time to maintain the luxury car impression.

The S line and Black Edition car, however, have a lowered and stiffened set-up designed to deliver keener control in the corners, which it does, but it also scuppers the ride, making it uncomfortably firm.

An adaptive set-up is also offered, which we haven’t had the opportunity to try, and full-on air suspension is also available, which is standard on the Vorsprung version and optional on some others. Even this isn’t perfect, because you still feel more of a bad road surface than you’d want to in a luxurious car like this. 

If you’re expecting the A7’s sleek styling to translate into a sporty driving experience, you’ll be disappointed. It’s too big and heavy for that, and the steering is overly light and rather remote. 

The entry-level diesel is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit - badged as the 40 TDI - and with 204PS, the performance it gives should be adequate enough for most drivers. You’re pulled around with a reasonable amount of urgency, and decent low-rev pull means it’s flexible, too.

If you want something quicker, the 45 TDI or the 50 TDI should fit the bill. Both are 3.0-litre V6s with 231PS and 286PS, respectively. We haven’t tried the former but its performance figures indicate that it’s much quicker than the 40 TDI, while the 50 TDI is quicker still. It feels properly strong in the lower half of the rev range, too, so much so that you’ll be pelting along at a serious pace without really trying.

We haven’t tried the entry-level petrol, the 45 TFSI, which uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit with 245PS. We have tried the 55 TFSI, though, which has a 3.0-litre V6 petrol with 340PS. Again, it’s quick, even quicker than the 50 TDI against the stopwatch. However, you do have to work it harder for best effect, so the performance, although very strong, doesn’t feel as effortless.

However, while all the engines on offer are really good, we can’t say the same about the automatic gearboxes. Depending on the version you pick, you either get a seven-speeder or an eight-speeder, and both are very slow to respond to requests for more speed.

The usual airbags and electronic aids to maximise traction and stability, all versions have automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and LED lighting at both ends of the car. From S line trim upwards, you get cleverer Matrix Beam LED headlights.

Range-topping Vorsprung cars come with a few more safety-focused bits on top. These include a head-up display, camera-based traffic sign recognition and a semi-autonomous adaptive cruise control system. Further autonomous features can be found on the options list, along with a wide variety of other gear.

The A7 has achieved the maximum five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests, and that should provide plenty of peace-of-mind.

Up front, there’s as much room as you’d find in any limo, while in the back, legroom is also very generous. And while the swooping roof does mean a shade less headroom, there’s still enough for six foot adults to sit comfortably (although you might find your bonce brushing the ceiling if you’re much taller than that).

You won’t want to squeeze a third person onto the rear bench due to limited shoulder room, a narrow middle seat and a shortage of foot space. You won’t have any issues fitting a pair of bulky child seats in, though.

The boot is big, slightly bigger than a Mercedes CLS’s, and because the A7 is a hatchback rather than a saloon, you get much better access to the space available, although you will have to muscle heavy items over a fairly big load lip. The rear seats drop in a 40-20-40 format, but the backrests lie at a slight angle, meaning your extended load area is sloped.

You’d expect any Audi to deliver cabin quality worthy of the brand, and the A7 delivers. Every surface has bags of sensory appeal, and even if you hunt around in the lower reaches of the cabin trying to find materials that let the side down, you’ll emerge empty-handed.

The way it’s all assembled is equally impressive: every panel fits together perfectly and there’s no hint of movement in any of the joins. This gives the car a wonderfully substantial, solid feel. And, while different versions might give you the odd interior styling tweak here or alternative trim piece, the quality is a constant throughout all versions.

The A7’s dashboard has two screens.The 8.6-inch one on the bottom handles the air-conditioning system, the various driving modes and a few other miscellaneous functions, while the top one - all 10.1 inches of it - takes care of everything else.

It all looks great and delivers a really high-tech feel to the cabin. The graphics are sharp and the responses are fast and consistent, so there are no annoying pauses.

However, the system has so much going on that finding your way around it can be a bit difficult. And, like with any touchscreen, it’s more distracting to use while driving than traditional knobs and buttons would be, because you have to concentrate so hard on hitting exactly the right part of the screen, which you can’t find by touch alone.

All the functionality you’d expect is covered, including navigation, DAB radio, Apple Carplay/Android Auto and wireless phone charging. Upgrade to the Vorsprung model, meanwhile, and you also get an upgraded Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system.

At the time of writing, prices started at around £47,000 for the Sport 40 TDI model and rose up to a maximum of around £77,000 for the Vorsprung model in either 55 TFSI or 50 TDI form. That’s if you don’t count the RS7 model, which costs between £94,000 and £111,000.

Compare prices with those of equivalently powered rivals, and they’re absolutely bang-on with the Mercedes CLS, which is no great surprise. Prices for the BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe and Porsche Panamera are considerably higher, and these don’t offer the more affordable versions that the Audi and Merc do, either.

The A7’s resale values are also very similar to the Merc’s, and both hold onto their value considerably better than the BMW or Porsche, meaning you’ll get a bigger slice of your investment back when the time comes to sell your car on.

Strong residual values also help keep monthly payments down for finance customers. At the time of writing, Audi’s website was offering the 40 TDI S line model on a four-year/40,000-mile arrangement for less than £490 per month, assuming an initial deposit of just under £8000. That represents a deposit contribution of £9000 from Audi.

That’s still a lot better than the V6 diesels, though, which both have identical figures of around 40mpg. The petrols are significantly thirstier, unsurprisingly, with the 45 TFSI delivering 34mpg and the 55 TFSI giving just 30mpg. Compared with rivals, all those figures are about par for the course.

Premiums are never going to be cheap, then, but if you’re wealthy enough to buy an A7, insurance costs are unlikely to worry you. All versions will cost you £475 per year to tax between years two and six of the car’s life, and then £150 per year after that.

Like every Audi, the A7 has an unlimited-mileage warranty for two years, with a third year of cover also provided up to a limit of 60,000 miles, which is fairly average. You might also find it slightly concerning that Audi finished worryingly near the foot of the table of manufacturers in the 2019 JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study, and to be honest, other reliability surveys don’t tell a drastically different story, either.

A posh - not to mention expensive - car like the A7 needs to have lots of creature comforts, and you won’t feel short-changed. Even entry-level Sport trim comes with two-zone climate control, cruise control, leather upholstery, LED ambient lighting, keyless go, heated front seats, a powered tailgate and automatic lights and wipers, on top of all the infotainment and safety gear we mentioned earlier.

S line cars add the sports suspension along with sports front seats in leather and alcantara, while the Black Edition models add nothing but a few visual upgrades.

The range-topping Vorsprung model, meanwhile, comes fully loaded, with four-zone climate control, a panoramic roof, power-closing doors, heated rear seats, air suspension and all-wheel steering.