50TDI Sport Quattro

A simply brilliant long distance cruiser

The A7 replaced a 76,000 mile A5 Sportback 3.0 Quattro which I had owned for 8 years and had been faultless.

The deal I obtained on a pre-registered, Audi-owned, A7 was hard to believe.
With just 30 miles on the clock this 8 month old car would have cost £65,000 according to the Audi configurator, yet I paid just £37,500 !

In almost every respect it is a brilliant car. The interior is its best feature and no other car I tried gave the same degree of comfort or quality feel. The double glazed windows make the car uncannily silent at speed and it's almost impossible to tell it is a diesel.

Fuel economy for such a large, heavy and fast car is extraordinary. Over the first 5,000 miles I have averaged 39mpg, fully 25% better than the A5 it replaced and on a long run it averages 45mpg. The range is in excess of 600 miles and "recharging" takes 3 minutes. The Teslas and Jaguar iPace I tried can't possibly compete.

When they work, the assistance systems on the Audi function really well, especially the dynamic cruise control. The electronic screens and controls are both logical and practical however the Satnav is not quite up to scratch as mysteriously it often won't take house numbers and addresses that the 2010 map in the A5 always recognised.

However there has to be a serious question mark over the extensive electronic systems in the car and Audi's ability to diagnose and rectify faults.

My car was recently in the dealership for two weeks while I was on holiday to resolve a persistent "Parking Brake Fault" which switches off most of the assistance systems including the cruise control and associated lane keeping ability.

It was returned to my drive two days before I came home but the fault re-appeared within the first 100m I drove it out of my drive. It has now been back in the dealership for a further three days and even Audi UK has been unable to help the dealer diagnose and fix the problem. So far Audi's warranty bill at £90 an hour must be huge.

The jury is therefore out on long term reliability and unless the problem is permanently fixed and my car is extremely reliable throughout the remaining warranty period, I will not be able to chance keeping it. That would be a pity because in every other respect I love it.

PS : I agree entirely with the road test review in respect of the eight speed gearbox in which the throttle is like an on-off switch requiring gentle application. It's even more intriguing since the A5 exhibited exactly the same traits !

Report as offensive