The Audi RS7 Performance is a vicious $152,000 supercar wrapped in a luxury sedan
... but you'll feel virtually none of that weight from the driver's seat. The RS7 Performance handles like a nimble supercar and seems much smaller and lighter than it actually is. A marvel of German engineering.
Again, this is a very large car, and you'll get a clear sense of its heft when it's parked in a standard American garage ...
There's some cargo space, too.
It scoots to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, according to Audi. The 8-speed automatic transmission produces a distinct, guttural "burp" between shifts, which can be heard from the signature large, oval-shaped exhaust outlets typically seen on Audi RS models.
Power delivery is equally as smooth. The RS7 Performance seamlessly transitions from a docile highway cruiser to a vicious supercar when you switch into "dynamic" mode, using the drive-select button, seen on the steering wheel.
Despite being the most extreme RS7 you can buy, the car is surprisingly quiet and composed on the road. It absorbed the mixed Los Angeles landscape: sometimes smooth and unbothered, most times craggy, unsettled, and jarring — with ease. Even with these 21-inch wheels.
Remember what I said about that monochrome aesthetic? Yeah, I wasn't kidding. Our test car also had the optional Alcantara-lined roof. That'll be an extra $3,000 if you'd like to enjoy one yourself.
The RS7 Performance's dash and center console have a monochrome aesthetic, typical of high-performance sports cars. Our tester had all tech features you would expect in a six-figure Audi, including a small digital display in the gauge cluster and screen atop the center stack. Audi's Virtual Cockpit will show up in the new model, in 2019.
You're greeted with more leather and Alcantara, and lots of carbon fiber here in the driver's seat.
Let's hop into these Valcona leather and Alcantara-wrapped sport seats and find out.
So, what's it like to drive a car this big and powerful and mean?
... and when you're not pretty, maybe mean is the way you get respect.
The RS7 retains the regular A7's standard shape. It's still a hulking sort of thing, still awkward-looking — but in this color, with these wheels, painted in high-gloss black, it starts to look meaner ...
The RS7 Performance is the fastest and fittest member of the A7 line, but unlike the A7, it's built by the Audi Sport racing division. "Performance" isn't just a name here, it's part of this car's DNA.
The Performance model we drove cranks out 605 horsepower and up to 553 pound-feet of torque — a bump from the 560 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque in the "entry-level" RS7.
The price difference between the base RS7 and the RS7 Performance we drove? About $37,000.
Those 605 ponies launch the RS7 Performance to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, according to Audi.
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