Audi RS7 Sportback 2019 first drive

In a performance car market in which supercar-fast, four-wheel-drive executive cars are now much more common than they ever used to be, Audi is about to bid to reclaim its familiar old perch.

A new generation of big, luxurious, V8-engined RS models is imminent, bringing with it powertrain and suspension technology that no fast Audi has had before – and this facelifted Audi RS7 Sportback will be part of it.

Despite its particularly punchy styling and mild hybrid propulsion, however, and quite contrary to what the billing might suggest, this isn’t a car that much alters the time-honoured measured dynamic character of the big Audi bahnstormer.

The RS7 is rapid without being raucous or raw; involving to a point, but almost too refined and reserved to be that exciting. It’s the modern fastback grand tourer for those who want a car that looks more special than a conventional super-saloon but that conducts itself with pace, assurance and a bit of decorum.

Just like the last one, the second-generation RS7 uses a near-600 horsepower twin-turbocharged petrol V8, an eight-speed automatic gearbox and a Torsen differential-based permanent four-wheel-drive system, with UK-spec cars also getting a torque-vectoring locking rear differential as standard. Audi Sport’s overhaul for the engine has added 40bhp and a roughly proportionate amount of torque, as well as 48V mild hybrid energy recuperation and drive assistance to match the economy-boosting cylinder shutdown technology that it already had. This is a car that will return cruising economy in the mid-to-high 20mpgs when you’re minded to pursue it – which, trust us, won’t be too often.

Just like with the last RS7, owners get the choice of standard height-adjustable air suspension or optional steel coils over interlinked adaptive dampers. The major chassis development, then, is its dynamic all-wheel-steering system, which combines an active-ratio system for the front axle with active rear steering.

That takes care of the Audi-brand performance technik, at any rate. Meanwhile, styling that’s clearly differentiated from that of the regular Audi A7 matters every bit as much to the RS7 owner, according to Audi’s market research. That explains the unusually pumped-up look of this car, which gets widened tracks and its own front and rear wing panels as well as particularly aggressive bumper and grille treatments – and which has plenty of visual menace in the metal.