The Audi RS 7 Sportback is not a shot in the dark, it’s a heat-seeking missile targeted at the niche extreme four-door coupé segment
Story: Jim Gorde
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
There are some things which, no matter how much you want them, don’t happen too often, if not often enough. There are also some things which happen so fast that you wonder if someone answered your prayers or there’s some darker, supernatural stuff at work. Most of the time, it’s usually coincidence and advanced engineering simply working together. How, then, would you explain something like this – the Audi RS 7? After taking it around town and giving it some beans and giving myself a beverage, I believe I found a way to explain the car. Or, at the very least, attempt to. It embodies the seven deadly sins, crossing over from the dark side to find a hapless soul in need of some serious horsepower with loads of attitude to boot.
Lust
The Audi A7 came about as a result of a burgeoning yet untapped four-door coupé segment. More powerful engines were inevitable, and with downsizing already on everyone’s top-10 list, if not done and dusted, the big twin-turbo V8, or rather, the smaller (compared to a twin-turbo 6.0-litre W12) twin-turbo V8 from the Bentley Continental GT made its appearance in a 420-PS guise in the S7. But Audi didn’t stop just there. Boost was upped and the engine was given steroids to turn the already manic wolf into a rabid wolverine. Enter the RS 7 – the unification of matte-grey, carbon-fibre, alcantara, 560 PS and hell’s bellows. If all of these elements won’t make you lust for a car, what will?
