Audi A7 - Luxury, Speed, Practicality and Style

Is the Audi A7 the perfect daily driver for the dad that wants it all? Short answer, YES.

During the time I owned the Audi A7, I under appreciated the car for it versatility and how well rounded the package really was. From the factory, the A7 is a good car. The 3.0T (supercharged) motor is stout, the interior is class leading, the design is attractive to most eye, it could fit a couple adults in the front with a car seat in the with a set of golf clubs and a stroller in the trunk.

If I were everyone going to recommend a car to someone that want's a car that does everything well and get's a decent amount of attention at Car's and Coffee, I'd have them first look at an A7.

Where the car really excels is in when you start to throw some mods at it!

Exterior:

The wheels arches will swallow a set of 20x10.5 et28 wheels at all four corners with ease. With the wide hips, a concave wheel will fit well and looks even better when installed on this 4 door "coupe".

Though it's not a light weight, coilovers (ST Coilovers in this instance) give the car a little more confidence in corners and help achieve that perfect wheel fitment.

Lastly, the adaptive rear spoiler is something that isn't necessarily noticed but is a great surprise when the car travels over 80 MPH. It's almost like the car wants everyone around you to know that it's about to turn into a spaceship and take off. Add a small carbon fiber lip spoiler and in your rear view mirror you get a beautiful view of carbon when the spoiler lifts up.

Engine Mods:

The 3.0T motor is found across several Audi models and takes extremely well to a tune. Finding the "best" tuning company for this motor is like asking 3 different people their favorite flavor of ice cream, the answers are subjective and often very, but you really can't go wrong. Regardless if you go APR, IE or GIAC you are going to be look at around a 70 HP and 100 FTQ bump from just a tune! Throw that power at all four wheel and this car delivers a night and day different from the factory.

If that's not enough, add dual pulley's and an ultracharger on 93 octane and you're in the neighborhood of 498 hp and 444 FT-LBS to the crank!

All of this is handled well by the ZF 8-speed transmission that has been proven for it's reliability and quick shifts.

Exhaust:

Audi has made a name for itself in the market with their motors being relatively quiet and understanded and that is no different here. Unless you look at the RS line, most of Audi's exhaust notes are muted at best from the factory.

Luckily, this can be changed relatively easily with some resonator deletes, addition of X-pipes or a full aftermarket exhaust, just depending on your taste and how deep your pockets are.

In the instance of my A7 I installed a full Borla exhaust. This was absolute garbage, it didn't improve the sound much at higher RPM's and droned like crazy when cruising. From there I did a bunch of research and decided to keep the Borla midsection and replace the mufflers with some S7 quad mufflers. This was a perfect setup for me as sounded deep on cold start, got higher pitched when you were under throttle and didn't drone at all. I couldn't have been happier once this was dialed in!

Interior:

From an interior perspective, Audi competes well for the top of it's class. The interior aesthetics are very pleasing to the eye and everything is functional without being confusing or intrusive. Take for instance the radio volume control knob located next to the shift lever where your hand is often resting, no need to move your hand to the center console stake or find it on the steering wheel, just move it over slightly to adjust the volume up or down.

From a gauge perspective, the LED lite gauges that are tilted slightly inward towards each other give the cluster a cockpit fighter jet feel. It's simple, clean and just works well.

The leather seats and arm rests never game me an issue with premature wear and the soft touch materials always felt upscale.

From a stereo perspective, this is where the Audi lineup slips a little. Let me start out by saying I'm not an audiophile but I enjoy various types of music (Country, EDM, hip hop, classic rock, ect.). On paper, the upgraded Bang & Olufsen system (a $5,000+ option at the time of purchase) seems like it'd fit the bill but after hearing it I'd pass. It sounds decent and looks beautiful (especially with the tweeters riding out of the dash) but the bass is lacking and in my opinion not worth with it.

I had the Bose stereo and though not great, the vocals meet my needs and all I had to do was address the bass. Luckily, this is pretty simple considering the Bose system has a subwoofer hidden in the spare tire well (this may be true as well for the B&O system but I don't have first hand knowledge so I can't confirm). All I did was upgrade the subwoofer in the factory location (the hard plastic box needed a little modification as well with a heat gun) and added a dedicated amp to power it.

All additional parts were mounted in (or above) the current stock locations and this was the ultimate OEM+ mod to give the stereo in the A7 some life. Also, take into consideration that this is a hatchback so the bass travels well and fills the cabin perfectly!

Packages, Options and Variants:

The A7 was initially offered in 2012 and had a facelift in 2016 to add some features to an originally great car. When people refer to the model years, sometimes you'll hear mention of a C7 and a C7.5, and this reference can be made to both the A7 and A6 as they share the same platform.

From an exterior perspective the C7.5 Audi has slightly reshaped the grille to round off at the top corners, and the headlights have been slightly reshaped to offer a slimier profile where all models in the lineup come standard as LED. In the rear, the taillights feature new internals somewhat matching what they have done in the front, with a consistent LED strip across the rear. Additionally, they have made the tailpipes rectangular, making it much easier to add an aftermarket quad tip exhaust without having to switch out the rear fascia (like you had to do when you upgraded the C7 due to it's standard single oval exhaust pipe on each side).

On the interior, it looks very similar but there are some notable upgrades worth mentioning. In 2016 the C7.5 platform received the latest MMI infotainment systems which improved lag and made improved the resolution of the display. More importantly, Audi has added a multifunction TFT display in between the analog speedometer and tachometer. This now gives you the ability to display a navigation map and/or full multimedia information with very rich context. It's not as fancy/feature rich as the fully digital Audi Cockpit that was introduced but it's seamless keeping true to an analog feel.

Performance is improved from the factory with an upgrades 333-HP output in the C7.5. Though this isn't drastic and will be negated if you tune the car, it's worth mentioning. What the Audi C7.5 from the factory that can't be replicated (exactly) are some additional pops and bangs from the exhaust and that beautiful Audi noise on upshift similar to the sound of the DSG.

Something I didn't touch on but is constantly thought of are "the other" C7 and C7.5 variants

such as the S6, S7 and RS7. If more power is what you need, these not be overlooked as these all come with a twin turbo V8 engine ranging from 450 HP (S6 and S7 respectively) to 605 HP FROM THE FACTORY.

Those number are extremely impressive and only increase by staggering numbers when you start to look at the tuning capabilities to these platforms. It's not uncommon for a tuned RS7 to drive to track, run 10's in the quarter mile and drive home on the same tank of gas with a car seat in the back. They are truly the ultimate sleeper cars.

Additionally, on top of the insane power these come factory with air suspension so you have the ability to adjust the car's ride height electronically with a tune or aftermarket module. This in and of itself had made attractive to the option to upgrade to the S-line.

Lastly, the quilted seats with carbon interior (little known fact is that the thin carbon fiber trim piece closest to the windshield is the longest piece of carbon fiber Audi makes from the factory) give this car the ultimate mix of luxury, speed and comfort that one could ask for in a daily driver.

With great power comes great responsibility, and often increased running costs, which is true in this instance.

From an S6/S7/RS7 perspective the greatest Achilles heel are the turbos. There are various theory's as to why they fail ranging from lengthy factory recommended 10K oil changes to an faulty oil screen but a quick google search will justify that the factory turbo's going bad is not "uncommon". Some use the turbo's going bad as an opportunity to upgrade to RS7 turbo's which is a relatively cheap way to get you into that 600HP club.

Another thing to consider are the cost of brakes. Though this shouldn't be the sole reason to consider the move up to the S series, at $2,000+ for all four corners it's something to consider when shopping the used market.

Outside of those two primary cost concerns, the C7 and C7.5 platform seem to go through motor mounts around the 60K mile mark and I had a water pump go out around the same time. Outside of that, I'd say these are pretty reliable cars given they have been maintained properly.

As I mentioned in the opening comments, I owned a APR Stage 1 Silver 2012 (C7) A7 and since then I have somewhat regretted my decisions. Knowing what I know and having the pleasure of owning a C7 A7 and spending countless hours researching S6's/S7's/RS7's C7.5, what would I do now?

Here is my recommendations:

First and foremost, unfortunately I often am budget conscience when I purchase a car and I don't think I'd enjoy paying the annual person property tax of 4% (I live in northern Virginia) on a $60K+ plus car so even thought the RS7 is the ultimate no-brainer option here I just can't justify it financially.

Secondly, though the S6 and S7 have a great motor and an amazing DSG transmission, I don't see myself taking this to the track and building this to a 600HP beast that I race so the possibility of having to the turbo's at a cost of $5K+ isn't worth the additional horsepower, quilted seats and/or carbon trim. Also, to be honest, I think that A7 sounds better but that's very subjective.

So that leaves me potentially with a C7.5 A7 back in my garage.

Below is how I'll probably spec it:

The Audi A7 comes offered in multiple packages which range from Premium and Premium-Plus to Prestige. My advice would be go with the C7.5 Prestige package, this comes with most available options and adds the S line exterior treatment, adaptive xenon headlamps, ventilated front seats, a power tilt-telescoping steering wheel, sport steering wheel with paddle shifters and in the C7.5 it comes Heads up Display standard.

Must have options would include:

- Heads Up Display

- Bose audio with upgraded aftermarket subwoofer

Must have modifications:

- IE Stage 2 tune w/upgraded supercharger pulley

- IE Cold Air intake to hear that supercharge whine a little more

- Coilovers (manufacturer is currently TBD)

- AWE Track Exhaust

- 20x10.5 et 28 wheels

- Carbon fiber rear lip spoiler

Will this car be the fastest, best handling 4 door available? Absolutely not! BUT it's different, looks great, sound great and get some attention at gas stations and local cars and coffee meets.

In in my eyes this is the best all around daily driver you can buy that your kid will be proud to show up to school in without blowing that budget and having to sacrifice money that could be going towards their 529.....

#audia7 #c7a7