2020 Audi A7 Sportback Review

The 2020 Audi A7 strikes an enviable balance between luxury, performance, practicality, and style. Moreover, with its 48-volt mild-hybrid powertrain, the A7 is even somewhat frugal. It is the automotive equivalent of a German chocolate cake that’s made out of vegetables, albeit one procured from a pricey artisan bakery and not Safeway.

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The A7 pops into 2020, this design’s sophomore year, in Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige trims. Other than some mild options shuffling, the A7 is unchanged. 

Beneath its shapely body, which evolves its groundbreaking predecessor’s lines with sharper creases and brighter LED detailing, the A7 makes use of a 3.0-liter turbocharged V-6. With 335 horsepower shuttled to all four wheels through a 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, the A7 provides brisk performance. Its air suspension includes adaptive dampers that smother road imperfections exceptionally well. Handling is confident, if not especially spirited. Opting for the available rear-wheel steering and active rear differential make the car sharper, though not more engaging. 

Inside, the A7 is loaded with screens in most configurations. Even the base Premium car has two screens on the center stack that absorb most climate, audio, and infotainment functions. The system requires considerable acclimation, though it’s relatively intuitive given the sheer volume of functions handled. A larger screen comes on Premium Plus models as well as a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster that can double as a glitzy display for the infotainment system. 

All those screens impart a somewhat sterile feel inside, though warmer upholstery hues and the various wood trims on offer help a little. The A7 has comfortable front seats that offer cooling and massage, and the rear seat has good leg room if limited head space. Cargo room is a plus thanks to the nearly hidden hatchback lines. With the rear seats folded, the car can lug upward of 49 cubic feet of items, which bests some SUVs. 

Active safety features include standard automatic emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection. Options include adaptive cruise control, active lane control, and advanced features that warn drivers and automatically brake the car if they detect cross traffic. 

The A7 is a relatively low-guilt luxury car when it comes to fuel consumption, too. With an EPA combined rating of 24 mpg, the A7 is something of a fuel-sipper given its prodigious power. 

PERFORMANCE AND DRIVE

The entry-level diesel is a 198bhp 2.0-litre four cylinder, badged 40 TDI. It’s the slowest of all the engines but will still have you cruising at – or beyond – motorway speeds with relative ease. It's the only engine available without quattro four-wheel drive fitted as standard, and the front-wheel drive version officially cracks 0-62mph in 8.3sec, but if you option the quattro system this drops to 7.0sec.
To get a diesel with more serious poke you need one of the two 3.0-litre V6 engines. We haven’t tried the 228bhp 45 TDI yet, but the 282bhp 50 TDI is quick. It’s grunty from low revs and has plenty left in the mid-range to propel you along rapidly without it breaking a sweat. In fact, it'll all but match anything a BMW 630d will do in terms of acceleration, although the more powerful Mercedes-Benz CLS 400d is significantly faster.

In a similar vein, there's also a petrol V6: the 335bhp 3.0-litre 55 TFSI.  It's quicker than the 50 TDI (claimed 0-62mph takes 5.3sec compared with 5.7sec), but you have to rev it harder to extract all its performance. Our favoured engine, which strikes the best balance between costs and performance, is the 242bhp 2.0-litre petrol that's badged up as 45 TFSI. Again, you need to rev it hard to get the best from it, in which case it'll officially hit 62mph in 6.2sec, but when you're not revving the bejesus out of it there's enough low to mid-range oomph to deliver comparatively relaxed pace.

That brings us neatly on to our big gripe with the A7. All the engines are smooth, and the A7 is relaxed in terms of wind and road noise — both are very well suppressed compared to the CLS — but its gearboxes, both the seven-speed dual-clutch and the eight-speed auto,  can be frustratingly jerky. That's because they're so reluctant to kick down, and when they do, the revs flare up erratically. And because of how slowly they react, even from a standstill, trying to pull onto a busy roundabout, for example, can also be quite a challenge.
The A7 is no sports car, whichever engine you choose. Opt for quattro four-wheel drive and, yes, there's plenty of traction combined with enough outright grip that the A7 will hang on in corners well. But it's not much fun — it's merely effective. The steering isn't very reactive at the start of turns, and even though it builds weight and reasonable accuracy from that point on, precious little information from the front tyres filters through to the steering wheel to tell you what's going on.
Various suspension options are available; Sport models have passive springs and dampers as standard, while S line versions have stiffened and lowered suspension that helps reduce body roll in corners — and does so quite successfully but at the expense of a firm ride. The optional adaptive dampers give you the option to choose the stiffness of the ride, and would be our recommendation. In the softer settings these allow a supple and calm ride 95 per cent of the time, with only particularly sharp abrasions causing a thump. Dynamic mode tightens everything up when you want to drive more spiritedly.
Optional air suspension is available for the more powerful engines (it's standard on Vorsprung trim). Much like the adaptive dampers this treats you to a wafty high-speed ride but still crashes over really broken surfaces. No A7 jars you as harshly as a Mercedes CLS can, though.

One of the options you might be considering is four-wheel steering. This certainly helps low-speed manoeuvrability in tight spots, but gives the steering an inconsistent feel at other times. Factor in how much it costs and we'd suggest it’s best to leave that box un-ticked.

INTERIOR

A supportive, electrically powered driver’s seat with four-way lumbar adjustment is standard, as is plenty of steering wheel adjustment, so finding a decent driving position will be easy for most drivers.

The view forward is good thanks to thin windscreen pillars and bright LED headlights, which help you peer far into the dark at night. And while the A7’s sloping roofline is a limiting factor for seeing out the back, it's easier to see what's behind than it is in a CLS. Front and rear parking sensors are standard, as is a reversing camera.

Meanwhile, interior quality is top-notch and equal to the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo. And while the Mercedes CLS has a more flamboyant design, the A7’s plastics, chrome accents, slick switches and leather surfaces are arguably just as swish but more consistently of a higher grade. It really is every bit as nice as Audi’s A8 flagship.
That also means you get the A8’s infotainment system, and this is both good news and bad. It’s made up of two touchscreens: the top one measuring 10.1in and looking after radio, sat-nav and smartphone mirroring functions; the 8.6in screen below is reserved for the climate controls, heated seats and a few other occasionally-used features.

As touchscreens go, both are good, with razor-sharp graphics and quick responses, but they're far too distracting to use on the move. That's because, despite haptic feedback that confirms your selections, you can't learn to use them more or less by feel, as you can with physical buttons. Instead, you have to look away from the road, find the right icon and guide your finger to it. The screens also get covered in greasy finger marks.
Ultimately, the rotary-dial controlled iDrive system in the 6 Series GT lets you keep your eyes on the road more often. On the plus side, all A7's come with in-built navigation, a DAB radio, Bluetooth, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring as standard.
We do like Audi’s Virtual Cockpit digital dials, though. These are standard on every A7 and, again, the screen is super sharp. The system allows you to customise the information you’d like to see really easily, using the handy steering wheel buttons.

Passenger & boot space

This class features some extremely large limousines, next to which the A7 will always feel tighter. But for a five-door coupé with a steeply sloping roof, interior space is not too bad at all.
A pair of tall adults will have no problem with the room offered in the front, while another two six-footers will be able to sit behind without their knees pressing against the front seatbacks. Particularly tall folk will find their hair just brushing the roof lining, though. The Mercedes CLS is very similar in this respect, and as both cars are only really good for two adults in the rear, the even more capacious BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo is the one to go for if you regularly need to carry three rear passengers.

Getting out of the A7 can be a real issue. Not because the door apertures are too small, but because the doors don't always open when you pull the interior handles. Now, the old-fashioned method was a linkage that was attached to the door handle to release the catch, which pretty much worked every time. But the A7 uses a switch in the door handle to activate an electronic release of the door, and, infuriatingly, it doesn't work always work with the first pull.

At 535 litres, the A7’s boot is slightly bigger than the CLS's, and we squeezed on board a total of eight carry-on suitcases. With good access through its wide opening, a standard powered tailgate, plus a usefully square shape within, it's easier to get bulkier items such as a pram inside than the Mercedes, though. You can also drop the standard 40/20/40 split-folding rear seats to increase the A7's versatility. That said, with an even bigger boot, once again the 6 Series GT takes the spoils if you want something with a coupé-like silhouette that's still ultra practical. 

Storage space in the A7 for all your odds and ends is pretty good. You’ll find the usual array of cupholders, door bins, cubbies and a good-sized glovebox. However, due to the large lower touchscreen, there are no storage spots in front of the gear selector for you to put your phone and keys. Those will have to be either relegated to the cupholders or locked away under the centre armrest. 

2020 Audi A7 Sportback Models

Safety

Though the NHTSA hasn’t tested the 2020 Audi A7 yet, early evaluations have been positive. It aced crash-testing performed by the IIHS, which gave it a Top Safety Pick award when equipped with headlights in the Premium trim levels. Until the feds weigh in, we give it a 7 for the TSP nod and for standard automatic emergency braking. 

Every A7 leaves the factory fitted with automatic emergency braking that can stop for cyclists or pedestrians in urban areas as well as parking sensors, a crisp rearview camera, and a slew of airbags. Rear side-impact airbags are optional. 

Optional are two dozen sensors that handle everything from self-parking to long-range radar to a surround-view camera system.

Additional options include active lane control, adaptive cruise control, and various advanced semi-autonomous features that warn drivers of forward and rear cross-traffic impediments. A useful feature for city dwellers is an exit system that alerts passengers to vehicles driving by so they don’t open their doors. 

The IIHS calls the A7 a Top Safety Pick, but notes that even its best headlights—the automatic high-beam LEDs available on the Premium Plus trim—are just “Acceptable.” The optional HD Matrix lights with their advanced laser functions fitted to the range-topping Prestige provided “Poor” coverage in the insurance industry-funded agency’s evaluations. Maybe they weren’t worth all of the hurdles Audi had to jump through to sell them in the U.S. 

PROS

• Elegant body
• Pace-setting powertrain
• Supple ride and willing handling
• High-tech underpinnings
• Practical hatchback

CONS

• All those screens can feel sterile
• 48-volt hybrid tech underutilized
• Limited rear-seat head room
• Wickedly expensive