2020 Audi RS7 Sportback Glacier White
Almost every Audi to wear an RS badge has been an overwhelmingly competent machine, delivering enviable levels of power, poise, tech and luxury. That said, not every one of the German automaker's performance-branded models has simultaneously managed to deliver an aesthetic and visceral punch to match their dynamic abilities. Many -- especially the company's four-door RS models -- have instead adhered to Teddy Roosevelt's oft-quoted foreign-policy maxim, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," like the brand signed some sort of gentlemen's decorum agreement.
As you can see by the 2020 Audi RS7 Sportback pictured here, that far more subtle approach is evidently dead and buried. In fact, one look at the front end of this swoopy five-door grand tourer door suggests that not only is that approach dead and buried, it's been subsequently exhumed, pulverized to a fine powder and then combusted inside the RS7's fire-breathing, twin-turbo, 4.0-liter V8.
Whereas the outgoing RS7 coyly hinted at its power with subtly reworked fascias, discreet badges and unique wheel patterns, the 2020 RS7 Sportback bellows about it. The new car is a broad-shouldered bully, sporting a radically different and altogether more aggressive look thanks to its unique-to-RS widebody stance. In truth, the RS7 only sports about 1.6 inches of extra width over its A7 and S7 siblings, but visually, it might as well be a foot wider. The RS7 shares just its hood, roof, front doors and rear hatch with its siblings.
The RS7's biggest appearance change is up front, where it now brandishes a bezel-less, oversized, hexagonal honeycomb grille bookended by a pair of massive intakes that stretch upward toward the car's glowering LED headlamps. In profile, the RS7's trademark teardrop shape boasts the aforementioned blistered fenders, along with model-specific side sills and unique 21- or 22-inch alloy wheels. Out back, a prominent rear diffuser has a bridge element that serves to emphasize the sewer-pipe-size oval exhaust finishers.
Even in shades other than this tester's tango red, and without our photo car's optional black optic package, the RS7 finally has the visual muscle to stand up to its Volkswagen Group kin, Porsche's Panamera Turbo, as well as rivals like the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door and the forthcoming BMW M8 Gran Coupe. Some buyers may prefer the outgoing RS7's more reserved appearance, but Audi says owners and cross-shoppers alike have been vocal in seeking more visual aggression and greater differentiation from lesser familial models. iI's hard to fault that logic, especially when the RS7 is likely to cost around $50,000 more than a base A7 when it arrives in dealers.
That snarling and taut new bodywork isn't an empty promise. The RS7's 4.0-liter, TFSI twin-turbo V8 produces 592 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque routed through an eight-speed paddle-shift automatic transmission and rear-biased Quattro all-wheel drive. Interestingly, the exiting RS7 Performance model's 4.0 featured slightly more horsepower (605), but substantially less torque -- 553 lb-ft.
Of course, there could be incrementally higher-performance RS7 models yet to come, but either way, it's awfully hard to find a place to deploy this kind of firepower in public. Fortunately, I had a better shot at than most, as at the test drive event, Audi let me loose on both derestricted sections of Germany's famed Autobahn as well as on some surprisingly challenging mountain roads just hours after the car debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Audi says the new RS7 Sportback will hit 62 mph in in 3.6 seconds and power on to a top speed of at least 155 mph (an optional Dynamic package relaxes the limiter out to 174 mph, and the Dynamic Plus pack pushes that total to 190 mph). If anything, Audi may be slightly underselling this car's acceleration. When the traffic clears, thrust from the V8 is immediate, linear and monstrous, with peak torque kicking in from just 2,050 rpm. On speed-limit-free sections of the Autobahn, the RS7 is hilariously quick to achieve velocities you'd otherwise only explore on a racetrack, doing so with rock-solid stability and surprisingly little wind noise.
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