Audi RS7 review

The big change for this second generation RS7 was the addition of a fifth seat. In the back there’s a full split bench that can either accommodate an extra passenger or bring extra flexibility to how you dole out boot space. Stop yawning at the back: this is a sports saloon rival, thus offering versatility is key. Especially with all that size and mass to justify.

Thankfully the boot is absolutely cavernous, with 523 litres of space when the rear seats are up and 1,382 when they’re folded.

Up front is where the excitement happens, though, with all the screens you’d expect of a 21st century performance car. Ahead of you, a fully digital dial setup, a technology Audi helped pioneer – with its Virtual Cockpit – and which it’s naturally developing quicker than most of its rivals as a result.

The big news is an RS-specific display with a boomerang-shaped rev counter that almost brings to mind the inventive displays of 70s muscle cars. It’s ace. Beamed ahead of you is one of the crispest head-up displays on the market, with supremely detailed nav instructions if you want them.

In the middle of the dashboard are two screens which are both ever-so-slightly angled towards the driver, something the passenger will certainly notice if they try to override your music choices. The fonts and displays of Audi’s latest ‘MMI’ system are superb, though, and it’s a wonderfully easy system to operate. Less successful is the screen below it for the climate control. As we’ve found in all current gen big Audis it’s so much less intuitive (and safe) than actual physical buttons when you want to switch temperature on the move. Still, at least the separation means you don’t have to go through a few menus before getting to the climate options. 

And to end on a happy note, the ‘RS sports seats’ are flipping fantastic, as is the Alcantara wrapping on the steering wheel. Hurrah: they’ve put it at nine and three rather than dimwittedly at 12 and six like some rivals.