Audi RS7 - long-term review

You may have seen the RS6 GT – Audi’s last-of-the-line, 90 Quattro IMSA GTO-inspired mega wagon. Despite a £180,000 price tag and a slightly questionable tri-tone sticker package, all 60 UK-bound cars are sold. So are the 600 other GTs Audi will produce worldwide. So, if you’re one of Audi’s bean counters, you’re probably ending the financial year pretty happy. Which made me think: why didn’t Audi do an RS7 GT too?

The RS7 is already a more niche product than the RS6, with the big estate outselling it five to one. I assume that’s partly why I get so much attention while driving it – many people haven’t seen one before. The other reason are the mean looks, bassy rumble and massive wheels. But if big-watch car collectors on Instagram are anything to go by, niche apparently attracts big-ticket buyers. Because when you’re doing run-outs, no one wants ordinary. They want something rare and worth shouting about, like the Lamborghini Gallardo Squadra Corse, Land Rover Defender Heritage Edition, and Ford Focus RS500 – all limited-production, memorable last hurrahs.

And here’s the bit I find baffling as to why Audi hasn’t made one: an RS7 GT wouldn’t even need to be different under the skin. The RS6 GT doesn’t produce any extra power or torque over the standard car – it has the same 620bhp 4.0-litre V8 and the same eight-speed gearbox. It’s just got new manually adjustable dampers (replacing the air suspension).

Obviously, you’d need to give an RS7 GT all the visual clout the RS6 got: a 10mm drop (something incredibly obvious when we parked ours next to a standard one recently), 22in six-spoke ‘Avus’ alloys and ceramic brakes. And unlike our long-termer, it’d also be freed to max out at 190mph. Something I wish it could do while stuck on the limiter at 176mph on the Autobahn recently.

At this year’s Performance Car of the Year, we found the RS6 to be more playful and honed than the standard car – something the RS7 could definitely benefit from. Because why not? They’d no doubt sell them all. More than that, as seen in the recent RS7 vs BMW M5 twin test, Audi should celebrate meaty performance while it can – because it’s currently giving them the edge.

So, should Audi build an RS7 GT? Of course they should. As they haven’t, I enlisted the extremely talented @j.b.cars on Instagram to do what Ingolstadt wouldn’t - rendering one with bloated bodywork, a bespoke front fascia, carbon fibre wings, a carbon bonnet, and a roof spoiler that nods to the GTO concept from a few years back.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some emails to send to Germany. Audi, you can thank me later.