Remember the Seventies? Back then; if you were a testosterone-charged
teen, chances are your bedroom would have had a poster of a Lamborghini
Countach pinned to the wall. Race-me red paint, scissor-style doors
raised skywards, more air-gulping intakes than an F-16 fighter. No
doubt it would have been positioned right next to a poster of a red
swim-suited Farrah Fawcett, all tumbling blond locks and Chiclets-white
smile. Back in 1976 it was an iconic, inseparable combo.
Of course, the original Countach was everybody’s dream machine. Crazy,
origami-folded-paper styling, screaming 12-cylinder engine and
bat-out-of-hell performance. The only problem was one of entry and exit.
Getting in and out of a hip-high Countach would be best attempted only
after a consultation with your chiropractor. Or with the help of
lowering straps! And once ensconced in seats more suited to the torsos
of waif-like Italian male models, your spreading derriere would mean you
were not extracting yourself any time soon.
Fast forward 40 years, and while today’s Supercars, like the latest
Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari F458 Italia, and Bugatti Veyron can
provide unparalleled driving thrills, they’re generally still a pain in
the back to live with. Which is why, to my mind, the new genre of
practical supercars, like Audi’s breathtaking RS7, the Mercedes-Benz
CLS63 AMG, Porsche’s Panamera Turbo and the BMW M6 Gran Coupe, have so
much appeal.
Take the RS7. Here is a car with a weapons-grade
twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 under the hood cranking out a staggering
560 horsepower - or 185-hp more than that old Countach. Pedal to the
metal, it can scythe from standstill to 60 in an insane 3.5 seconds.
That’s almost two seconds faster than the Lambo.
Yet this sport-back Audi offers stretch-out seating for four - five at a
push - a quartet of doors, superb leather upholstery and a trunk
beneath the high-lifting liftback that could double as one of those PODS
storage units!
Sure the RS7 lacks a certain exclusivity being based on Audi’s
high-volume A7 sedan. That said, you’re unlikely to see too many of
these $104,900 projectiles cruising the beach. The RS7 does orbit
in a whole different stratosphere. It’s honed and developed by Audi’s
in-house performance meisters, quattroGmbH, which acts like Mercedes’
AMG division.
See it in the metal and it treads the design-line perfectly between
racer-for-the-road and unassuming stealth machine. While aficionados
will instantly zero-in on the bulging fenders, the ground-scraping front
spoiler, pop-up rear wing and huge 21-inch rims, others will see it as
simply one helluva cool car.
And there is really nothing like the RS7’s twin-turbo V8. It is simply a masterpiece of automotive technology, capable of enthusiastically delivering 100 percent of its massive 516 pound-feet of torque from just 1,750 rpm. Squeeze the throttle from low speed and the car erupts with a tsunami of torque, slingshotting you past slower traffic or blasting you from an on-ramp into fast-moving traffic.
Then there’s the noise. The optional sport exhaust with its pair of huge
ovoid tailpipes, delivers a wall of primordial snarling, crackling and
bellowing. Linda Blair in The Exorcist didn’t have this many demonic voices!
And boy can this 4,500-pound monster carve curves. The magical combo of
Quattro all-wheel drive which can channel as much as 85 percent of power
to the rear wheels, huge 21-inch rubber at each corner, and
laser-precise electric-assist steering make the RS7 feel truly alive
.
Inside there’s all the style and luxe befitting a $100-grand
sports-luxury sedan. I love the crazy honeycomb-paneled leather seats,
the black wood and aluminum inlays, and the optional, ear-bleeding Bang
& Olufsen audio - a snip at $5,900.
Maybe it’s a sign of maturing. But it sure is fun driving an RS7 and enjoying all the power of an exotic two-seat Super car without needing to be a contortionist to clamber in and out.
