Seven features of the Audi A7 Sportback you'd love to have in your car

The second generation of the Audi Sportback is now on sale, in 50 TDI and 55 TFSI versions priced from €76,680. And you’d surely love to have some of its features in your car.

Audi has launched the second generation of the A7 Sportback. A model that first appeared in 2010 to compete with the original creator of the luxury saloon segment with rear doors and coupé-style design, the Mercedes CLS, which has also just been renewed. Other rivals in this category are the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupé, and the Porsche Panamera.

Unlike the last changes made in 2014, which focused on renewing the exterior look, improving engine efficiency and adding more equipment, the Audi A7 Sportback is now a completely new model. Its platform shares many elements with that of the Audi A8, from which it also adopts most of the, except for what relates to autonomous driving and the application of artificial intelligence. In the road test of the new Audi A8 we already discussed some of these novelties, as well as its autonomous traffic-jam driving system.

One way to get to know the new Audi A7 Sportback more thoroughly is to review some of its technical novelties and the notable features it incorporates. We’ve picked out the ones you would undoubtedly love to have in your car.

1. Mild hybridisation and 48-volt onboard network

They call it “mild-hybrid” or mild hybridisation. No, the A7 Sportback doesn’t have an electric motor that can at some point drive the wheels without consuming fuel. It’s something much simpler, and not reserved only for high-end cars. In fact, there are already even city cars that use mild hybridisation to reduce consumption, such as the Suzuki Swift. And soon we’ll see these systems become increasingly popular.

In the Audi A7 Sportback this hybridisation comes as standard on both the 340 hp 3.0 TFSI V6 and the 286 hp 3.0 TDI V6, the launch engines. But it will be a feature common also to future engines arriving later. It is achieved through a small electric motor connected to the combustion engine by a belt. As well as working as a generator and recovering energy during acceleration or braking phases – which is stored in the lithium-ion battery of the main 48-volt electrical system – it allows the engine to restart after activating coasting mode, which lets the A7 Sportback glide “sailing” between 55 and 160 km/h when you lift off the accelerator.

The result? According to Audi, a fuel saving of up to 0.7 litres per 100 km in real-world driving. As a reference, the A7 Sportback 55 TFSI quotes a combined consumption from 6.9 l/100 km, while the 50 TDI stays at 5.6 l/100 km.

2. Air suspension with adjustable damping

Even without the intelligent function of the Audi A8 that can read the road and anticipate potholes, raising the bodywork so they’re felt as little as possible, the adaptive air suspension of the Audi A7 Sportback (from €2,430) is key to travelling like on a magic carpet. It affects not only comfort and stability, but also efficiency: in addition to “auto” and “comfort” modes, when speeds exceed 120 km/h the body height automatically drops 10 mm, which improves aerodynamics.

For its part, electronically controlled variable damping (from €1,360) lets you choose between a car with the behaviour and smooth suspension a luxury saloon requires, or the firmness and agility of a sports car. All the systems related to vehicle dynamics are governed through a central controller that Audi calls ECP (electronic chassis platform).

3. Dynamic four-wheel steering

It seems Audi is committed to this system, which it already uses on the Audi Q7 and the Audi A8, for example. On the Audi A7 Sportback, progressive steering – which varies the steering ratio – is standard. Dynamic four-wheel steering is priced from €2,320, and combines dynamic steering on the front axle with a steering system on the rear wheels. It works like all systems of this type, with the same objective.

Up to a set speed, which on the Audi is 60 km/h, the rear wheels turn in the opposite direction to the front ones, by up to a total of 5 degrees. Manoeuvring in tight spaces, parking or moving through the city is therefore much easier. Above this speed the rear wheels turn a very small angle in the same direction as the front ones, improving agility and stability.

Although it is not a very popular system, Audi is not the only brand to use four-wheel steering. Just to name one, Renault uses its 4Control four-wheel steering system on cars as different in approach as the Renault Espace or the new Renault Mégane R.S.

4. HD Matrix LED headlights with laser light

The standard headlights of the Audi A7 Sportback are always LED technology. This is not reserved for high-end cars; many compacts and some city cars now offer headlights of this type, which are replacing xenon ones.

On the Audi A7 Sportback, optionally, you can equip headlights with HD Matrix LED technology, priced from €2,065. Made up of 32 LED diodes that can be controlled individually, HD Matrix LED headlights maintain the maximum possible illumination even when there are vehicles ahead or coming the other way, creating shadow zones that avoid dazzling.

Above that are the HD Matrix LED headlights with laser, priced up to €3,410. In return, they provide a light beam with even greater range – doubling the range of high beam – thanks to the use of laser diodes for the high beams. They work from 70 km/h.

5. Heated and ventilated seats with massage function

Travelling is a pleasure… especially if you do it in a car that is very well soundproofed and has suspension that swallows potholes, as in the case of the Audi A7 Sportback, and you have ventilated and heated seats that let you choose between different massage functions.

This option costs €1,895, although you must first fit the comfort seats, priced at €3,055. To feel as if you were in a full massage session, the seats have ten air bubbles in the backrest that massage your back. You can choose between seven different programmes, each with three intensities.

6. Bang & Olufsen Advanced sound system

Around €1,000 – €940 to be exact – for a sound system bearing the Bang & Olufsen name doesn’t seem excessive for a car in the class of the Audi A7 Sportback. Especially considering its specification: 16 speakers, subwoofer, 15-channel amplifier, 705 watts of power… and 3D surround sound. Close your eyes and imagine it in your car. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Now close your eyes again, open them, and keep reading.

Because the most advanced audio system Audi offers for the Audi A7 Sportback is the Bang & Olufsen Advanced Sound System. And that’s no small thing. It adds two more speakers in each of the front pillars and in the roof to reach 19 in total, so the 3D sound also reaches the rear-seat passengers. Its total power is 1,820 watts, and for what it costs you could almost buy a city car: from €7,415.

7. MMI Navigation plus with MMI touch response

A car like the Audi A7 Sportback wouldn’t be the same without the MMI Navigation plus system with MMI touch response. The mere inclusion of the spectacular digital instrumentation, Audi virtual cockpit, is already worth it. With 12.3 inches (over 31 cm diagonal) and high resolution, it lets the driver choose between different layouts or display the navigation map directly at full size. Audi already offers the Audi virtual cockpit instrumentation on more “popular” models, such as the Audi A3 or the Audi Q2. And there are currently versions with an adaptation of this digital instrumentation system in other models of the Volkswagen Group, such as the new VW Polo, to name one.

But beyond the digital instrumentation, compared with the standard MMI Navigation system, the “plus” offers many more features and turns the A7 Sportback’s cabin into a true spaceship. To start with, the upper screen, in charge of the multimedia system, is 10.1 inches compared with the 8-inch screen of the standard system. A second lower 8.6-inch screen controls the climate control and various comfort-related functions, and doubles as a touch panel for entering text by handwriting or via a virtual keyboard. The price of the system? From €2,225.

Up to 39 driver assistance systems

So far just a small sample of some of the features of the Audi A7 Sportback you would surely love to enjoy in your car, although the list would be endless. We could add, for example, the driver assistance packages. The Audi A7 Sportback can include up to 39 systems, based on information gathered by its many on-board sensors, cameras and radars. The newest will arrive during 2018: the Audi parking pilot and the Audi garage pilot, which allow parking automatically from outside by operating the car with your phone.

And we still haven’t mentioned the windscreen wipers with intelligent control, which take into account speed, temperature and the dirtiness of the glass to spray water through the outlet nozzles integrated into the wiper arms, providing the correct angle. Or the air quality package, with a cabin air ioniser and a fragrance emitter.