15 Jan 2013
Capable of speeds usually reserved for motorsports, the 2014 Audi RS7 Sportback will take you (and up to four friends if they are after a similar adrenalin rush) to 189 miles per hour!
The first 62 of these can be achieved from a standing start in just under 3.9 seconds – with 553 lb-ft of torque on hand from an impressive 1,750 rpm.
The new RS7 was unveiled today at the 2013 Detroit Auto Show and we were lucky enough to be on hand. It’s a 560-horsepower twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 engine desperate to tear itself from the elegant styling that houses it (and you, should you be so lucky).
Admittedly, speeds like that don’t come as standard. The base model is electronically limited to a ‘mere’ 155 mph, but as a valued customer you can request the governor be removed and up the V-max to the glorious 189 mph simply by buying the ‘dynamic package plus’. And why wouldn’t you?
It’s a little beyond anyone’s need, that’s for sure, but Audi also have their eye on the realistic market, announcing that the RS7 can yield up to 25 mpg on the US scale.
It has a cylinder-on-demand system, meaning the V8 is able to close valves to deactivate four of its cylinders. Then, if you put pedal to the metal, the engine automatically opens up those valves and kicks from four-cylinders to eight in a few hundredths of a second. This, all while bolted to an eight-speed automatic transmission that pushes power to all four wheels.
