On this episode of Ignition
Category
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MotorTranscript
00:00 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:03 It wouldn't be fitting to cage the new 560 horsepower RS7
00:15 on roads with unjust speed limits.
00:17 So when Audi invited us to Germany to drive it and tour
00:22 the facility that makes it, we couldn't say no.
00:26 [ENGINE REVVING]
00:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:41 So this is it.
00:48 This is the 560 horsepower Audi RS7.
00:51 And this is our first look at it.
00:53 But before we get to driving it, we're
00:54 going to take you to the facility at Quattro GmbH,
00:56 the customer delivery process, and all the cool displays
00:59 they have here.
00:59 So this is what makes the 560 horsepower.
01:06 It's a 4-liter twin-turbo V8 with the turbos in the V.
01:09 It's a hot V engine.
01:10 But it also has 516 pound-feet of torque,
01:14 if this graph down here is to be believed,
01:16 from 1,750 RPM to 5,500 RPM.
01:19 It's incredible.
01:20 Looks like it's been drawn with a straight edge.
01:23 So this is the sport differential.
01:25 This is what does the actual mechanical torque vectoring
01:28 a lot of people are simulating these days through ABS.
01:30 Power comes through here from the transmission.
01:33 And there's a bunch of gears in here.
01:34 And through some magic that we know as physics,
01:37 it can make one wheel spin faster than the other,
01:41 and vice versa, to help the car rotate.
01:45 And here we see the available brake choices for the RS7.
01:48 This is the standard brake.
01:49 It's what they call a wave design.
01:51 And by shaving out these little edges here--
01:53 so you see that on some motorcycles,
01:55 they were able to take about 6 and 1/2 pounds total out
01:58 of each car.
01:59 This is a carbon ceramic that is, of course,
02:01 much bigger and lighter.
02:02 It takes a total of about 22 pounds out of the car,
02:06 which is great until you put on 21-inch wheels
02:08 and offset the whole thing.
02:11 Surrounding the neat technical displays
02:13 are highlights from Audi's motorsport successes
02:15 and technology, as well as the customer delivery center,
02:19 where eager buyers await the arrival of their finished car.
02:23 We could spend a lot of time here,
02:24 but we have something more pressing we need to get to.
02:27 Of course, when you have a fast German sedan
02:34 with this much power and you're in Germany,
02:36 the first thing you want to do is try the Autobahn.
02:40 So we've got our trusty GoPro here to look at the speed.
02:43 And we've got a little bit of rain,
02:45 which is probably going to slow us down, unfortunately.
02:47 But we'll see what we can do.
02:51 And away we go.
02:52 Well, we certainly have horsepower and torque.
03:14 And we have them in very, very large quantities.
03:18 I've noticed, though, from the few times
03:20 that I've had an opening on the freeway
03:21 and I've gotten into the boost, this engine
03:24 delivers power very enthusiastically.
03:27 And it makes very nice sounds when you do it, too.
03:30 We have a sport exhaust option that's set in the dynamic mode.
03:32 So that gives you a nice deep rumble when you get on it.
03:35 And when you lift or when you downshift,
03:37 you get these nice backfires from the exhaust.
03:39 Let's see if we can make that happen now.
03:41 Oh.
03:41 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:45 Yep, there it is.
03:48 Yep.
03:50 Yep.
03:52 We've driven this engine in the S8.
03:54 And there it was nuts.
03:56 Here you have it with more power, more torque, I think.
04:00 And it's just even more incredible.
04:03 And it's also bolted to a very good looking sedan,
04:06 is a nice thing, too.
04:09 People do respect the car.
04:11 People do get out of your way.
04:14 And that's pretty cool when you have a big sedan making
04:16 all this power.
04:17 People definitely make an effort to let you through.
04:22 But unfortunately, you hit enough congestion
04:24 and you're just done.
04:27 Move.
04:27 Be out.
04:28 Be gone.
04:28 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:32 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:35 257.
04:43 The past few years, maybe the past decade,
04:51 has shown that Audi can build some absolutely insane power
04:55 trains.
04:55 And this twin turbo 4 liter only reinforces that fact.
05:01 It's just insane.
05:03 You can't fully appreciate this engine
05:05 without seeing it in the metal and running at full speed.
05:08 And that's exactly what we did at Quattro.
05:10 There, the team ran an example of a 4 liter
05:18 on the dyno at red line until its exhaust
05:20 glowed a bright orange.
05:21 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:25 The compactness of this 4 liter is deceiving.
05:43 You would never guess this engine
05:45 is capable of 560 horsepower and 516 pound feet of torque.
05:50 It's an absolute powerhouse.
05:52 It even eclipses Audi's 5.2 liter V10
05:56 in both horsepower and torque.
05:59 Of course, there is a car wrapped around this engine.
06:02 And some back country roads should show how well it drives.
06:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:08 It's fast.
06:09 [ENGINE REVVING]
06:17 This RS7 is hilariously fast.
06:22 That is the only real descriptor I can throw at it right now.
06:25 And I'm realizing the joy of driving it quickly
06:31 comes from seeing how long you can stay
06:34 on the throttle around corners.
06:36 With such a ridiculous engine, you
06:43 find yourself entering corners irresponsibly fast.
06:48 And you get some understeer out of the car
06:49 because the speeds are so high.
06:51 But when you come out of corners,
06:52 it's just nice getting into that surge of torque.
06:57 Man, horsepower and torque is a wonderful thing.
07:00 They are wonderful things.
07:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:05 This being a modern Audi, it has a number
07:10 of lightweight technologies in its construction.
07:12 Its body has some steel in it, but it's a lot of aluminum,
07:15 too.
07:16 We got to see the chassis itself at the factory,
07:18 and it looks very nice.
07:21 The overall size of the vehicle is hard to get over, though,
07:25 because even if you're using lightweight aluminum,
07:27 you still have to use a lot of aluminum.
07:28 And so the car does end up weighing over 4,000 pounds,
07:32 I think 4,200, 4,300.
07:34 And you sense that.
07:35 You notice that.
07:36 It feels like a heavy, substantial car.
07:39 There's a lot of car here, horsepower notwithstanding.
07:44 It doesn't have the lightness and the control
07:48 of a sports car, but there is something
07:50 to be said about the way a big, fast German sedan crushes
07:54 a road like a sledgehammer.
07:55 [ENGINE REVVING]
07:59 OK, steering.
08:04 Not a lot of feel through the wheel itself.
08:06 I get more of the road through the impacts
08:08 from this rather stiff suspension.
08:10 The weighting is nice, but it doesn't really
08:14 feel like it's tied to anything.
08:17 It is precise, though.
08:19 I have no problem steering this car around.
08:22 And again, we're in dynamic steering,
08:23 and that's the most aggressive steering setting.
08:26 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:29 [LAUGHS]
08:30 Woo-hoo!
08:31 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:34 The transmission works really well, too.
08:36 I've just left it in sport mode and let
08:37 the amazing amount of torque figure the rest of it
08:42 out for me.
08:43 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:45 And we're just reeling in cars on this road.
08:47 [ENGINE REVVING]
08:51 Coming back to the weight and the power,
08:54 it does make me very happy that we have a very capable brake
08:57 package.
08:58 We're on the carbon ceramic rotors in this car.
09:01 Pedal feel is really nice.
09:02 It's really easy to modulate the stopping power.
09:05 And they always seem to supply more than enough braking force
09:11 than you think you'll need.
09:12 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:15 [TIRES SCREECHING]
09:18 Styling.
09:19 The RS7, I think, looks absolutely fantastic.
09:23 The details in the body and this matte gray paint
09:27 give it this really aggressive look
09:28 that's very eye-catching, as we've experienced so far.
09:33 I love the audacity of putting the Quattro logo
09:37 in the fascia in big letters.
09:40 I think that's really cool.
09:42 Because if there is a performance
09:43 sub-brand of an automaker that needs more awareness,
09:46 it definitely is Quattro.
09:47 People don't know that that is the equivalent, essentially,
09:50 of AMG and BMW's M, in some respects.
09:54 So I love that that's on the front bumper of this car,
09:56 or in the grill of this car.
09:57 [ENGINE REVVING]
10:00 The RS7, as a whole, I think, is a really cool car
10:04 and a really interesting car.
10:05 It's this sort of new, fast style of vehicle
10:10 that isn't a sports car.
10:12 It definitely isn't light.
10:14 It isn't delicate.
10:16 It doesn't have that sort of precision.
10:17 But it's incredibly fast and still fun
10:20 to drive in its own way, similar to what
10:23 we can expect for the BMW M6 Grand Coupe and the CLS AMG.
10:28 It's a really interesting group of cars
10:30 that have a lot of personality and a very distinct way
10:33 of driving fast down a road.
10:36 Over 500 miles of German country roads and Autobahn,
10:40 you gain an appreciation for the RS7,
10:42 for its large size and vast torque delivery,
10:47 and for the comfort and steadiness
10:48 that maintain as speeds ever increase.
10:51 Happier on the open straights than on the tight and curvy,
10:57 the RS7 offered excellent behavior
10:59 on the highways and easy passing power on two-lane roads.
11:03 But we couldn't leave Germany without one last Autobahn
11:06 blast.
11:07 [ENGINE REVVING]
11:10,
11:38 [ENGINE REVVING]
11:40 [CHEERING]
11:41 [ENGINE REVVING]
11:48 It is apparently vacationing seasoning-- seasoning.
11:51 Vacation seasoning is the best kind
11:53 of seasoning for your steak.
11:54 A little bit of paprika.
11:55 [ENGINE REVVING]
11:58 That's right.
11:59 [LAUGHING]
12:03 For some reason, you can drive like a complete asshole here,
12:05 and it just feels appropriate.
12:07 Like, yeah, I've got a horse car.
12:08 Get out of my way.
12:09 People do it.
12:09 It's like, oh, OK.
12:12 I mean, we're still hauling ass.
12:14 Oh, yeah, true.
12:14 We're just not hauling, like, all the ass.
12:17 We're hauling some ass.
12:18 We're hauling some-- like, we're hauling, like, a bit of ass.
12:21 A little bit of ass.
12:21 Like, we're moving, but we're not, like-- we
12:23 want the whole ass to be hauled.