Audi A7 update to bring lower entry price

AUDI’S slinky A7 Sportback range will have a sharper price-of-entry from the first quarter of 2015 when the updated version revealed today arrives in local showrooms.

A new detuned but super-frugal version of the familiar 3.0 TDI V6 engine with 160kW of power and quattro all-wheel-drive will join the range and, in Audi Australia’s words, make the A7 range “more attainable than ever”.

This suggests the new 3.0 TDI will undercut the current range-opener, also confusingly called the 3.0 TDI, priced at $136,750 plus on-road costs. This current model is more powerful than its planned successor, with 180kW/500Nm, but also uses significantly more fuel.

Audi has not provided a fuel consumption figure for the new 160kW A7 3.0 TDI in Australia quattro all-wheel-drive form, but says the European-market front-wheel-drive version, no doubt a little more efficient, uses only 4.7 litres per 100km.

While the 180kW/500Nm version will be axed to make way for the new range-opener, Audi will retain the potent 3.0 TDI Biturbo quattro, which currently retails for $149,600.

At present, this engine produces 230kW of power and a mammoth 650Nm of torque, a figure that has been massaged to 235kW (torque not publicised) for the updated model.

Interestingly, the Biturbo uses an eight-speed conventional tiptronic automatic transmission, a la the A8 limousine, whereas the rest of the A7 range uses a seven-speed double-clutch automatic called S tronic.

The petrol-powered 3.0 TFSI quattro also gets an upgrade from 220kW and 440Nm to 245kW (torque again not publicised).

Rounding out the range is the new S7, which retains the signature 4.0 TFSI V8 engine with an aluminium block but gets a power boost from 309kW to 331kW, while reducing its fuel consumption from 9.6 litres per 100km to 9.3L/100km.

The updated version of the current 412kW/700Nm RS7 launched in Australia earlier this year remains under wraps.

All versions with the exception of the 160kW entry variant can be optioned with a sports differential that actively distributes power along the rear axle between the wheels, allocating it to whichever side needs it most.

Retaining its 4970mm overall length, the A7 and S7 get cosmetic changes front and rear including a new single-frame grille and tweaked bumpers, tailpipes and headlights. Audi’s powerful Matrix full-LED headlights will be an optional extra.

Inside the cabin, the main change is the updated navigation systems, improved in-car connectivity (high-speed internet via a mobile phone tether) and a mobile reception amplifier called Audi Phone Box. In addition, the night-vision assistant and autonomous braking systems have been improved.

Audi Australia sold 37 units of the A7 between the start of January and the end of April this year, down 15.9 per cent. This figure is 1 unit higher than the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo and well behind the Mercedes-Benz CLA (131 units).