Small Review

[Paulm]

so had the first wee blast some interesting findings

compared to my last few cars

RS6 V10, lovely car. big and heavy when throwing it around showed its weight, understeer, mental MPG
911 turbo. hard, noisy, uncomfy, slow and way too much understeer
F10 M5, comfy, quiet, lovely place to be, fantastic engine and gearbox, not enough rear grip, not chuckable just wanted to kill you all the time. Fine for fun but got tiresome.

C7 RS6 Hmmmmmm,

one thing I really should have spec'd is surround view. with the flared arches you have no idea where the wheels are in relation to the kerb. Big mistake there.

Not sure how Audi could make it any better other that shedding a few 100kgs. Now Audi have addressed the wind noise it is very quiet and a nice place to be, only downside with the extra sound proofing you cant hear the engine or exhaust. I want to keep driving it and that has not happened for a long time
Great engine, does die off at the red line which is annoying.
cant fault the gearbox very smooth and undetectable changes for the most part
Air suspension. on comfort it just wafts along, on dynamic its solid. Where I live its very poor A roads and my god it is hard, could not be any firmer or it would get fidgety and hard to control.

I did find though, on comfort and you nail it to pass a car the rear squidges around, feels like its trying to go side ways, even the wife commented on the same thing and she is not a quick driver. Its a bit disconcerting. Auto is probable the best setting for every day use

So, how did they get it to handle so well given its weight. The handling is absolutely fantastic. Its almost too good for the weight, I found although it went where I put it, if I wanted to change position mid corner it felt like it was trying to rip the tyres off the wheels as the body wanted to go straight on and the wheels wanted to turn. Very hard feeling to describe. it still did what I told it but did not seem to like it. Roads are slippy up here and flaming hell it just hangs on. Really impressed. It would destroy the M5 and in slippy conditions would be right on the RS of the GTR (again big have car though).

Following on from the above, IT WONT STOP. again it is so capable trying to stop it can be interesting, you end up going way faster than you realise then slowing to where you want be is interesting. I had no brake fade but felt like I need more power to stop it.

Cool feature, normal braking the rear lights stay on(as normal), harder more focussed braking the rear bar flashed. looks cool lol

MPG 25.8 well impressed

blasting around 1/2 a tank in about 10 mins lol

really cant fault it so far (other than the squidgy bit) be interesting to see how it handles in the dry and how it will react to more power

[kmpowell]

From your comments, can I assume you've not got DRC and it's on the standard Air?

Is there any part of you that wishes you'd ticked the DRC box?

[doodlebug]

Interesting comment on the brakes, mine stops on a button, more so than anything else I've driven.

[Paulm]

From your comments, can I assume you've not got DRC and it's on the standard Air?

Is there any part of you that wishes you'd ticked the DRC box?

not driven a C7 DRC but going by my old C6 RS6 DRC, no I am happy with my choice. Comfort is my goal 80% of the time.

[Paulm]

Interesting comment on the brakes, mine stops on a button, more so than anything else I've driven.

Strange. I guess they will get better once fully bedded in

[IanH755]

Squidgy back end - Common complaint on here (big thread about it) and the conclusion was change the tyres (to MPSS ideally) as the Dunlops aren't upto the task. The MPSS aren't a "Audi Recommended" tyre which puts some people off but they're miles better than the Dunlops it's supplied with and a tyre change has cured most of issues that people on here have complained about regarding the rear feeling very loose during overtakes etc (was also talk of an air filled rubber bearing somewhere on the rear which could be filled in with Mastic etc but thats too much of a bodge).

[Shoppinit]

Good review. Thanks.

Do you regret, even a little bit, not getting the DRC? I really don't want to have a DRC car again, but I'm worried that the air suspension isn't "sporty" enough. You seem to be saying that's not the case though.

Interesting about the brakes. How do you distinguish "brake fade" and what you described as under-powered braking? In my experience they are pretty much indistinguishable. Or are you saying that even when at correct operating temp they are still not up to the job?

[Paulm]

Went out for a blast again this morning and the brakes are way better. I guess having so little miles on the car affected how they performed toasting them yesterday seems to have bedded them in.

For me brake fade is when you are braking like mad and the peddle goes to the floor with little or no effect on stopping. Very scary

[Shoppinit]

For me brake fade is when you are braking like mad and the peddle goes to the floor with little or no effect on stopping. Very scary

OK. For me that is when the fluid boils. Fade is when they overheat and you have to press much harder to get enough braking.

Thoughts on the DRC?

/maybe you were experiencing green fade with the new pads?

[Paulm]

For me brake fade is when you are braking like mad and the peddle goes to the floor with little or no effect on stopping. Very scary

OK. For me that is when the fluid boils. Fade is when they overheat and you have to press much harder to get enough braking.

Thoughts on the DRC?

Yes but as you say both kind of happen at the same time. very hard to say what is happening other than not stopping lol

like I said above. I had DRC in my old C6 RS6 and although it was fine overall it was too hard for the roads around here. Having Air in the C7 is the best of both worlds for me. Amazingly comfy in comfort (for the type of car) but very very capable when in dynamic mode. The wee blast I had this morning confirmed the air can easily go hard enough. Car is solid. I would say in dynamic the car is only fractionally softer than my old GTR in comfort. GTR was too hard and made it very difficult to drive. RS is just right. hopefully will get a run in a DRC C7 to compare but for now I am happy enough.

[W8PMC]

It would destroy the M5 and in slippy conditions would be right on the RS of the GTR (again big have car though).

Happy to take on that challenge (not in Aberdeen though)

Nice review though & a couple of the points i can concur with from the drives i've had in one. My biggest dislike which is really hard to explain is the feeling of disconnect when pushing on. The car (in a similar way to the R35 GT-R) proper motors, but it never quite feels like it's doing what it should be. As you say regarding body & wheels, it's a strange feeling & i guess after time you just get used to it, but you get the feeling it's not all driver & that the car's doing more of the work than you sometimes feel comfortable with.

This is far from being a criticism & perhaps just more profound for me having had the R35 GT-R.

[Paulm]

It would destroy the M5 and in slippy conditions would be right on the RS of the GTR (again big have car though).

Happy to take on that challenge (not in Aberdeen though)

that's a poor excuse

maybe you are a better driver than me and that's fine but the M5 would have tried to kill me at least 5 times last night where as the RS just did what it was supposed to do. 2wd cant compete with 4wd in wet and slippy condidtions

[Zeebuilder]

25MPG??? Never in a million years would I get that unless I sat at 56mph for 10 solid miles!!

[10biscuits]

on MPG, I get way more than 25,the proof for me is I regularly drive to the French Alps,done it for too long to remember,every car I have had
is exact the same fill up 2twc and i'm left with half a tank when I get there,assure you I do not hang about,we go over the Jurals,set it in dynamic and wow what a car-computer says 30-31 mpg-back to thread--this is arguably the best car I have driven--Paulm-brakes will bed they are fantastic--go back in the year and you will see torque steer threads-twitchy back end,it's a lot more than that-can be positively dangerous
everyone new to a C7 SHOULD BE WARNED-however I posted recently I've just had a set of winter dun lops 21s fitted and the grip is fantastic
torque steer has almost gone-yes I should have gone for top view camera,I've kerbed once,that was in France where the kerbs are 4x higher than here ( slight exaggeration ) but you do get used to it- call me sad but here is greatest test for me for any car-when I leave work I actually detour home because I love driving the car-1 smitten owner,it's going to be hard to replace.

[Zeebuilder]

We I just drove Edinburgh-Manchester and average on way down was MPG24 over a 3.5 hour journey. Never went past 85ish and sat with CC on for a good hour constant 70mph!! But hey its smiles per gallon not miles per gallon!! Best car I have had!!