Audi A7 Sportback road test

With a P11d value just £420 shy of £50,000, the Audi A7 3.0-litre S Line TDI quattro with the S Tronic automatic gearbox is for those not affected by the economic downturn.

It’s a hefty sum for a car that should appeal to those in senior management roles. It's for executives who want something flash… but not too flash.

It’s amazing the difference a sloping rear roof can make. The A6, the car on which the Audi A7 Sportback is based, looks rather dull. A quick swoosh of the designer’s pen, however, changes the car's persona - and the financial outlay. Indeed, the A6 with the same engine and trim has a P11d value of £41,240. That’s £8,340 cheaper.

Both the A6 and an A7 have a Benefit-in-Kind tax rating of 24% and both emit 156g/km of CO2, but don’t expect similar monthly costs. This year you’ll pay a total of £4,760 in company car tax for your A7, if you are a 40% tax payer, whereas the less stylish A6 drivers will be paying £3,959 – a difference of £801 a year.

The decision to opt for the A7 in this guise isn’t a particularly financially viable one then, and it certainly isn’t going to please the bean-counters. What it does do admirably though is achieve an average 47mpg. As a result, it’ll still be a fairly guilt-free experience for execs with a conscience.

To drive, this is an incredibly impressive machine. Our car's steering was perfectly weighted and gave plenty of feedback. It may not be as sharp as that on most BMWs but it’s certainly very rewarding when you are driving across country at speed.

As a cornering tool, the A7 has very few rivals. The four-wheel-drive set-up helps the car to put its power down beautifully in the dry, but it’s equally up to the task in the wet. It stays flat too – almost zero body lean here – and once out of the corner the straight-line speed is equally impressive.

The official stats will tell you that the 241bhp 3.0-litre turbocharged diesel will take the car from zero to 60mph in 6.1 seconds but in practicality, it feels quicker than that because the power delivery is so smooth. Unlike many diesels that offer a big slug of pull low down in the rev range, this feels more linear and it’ll keep on pulling as the needle approaches the red line.

The four-wheel drive A7’s handling isn’t quite as dynamic as the rear-wheel drive BMW 5 Series but you can adjust the settings on the Audi Drive Select system to suit the conditions. There’s auto, comfort, dynamic and personal settings. Auto is a healthy compromise between comfort and dynamic and it’s great for everyday driving, whereas comfort is useful for town driving and on the motorway. There’s little difference between auto and comfort but the dynamic mode does, however, deliver a marked change in driving characteristics and it definitely makes the car feel sportier.

Most people might consider the 3.0-litre supercharged petrol model the driver's choice in the A7 range, but the diesel is hardly a compromise. The 3.0-litre TFSI will get from 0-60mph in 5.6 seconds, which is great, but that's only half a second faster than this diesel. For most drivers the diesel is perfect for the job. It's fast enough and it means fewer trips to the filling station.

Inside the Audi A7 Sportback is a paragon of style and class. The interior is beautifully laid out and all the materials are of high quality. As a five-door you get some practicality, but if you are regularly carrying passengers you’ll rue the day that you ignored the A6. The boot on the A7 is surprisingly large, however, and it’s bigger than the A6. There’s 535 litres available in the A7 and that increases to 1,390 litres with the rear seats folded down. The A6, however, has 530 litres with the rear seats up and 995 litres with them down.

Overall, this is great-handling, stylish and well-appointed car. You just have to weigh up whether you are prepared to pay quite a bit extra for those coupe looks.

Also consider:

BMW 5 Series GT
Chunkier and not so nice to look at, but it is more fun to drive.

Audi A6 Saloon
You’ll be paying less, and it carries four people in comfort.

Mercedes-Benz CLS
It's got plenty of road presence and it's chock full of kit. Expensive.