ELVIS PRESLEY'S PINK CARDILLAC, Arnold Schwarzenegger's eco Hummer, even Konrad Adenauer's Mercedes-Benz Type 300, all prove that fame comes really in big packages. These vehicles---like the meon who own them--- may be flamboyant, ridiculous or stately, but their imposing dimensions never fail to astound the impressionable, annoy the pompous and generally arouse the imaginative. Big is good, and nothing captures the idea as profoundly as big car--- human anatomical parts only come second.
Over the decades, the German carmaker has built some of the planet's most stoically beautiful and remarkably engineered vehicles. Its Auto Union ancestors are legendary. Its original Quattro is an icon. Its diesel race cars swept the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. Its R8 is an instant supercar classic. Its A8 is a large-sedan benchmark, where the luxury and sport coexist in suitably subdued sheet metal. Even its sportutes are passably appealing, although like most sport-utes, the less said about them, the better. Its recent A1 shows the carmaker can clone the sporty games of its A4 in a supermini hatchback with a funky personality.
In creating the A7, Audi fused the A8 with bits from some of the company's coupe and hatchback models, including, I presume, the bubbly character of the A1. The result is a big hatchback that's easily identifiable as belonging to the illustrious Ingolstadt brood.
Of course, Audi doesn't refer to the A7 as merely a "big hatchback," hence the car's "Sportback" apellation. To a certain degree, it's correct. After all, the A7 is fashioned in vogue four-door coupe cut presently strutted by certain models from Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Aston Martin, as well as a concept from Lamborghini, not to mention a grotesque one from Porsche. But it's BMW's odd Gran Turismo that may be closest to Audi's interpretation. Which is to say the A7 isn't exactly sleek in an XF, CLS or Rapide kind of way, but thankfully isn't as screwed up as the Panamera either.
Alphanumerically, it's obvious that the A7 bridges the gap between the A6 which is midsize and the A8. Which then begs the question, "Why the need for a car that's bigger than a midsize sedan yet smaller than a large one?". While we're at it, why the need to graft into a coupe rear doors when a pair has worked perfectly for decades? I can actually go with the argument that the four-door coupes are more distinctive, and their recent appearance has further diversified premium-car choices. But still, uniqueness doesn't always translate to appealing does it?
Well, the A7 isn't bad-looking. Fact is, it's actually tidy, with sophisticated lines and surfaces that mark it as a true premium car. But given the stunning proportions of the A6 and A8 sedans, the A7 is awkward in comparison, its fastback shape not as grateful as the arcing, architecturally evocative rooflines of its sedan siblings. Unlike the CLS that's a proper, more stylish alternative to Mercedes's C-and E-class sedans, the A7 lacks the visual punch to play the same role. The Gran Turismo could be forgiven because it's basically a model that expands BMW's 5-Series lines. The A7 stands under styling scrutiny all on its own.
And in the case, what the A7's shape leads to is not the stylish supermodel looks that Audi presumably aspires for the car to have-----a logical presumption considering the competitor's positioning of their own----but instead the practicality and functionality afforded by a rear hatch.The car's mold allows for increased luggage hauling that sedans can't match, but does so without necessitating a square rear end characteristic of wagons and typical hatchbacks that, by any measure, would be farther off supermodel-looks standards.
Audi may have an array of compact hatchbacks, sporty wagons, a pleasing coupe in the A5, and the above mentioned sedans, but it strengths of the present models in package that's emerging as the Next Big Thing.
Besides, with a tailgate that's possible in a four-door coupe's fastback silhouette, the A7 declares it could transport the smaller belongings that smack of true wealth, as opposed to the larger plebeian stuff more suitable inside sedan trunk or wagon bays. Also, compared to the utilitarian boxes at the rear of sport-utes, the A7's cargo hold is an intimate place ideal for literal figurative private baggage.
True, there may not be that much space in the car's back room to lug cumbersome cargo----which is best discarded in the first place---but it still appears big enough to embrace most things dear. And this purpose the A7 Sport back is likely to get famous for...
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