Fast. Sometimes it isn’t what it feels like. An old exponent of the iconic Willy’s jeep travelling at 120 km/h creaking from all four corners and steered via an unassisted wheel would feel fast, manic fast to most. That speed, however, for a modern, well-engineered, mid-size automobile has induced many to sleep, forever, in some cases. Similarly, what’s officially ‘superfast’ for railway passengers in India is dreadfully dawdling for the French, used to the silly velocities attained by the TGVs.
Fast. It means different things to different people.
Images: Chirag Mondal
So when we talk ‘fast’, we use different reference points to substantiate our definition. When I rode a Kinetic Luna in my adolescent years, my dad’s 3-speed Priya scooter seemed uncontrollably fast to me. After having sneaked out with it a few times, and having gotten bored, my neighbour’s Hero Honda CD 100 began appearing incredibly fast to me. Later, I thought the Suzuki Fiero was very fast, as it took a Fiero to catch it, or so they said.
Time passed by, and after having driven a thousand motorbikes and some really fast cars, which include a multitude of 500+ bhp machines, I think I am, after a long hiatus, writing about something which I really believe is a remarkably fast car. The Audi RS7, the most powerful production Audi, has just demonstrated to me what fast really can be in the real world. It made some alterations to my previous definition; the reference point has changed, yet again. The RS7, then, is an earth shatteringly fast car, in an earth shatteringly, beguilingly, unflappable manner.
Let’s talk numbers first. You cannot do justice to an RS7 review without talking about its monumentally incredible output figures. Testing the fortitude of German engineering is the 4.0 TFSI, pushing the pistons relentlessly to dish out an extraordinary 560 hp (that’s 140bhp per liter) of peak power between 5,700 and 6,600 rpm. Trying its best to bend the metallic components it has any association with is 700 Nm of inexorable torque, available between a super wide 1750-5500 rpm rev band.
For those who don’t get the picture, that sort of torque can rip the mechanicals controlling it apart without even trying hard enough. That sort of torque can make its own maker be frightened of it. So much so, that Audi decided to replace its proprietary S-Tronic dual clutch transmission with a ZF sourced eight-speed tiptronic gearbox, as the former would probably have been annihilated by the colossal twist at hand.
So if we’ve painted the picture of the nuke powering this monster in your mind right, you would, by now be interested in some more numbers. A 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.9s for this near 2-ton leviathan is impressive, but inconsequential. There are other cars which log a quicker time. The RS7, however, delivers an experience which no other car its size possibly does.
The slightest dab on the right pedal turns this well appointed luxury limo into a rocket propelled projectile. The matt black exterior, for the mortal piloting it from within, makes it a tar-borne stealth fighter. The position of the needle on the tacho, the speed or the gear engaged doesn’t hold any relevance. Just put the foot down, and you would be hurled into the world ahead in a manner so emphatic, it leaves you dumbfounded. The response from that 4.0 liter twin turbo petrol unit is stupefying to say the least. The deluge of that gushing torque launches this quadruped to psychotic speeds before you even realize it. The bloody thing is so beguilingly well insulated from the environs, so over engineered, and so at ease even with an atomic bomb detonating every moment under the bonnet, it doesn’t as much as flinch.
Fast fast and fast. You seems to be completely flattened by this fast machine..
As always enjoyable article Amit kudos..