The second-generation Audi A7 Sportback has been
spotted in Malaysia by paultan.org readers. The model first made its global
debut in October last year with a heavily revised design, as well as a suite of
new technologies.
The rear lighting setup is comprised of 13 separate
LED bars with varying sets of animations, so you’ll be guaranteed of a light
show each time you unlock the car. Meanwhile at the front, there’s a new face
featuring a wider and lower singleframe grille and sleeker headlights – the
latter available in three versions: LED, Matrix LED and Matrix LED with laser
light.
One aspect of the car’s exterior that attracts our
curiosity is the quad tailpipe setup, which differs heavily from the tucked
away ones on a standard A7. This is a trademark of Audi’s S models, and we
could very well be looking at the new S7 before its global debut.
Moving inside, the entire dashboard has been
overhauled to accommodate among other things, two touchscreen displays. Sharing
quite a lot in common with the new A8, there’s a 10.1-inch upper unit and
8.6-inch lower display, while directly in the driver’s view is a 12.3-inch Audi
virtual cockpit display.
At its debut, the A7 is available with a 3.0 litre
twin-turbo V6, badged as the A7 55 TFSI following Audi’s new nomenclature
structure. The mill makes 340 hp and 500 Nm of torque, and is mated to a
seven-speed S tronic dual-clutch transmission, good for a century sprint time
of 5.3 seconds and 250 km/h top speed.
All engines used in the new grand tourer will be
electrified with Audi’s new mild hybrid system (MHEV). The system is made up of
two core components – a water-cooled belt alternator starter (BAS) on the front
side of the engine and a lithium-ion battery with 10 Ah charge capacity.
Like the A8, the A7 also comes with Audi AI, which
provides Level 3 autonomous driving. This test mule could be used to test out
the system, which is capable of driving the car itself on highways at speeds
below 60 km/h in traffic. There’s also other functions such as remote parking
pilot and remote garage pilot.
