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Living in the shadow of the RS6 cannot be easy for the RS7. The first is the car of the cool king über family, revered everywhere and still featured on many lists of fantastic three, five and even ten car garages like the “daily”. Rightly so, because few cars succeed in the duality of being a practical family car which can also make its driver smile when he finds himself alone on a more interesting road than those often taken with family on board.
In theory, the RS7 should offer the same, but without room for the dog in the trunk. But in the past, it’s been a close relative of the RS6 by name alone, feeling caught off guard, a little boring to drive, and performing according to the fast Audi stereotypes of yore. However, the new RS7 has proven to be a real alternative to the RS6, and in the seven months that ours has been with us, only when the Towler clan (editor-in-chief Adam being the current Guardian of 7) had to go on vacation en masse. Has the increased capacity offered by a station wagon been missed.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the RS7 is not the interior, but the exterior of the Audi Sport family, because if you want in the region of 600 horsepower in a four-door body, slightly coupe , you are spoiled for choice. Porsche’s Panamera is also part of the VW Group, while Mercedes-AMG has its 4-door GT and BMW has updated its entry with the car you see here: the M8 Gran Coupé, available only to UK customers in a version Competition.
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The technical make-up for the M8 Competition Gran Coupé and the RS7 Sportback is at the limit of the high-end supersaloon. Twin-turbocharged V8? Check. About 600 hp? Yes, 592bhp for the RS7 and 616bhp for the M8. Over 500 lb-ft of torque? Please, anything less would be an insult. Eight-speed automatic transmissions? What would you expect, other than maybe a dual clutch unit? Unfortunately, more and more mainstream manufacturers are now sticking with torque converters, claiming that shift speeds are close enough to that of a dual-clutch transmission and that the cost of developing both is a luxury rather than a necessity. BMW has also followed Audi’s 40-year tradition and now only offers its top-of-the-range M-car with four-wheel drive xDrive. Although, unlike the Audi, you can, by diving into the submenus of the iDrive system, make your M8 Gran Coupé rear-wheel drive.
The initial thought in bringing the M8 to the RS7 party was that the BMW would be sharper in areas where the RS7 always comes down to brand type. There have been a number of times with our RS7 where anyone behind the wheel has appreciated the unexpected interaction it offers. Its V8 has an enthusiastic character that is paired with crisp acceleration and perfectly matched ratios, delivering a drivetrain that favors rear thrust rather than front traction, aided by the standard sport differential. But beyond that 70% operating window, the RS7’s weight and size come into play, with the road never feeling big enough to harness its performance and give it room to move. At around five meters long and two meters wide, an RS7 needs a bit of space when moving.
BMW M GmbH knows how to make its performance cars feel special and dance no matter how fast you are traveling and what road you are on. Up to a point, anyway. And indeed, where the M8 outperforms the RS7 is when you seek and need 20-30% feedback and accuracy. As with our RS7, you need to find the right modes: comfort dampers for both, sport steering to add weight, acceleration and the most precise shifting speeds, and all available differential settings have gone into their le mode. more alert and responsive. Configured accordingly, the M8 GC is less prescriptive than the RS7 in everything it does. Its body control and damping is more in tune with your expectations, its steering faster – less enjoyable than that of the Audi, requiring a higher degree of load before you feel confident, it’s plugged in, but when it is, the M8 draws a more precise line. And its V8 is more energetic and responsive to input and therefore easier to maintain balanced engine rpm when needed.
However, the RS7 has the most immersive V8, both in terms of noise and how it builds up thanks to its power strip, and its torque increases, a benefit of its use in the VW group from Bentley to Lamborghini, and by Porsche in between, which means that Audi is able to tap into the available data and adjust accordingly. In the M8 you just pick up speed, but at a breakneck pace, while in the RS7 the octaves go up and down depending on your pace, adding a sparkle of excitement along the way.
BMW scores higher with its carbon-ceramic brakes (an option at £ 7,995, compared to £ 9,200 for the Audi equivalent), which are much easier to moderate and have a natural feel to the pedal, which allows for much smoother and more consistent braking when you’re pushing on. And when there is 2000 kg or more to slow down, you need the anchors to be on your side. (The M8 tips the scales at 1980 kg, the Audi tips them even more at 2065 kg.)
But for all its involvement and the thrill of the M8 GC Comp, you have to travel to experience it. In pure terms, the BMW is a more focused and athletic supersaloon than the Audi. It certainly answers the question more fully than the RS7 when it comes to asking which one offers the best performance when speed and space aren’t limited. But here is the knot. These are road cars, designed to deliver a higher level of performance than the norm, which they both certainly do, but if you don’t exploit the full performance of the M8, its advantage over the RS7 is practically eradicated. If anything, at more balanced speeds the RS7 gives more time.
An unexpected black mark for the RS7, however, is its interior. A lot of the quality that Audi manages to incorporate into its cockpits lies in it, and our RS7 feels as solid today as it did before starting its non-stop life with us. But for all the glossy piano black finish and welcome use of the Alcantara, there is too much A7 TDI £ 47,000 here to justify the starting price of £ 95,000 for an RS7 (our fast fleet came in at 140 £ 000…). The M8 from £ 123,880 has a much more bespoke look and feel, with the quality of its materials on par with the machine produced in Ingolstadt. It also has a quieter interior to cover big miles. Both cars swallow 300 miles (the best of their fuel range) in the blink of an eye, and only a performance-oriented ride quality, especially in the case of the BMW, keeps these two from being left-wing alternatives to a more traditional GT car.
If our time with the RS7 Sportback has shown anything, it’s that the RS6 Avant no longer holds the driving advantage. The 7 might not be as iconic or have the #want social media factor, but it can be considered on a par in terms of handler appeal, if not ability to carry a dog. (Does anyone actually do this with their RS6, by the way, or is that just a term used the same way people talk about watering the interior of their Land Rover Defenders?)
The M8 Competition Gran Coupé is the better driver’s car than the RS7, but its biggest problem is the M5 Competition, which costs £ 22,000 less, and for that economy I’d be happy to forgo the more bespoke interior design of the first one. I’d still have an RS6 over an RS7, too.
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