Test drive type: SAIC Audi A7L advance version
Test drive environment: 100 km of urban roads
Driver's Index: 90%
In the Tianfu New Area, surrounded by young and powerful Internet financial elites walking through here. At this time, I wondered, if they were ready to spend 500,000 yuan on a decent executive-grade luxury car, what would you recommend?
The traditional 56E is too stable and nothing new. The price of the Lexus ES300h is clearly a cut leek, while Cadillac and Volvo seem to have a bit of a low level. So this matter was solved for SAIC Audi - a new medium and large luxury car for young elites, a 500,000-level Audi A7L with a long wheelbase and a frameless door.
Remove the youthful feel of chrome plating
The first question: What are the first elements that designers will abandon to create a car for young gold collars?
The answer should be to remove all the chrome trim strips from bilingbiling.
Yes, this SAIC Audi A7L Editon 1 Advance Edition, one of its easiest features to find is that there is no longer chrome element. The trim of the grille is shiny black, the central four-ring logo is also bright black, and the air intakes on both sides, the black window frames, and even the A7L tail markers on the back are. This all-black kit design is full of personality at first glance. Of course, if it is the entry-level version of the A7L, there are still chrome trim strips, but the amount has been very restrained.
Another way to present a youthful design is that the Audi A7L no longer uses the traditional wide-width horizontal grille. The grille style of the Audi A7L is interesting, it is a combination of "one bar and one point", a bit like the Morse code. This vertical dot design also appears in the design of front and rear headlights, both led daytime running lights and when the taillights are lit. In addition, there are two bumps on the front grille of the Audi A7L, which are pre-installed lidar hardware, and people who understand it naturally feel full of technology.
When the light factory built the A7L this time, in addition to the matrix light group composed of 32 LED modules, a group of laser headlights was also added. Through a design called "X-shaped optical focusing", when the time speed reaches more than 70 kilometers, the actual illumination distance of the smart laser headlight in the dark can reach up to 600 meters. The light show is still very good, which can be enjoyed in the video.
The entire front of the Audi A7L is relatively low in posture, with a slimmer design sense, not as heavy as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class or A6L, which makes the entire front face more youthful and dynamic. And as a top match for the post-80s and post-90s medium-sized luxury cars - this forerunner version also uses the S-Line sports kit, more sharp angular design, which can indeed highlight the young inner momentum of the owner.
Look at the side of the Audi A7L and go a little farther. At this time, it can be found that the Audi A7L has changed from the original coupe slipback design to a more formal sedan shape, and the advantage is that there is no feeling of hunched back. In addition, it can be seen that the body length of the Audi A7L has increased by a full 100mm, and the wheelbase lengthening accounts for 98mm, so the roof line of the rear row will go flatter. The 21-inch star diamond hub is very beautiful, and it is said to be an RS design, and the proportions are also appropriate.
However, the classic streamlined C-pillar above the A7 has been retained, and a ducktail upturned design has been made at the rear of the car, which has a slender and flowing feeling preferred by oriental aesthetics.
In fact, the body waistline treatment of the Audi A7L is different from the original version. The third paragraph of the original version is a little arched, showing a muscular feeling; the A7L is relatively straight. Another compliment is that the tyres are good enough – the Pirelli P ZREO.
The rear of the car, in addition to the somewhat playful ducktail design, the through-line LED light group also inherits the design of the Audi A8, but it is more dynamic. The bottom is hidden exhaust, and the honeycomb-shaped bottom skirt is similar to the taillight design, but it is still too low-key for this 55TFSI model, perhaps this is a low-key that the Audi A7L hopes to pursue.
The interior is Audi and the materials are luxurious
Although the Audi A7L has been lengthened and turned into a "serious" sedan, there is one absolute selling point of the coupe that has not changed: that is, the borderless door! Open the door in this way, and you can show the different and very pleasing design in your heart. And the front and rear rows are double-layer soundproof glass, and the back row also has privacy glass, which should be said to be considered very well.
There are not many places to talk in the car, it is a typical new generation of Audi style, enough sense of technology, intelligent. Including the provision of 12.3-inch full LCD instrument, the center console is a double-layer screen design, 10.1-inch central control screen + 8.6-inch air conditioning control panel, but also greatly reduced the physical buttons in the car. Of course, this car also has a HUD head-up display, and other configurations need to spend an additional 15,000 yuan.
In terms of multimedia systems, SAIC Audi has adopted the MIB3 entertainment information system, introduced some commonly used apps on the basis of integrating the Audi Asterix ecosystem, and even has an application store. The entire main interface has also become more like a smartphone, no longer the simple listing of squares in the early days, providing modules such as weather, music playback, and recent use, but I believe that everyone is most accustomed to using CarPlay.
In addition to controlling the air conditioning, the air conditioning control screen also provides automatic parking, automatic start and stop switch, driving mode selection and other functional buttons, basically abandoning the physical buttons. Interestingly, Audi also came up with how to use the two screens together - when clicking on the address search, a keyboard will appear on the lower screen, which can more easily enter the address in Pinyin.
By the way, all screen touches have dual feedback of sound and vibration, which makes the texture of the touch no longer a "poke tablet".
In fact, the interior design of the Audi A7L is familiar to everyone, but the focus of this luxury car, which costs nearly 700,000, is naturally on the material. But everywhere the hand can touch it is soft material, a lot of leather wrapping, especially delicate.
The staggered lines left by the diamond-shaped lattice stitching process on the Valcona Wagner leather seats are enough to show the luxurious specifications of the seats, while the brown soft leather not only covers the central armrest box and door handles, but also covers the sides of the central passage, luxurious to the feet. In addition, in order to match the brown seats in the car, the stitches in the car are also this brown-orange color.
There is a layer of fine three-dimensional texture on the trim panel inside the car, reflecting the technological and intelligent positioning of this car. All the keys are matched with silver trims on the edges of the panel, the window buttons are silver trims, and the bright black knobs have silver striped edges, which is delicate enough. The lining of the car's armrests has also been added, and the lining of the car's storage compartment is lined with flocking, which is impeccable.
However, I think it may be necessary to prepare an Apple 145 yuan wipe at any time, after all, the large area of glossy black trim in the car also leaves enough space for finger prints.
One more thing to add: If you look at the interior of the Audi A7L during the day and give it an 80 points, then when night falls, when the lights in the car are on, this score may be added by another 10 points.
Let's take a look at the space, the front row sitting posture is low enough, the head space can probably be surplus one punch or two fingers, the only disadvantage is probably that the storage grid of the central passage is not much, even the cup holders are arranged to be full, and the keys are designed to have their own position, but they forgot to leave a position for the mobile phone.
As a medium-sized luxury car, the rear seats of the Audi A7L also have integrated central armrests, with cup holders popping out in front, mobile phone storage compartments in the middle, and larger storage boxes in the back. The rear exhaust air outlet is also equipped with a touch screen to control the rear area air conditioning, and there are two Type-C charging ports. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the window buttons of the rear armrest also have a set of sunroof control keys, which can play a role in controlling the sunroof.
As for the space in the rear row, after the wheelbase is lengthened by 98mm, the knee space of the rear row of the Audi A7L can reach about two fists and four fingers, which can be said to be quite enough. Although the coupe-style sliding C-pillar has some influence on the arrangement of the backrest and is relatively upright, there is still a punch and a finger in the head space. However, this 700,000 yuan luxury medium and large car does not provide a popular panoramic sunroof, which should still take into account the requirements of head space and body rigidity.
Dynamic driving, wonderful to the peak of lightness
As the first limited edition, the Audi A7L is fully equipped. Specifically, the Audi A7L 55TFSI quattro is powered by a 3.0TFSI V6 engine and also has a 48V light mix system. This V6 engine has a maximum power of 250 kW and a peak torque of 500 Nm. Matched this is the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
At the same time, the chassis has a quattro four-wheel drive system, active air suspension, and the DAWS dynamic all-wheel steering technology of the first domestic Audi. This all-wheel steering technology at a speed of less than 60km/h, when the vehicle is steering, the rear wheel and the front wheel form a reverse, achieving a steering angle of up to ±5°, which can reduce the turning diameter of 1.1 meters; and in the use case of more than 60km/h, DAWS dynamic all-wheel steering technology can achieve up to ±2° coordinated steering between the rear wheel and the front wheel. At high speeds, vehicle handling can be made better and more stable.
If there is one word to sum up the driving experience of the Audi A7L, it is "lightness" - it does not make people think that this five-meter car is too bulky, nor does it have that feeling of lightness, but a sense of lightness that is just right.
The surging power brought by the 3.0T V6 engine can be experienced in a very simple way: full throttle! Stepping down really has a very Powerful feeling, the tachometer pointer can get more than 6000 rpm to shift gears, highlighting the refreshing feeling of one-shot, there is a linear and mechanical pull-up, and the rough acceleration of pure electric vehicles is completely different.
Although the car's 100-kilometer acceleration was not tested, according to the official statement, it was 5.6 seconds, which supported the ejection start, which was still enough to be worthy of the price - just not compared with the current zero-hundred-speed five-second electric car.
Of course, the Audi A7L's choice of this 3.0T V6 is not to let you jump at any time - more often than not, it allows you to drive leisurely and calmly enough. And that kind of calm, is a deep power reserve of 250kW, even at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour, as long as the foot is added to the force can give a very aggressive acceleration.
Another benefit of large displacement is that when you are driving a cruise on a daily basis, the speed does not exceed 1400 rpm, and the upshift tends to be completed below 2000 rpm. This speed is really too low, and the vibration and noise when the engine is running are almost inaudible, which is the underpinning of a luxury car. Coupled with the advantages of 3.0L large displacement, the gearbox often does not need to downshift at all, only need to pull up the speed to complete the acceleration action, the whole experience is too smooth.
In addition, it should be mentioned that the light hybrid system composed of 48V lithium-ion batteries and P0 motors can quickly pull the speed into place during the start-up process, which makes when you want to slow down and stop, the system will shut down the engine in advance, or occasionally shut down the engine during high-speed coasting to save fuel - the engine can be turned off for up to 40 seconds at high speed.
Cut to Sport mode and the car will immediately go into battle mode, showing a completely different style. The throttle response is sensitive enough that the tiptoe moves the speed pointer towards 4000 and downshifts quickly to release more torque. If you have more movement on your feet, the gearbox will break in, because the upshift and downshift movements are fast, almost like driving a real high-performance sports car - the only thing missing is probably the exhaust sound.
As for the dynamic experience of the chassis, in fact, it can be assured that Audi is now almost the best balance of comfort and driving control in the three BBA companies, and it is particularly delicate. This Audi A7L plus active air suspension, will not let the driver have a feeling of driving a boat, even the comfort mode will pass the gap between the seams of the road surface and the manhole cover to the driver, just to say that this vibration is obviously treated, and just "bang" that, back to the pavement will quickly stabilize, and there will be no excess vibration. When it comes to sport mode, the air suspension also becomes stiffer, the support for the vehicle is more in place, and the body tilt becomes less.
It should be pointed out that the domesticized Audi A7L chassis does not feel so tight, or it is more considered to the driving needs of the Chinese people, and it will be softer. Others are subject to the length of the body length increased by 100mm, an extra tail compartment, so in the process of rapid change of direction such a fierce driving can be perceived some drag in the rear, the rear follow-up is average.
Finally, about the experience of turning to the feel, it should be said that audi has maintained its consistent style, non-sports mode daily driving when the electronic taste is heavier, the virtual position is more obvious, but after the "dead point" can also quickly make the action. And in the sport mode, the whole steering feel will become more sporty, the virtual position will be rapidly reduced, and the positive torque will increase, which is very sporting car feeling. The problem that still exists is that by relying too much on the setting of electronic programs, the road perception of the front wheels during the steering process is not so real.
Driver's Summary:
After experiencing the Audi A7L in one day, I felt more and more that this car was tailored for a younger generation of luxury car sellers. Obviously, those Internet elites, they are pursuing the kind of lightness that removes grease, in the company management style is like that, now the relationship is also like that, so the car you drive, the house you live in also needs to have this light inspiration.
This kind of lightness is not given by the 56E models that the father's generation liked, which highlights the significance of the Audi A7L' existence - a more sporty appearance, a more luxurious interior, more screens, and an extra four bezel-less doors, but also has a long wheelbase that every generation of Chinese consumers like, which I think is enough to impress the elite group of the post-90s who are gradually maturing.
Text| JackieLXX
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