AUDI A7 3.0 TDI Quattro 204 SE 5dr S Tronic [5 Seat] (2011)

Absolutely brilliant

First warning: only got the car a few weeks ago, so it might fall to pieces, but that would have to be a near first for Audi so I'm not too concerned.

We had a BMW 5 Series before the Audi A7, and got a good part ex for it. The 5 might have been a touch more luxurious in the straights, maybe, and it was certainly a little more powerful. It got to sixty I think a full second faster, and had 8 gears haha, who needs eight gears?? But anyway the Audi A7 is still plenty powerful, and feels somehow a bit livelier as well. Hard to describe. It's still got 7 gears which is enough of a handful. It does make good use of them all though, and the changes are always lovely and smooth.

The other nice thing has been the running costs. Insurance and tax are both a fair whack lower on the Audi A7 compared to the 5 Series, and it gets much better mileage too thanks to being diesel. I suppose that slight drop in performance just shows how well diesels are comparing with petrols these days.

The Audi A7 is a good size for us. I had seen it when it originally came out last year and generally drooled over it, but my other half had put her foot down because it only had two seats in the back which I had to admit was a bit daft. So when they released one with three in the back she sort of caved in and we got it. I don't think she's been disappointed, we get the pram and all the shopping in there.

I shouldn't sound like such a sexist pig! She does use it for work too (she's a gym instructor) and she's always been able to get her various kit into it. The boot in the Audi A7 might be a fraction smaller than the 5 Series, but it seldom notices. There was just this once with an office chair that I got into a certain space in the 5's boot and had to fiddle about for a while to get it into the boot in the Audi A7.