It's a beautiful day today, and that's not only because of the weather.
It's because of the cars I'm driving today, because I'll be driving these beautiful limousines,
two beautiful sports cars, GT's, or whatever you want to call them.
They're a little bit of everything, and that's what makes them special.
They're tailor made suits with sneakers, and they tend to feel more comfortable when you're walking.
If that's the case with these two... Well, I'll tell you in a bit.
The Audi A7 is the sporty brother of the Audi A8, the top of the range Audi,
so I've got high expectations. If you look at this car,
you can see it has succeeded in the design department. It's a beautiful, lean car,
and it has been in front of my house for a week now. During that week,
people have been peeking, making photo's, walking around it,
so the design is very much appreciated.
If we compare it with its predecessor, which had a sharp fold at the back,
reminding us of the old Audi 100 Coupé. The new A7 doesn't have that anymore,
instead, it's more of a round design, which makes it look more like it's from today.
It just looks incredibly good, and the same goes for the inside.
The materials are fantastic, the finishing is phenomenal, it's completely up to date with three digital screens.
One in front of me, one to the right, and one below here.
It feels good, it's a touchscreen, when I touch it, it offers feedback so I know I've pressed the right thing,
and it's all incredibly high tech. Sometimes, you might ask yourself if it isn't too much.
When I went to pick up this car, the product specialist gave instructions for over an hour.
And even he went 'what was it again' from time to time, so I understand why people who don't like technology would skip this car.
And for an older target audience, there are bound to be a lot of people who like this amount of technology.
Take my father for example, he has always asked why his secretary connected a TV to here typewriter.
That's a story for another day however, but I wouldn't see him getting into this car.
Anyway, if you like technology, this car is absolutely fantastic.
It's all high tech, it all looks beautiful, you have to search for some things,
but it feels good and that's great.
However, sporty ambitions stand for a different ride, and I think Audi has gone a tad too far with the A7.
You miss the pleasant comfort of the A8, so it's a little too hard.
The short strokes and the sturdy dampers are a tad too extreme, and despite it's fitted with air suspension and adaptive dampers,
you can still feel it.
Where the chassis is a tad too sturdy, too hard, the steering feels a little too distant,
which means it misses sharpness. If you start steering wildly,
you'll notice it's pushing over its front wheels, despite the quattro,
which makes it a little bit too understeered...
for a truly sportive car. However, when you're travelling down a smooth motorway,
it's a lovely and quick travel car. This 3.0-litre V6 TDI produces 286 horsepower...
and 620 Nm of torque, and that doesn't sound like a lot for a car which almost weighs 1.900 kg,
but it's a mild hybrid system, so it's fitted with an electric motor,
which aids acceleration. It certainly is no slouch...
Another advantage of this car is the space in the cabin, because a normal 5-door coupé tends to be cramped at the back.
This A7 however has lots of legroom at the rear, and quite a lot of headroom as well.
You wouldn't expect that with a sloped roof. Also, it's a 5-door coupé,
so besides a very big boot, the bootlid and thus the accessibility is very big as well.
and that makes it very practical.
The Mercedes-Benz CLS might be Genesis when it comes to this segment.
In the beginning of this century, they presented the CLS Vision on the Frankfurt Motor Show I believe,
which was only meant as a concept. People liked it so much however,
Mercedes started production. That's kind of a cliché-story,
because it was the same with the Audi TT and so on. People liked those as well, so they went into production.
It's a fun story. Anyway, the first CLS was launched in 2004,
and this is the third generation. Just like with other iconic designs,
they're incredibly careful with launching new generations. Of course, the nose and rear have been modernized,
but if you look at the side profile, you can still recognize the mysterious, weird,
kind of banana-shaped body. I had to get used to it very much,
but I absolutely love it now. When I was younger, I watched Battlestar Galactica,
and you had the Cylons, which were the angry robots.
They flew fighter jets which looked similarly. This has low windows, like a Russian jet fighter,
and it has a whiff of mystery. Almost scary, and that's what makes this car special.
And that's the big disadvantage as well, because you've got that sloped roof,
you're pretty cramped in the back. There isn't a lot of legroom, and there's even less headroom.
I'm just short of 1,90 m, but my head is almost in the ceiling.
That's not the case in the Audi.
Then, the interior. Just look at that dashboard.
Don't get me wrong, the Audi is beautiful, but I like weirdness and remarkable details,
and the new lines in Mercedes' dashboards... You already saw it in the S-Class,
the more expensive versions of the new A-Class will get it as well...
But it's just a huge wide screen, two thirds of the dashboard is a screen.
Or rather two screens, but you almost can't see them apart.
It's just so incredibly beautiful. The vents resemble jet engines,
carbon fibre everywhere, an analogue clock,
I really think this is great. I love looking at it, honestly.
If you compare it with the Audi, qualitatively speaking it's the same.
The design looks more exciting though, and the feeling of the controls is a little more intuitive.
It's easier to find your way, and that makes it nicer to control.
Besides it being a little more cramped at the back, the boot is smaller as well.
This only fits 520 litres, and even though that's not a big difference,
this is a 4-door coupé instead of a 5-door coupé. That means you've got a small bootlid,
so putting in big pieces of luggage can be challenging. I wouldn't call it incredibly practical.
Then there's the engine. A 3.0-litre straight-six,
and you heard correctly. Mercedes has lost the V6 and they switched to a straight six.
And it's absolutely lovely. It produces 340 horsepower and 700 Nm of torque,
which is available from an incredible 1.250 RPM. That's enormous.
Officially, it should do 0-100 km/h in 5,0 seconds. I measured it doing that in 4,9 seconds,
so it's quicker than Mercedes states themselves, and it's incredibly smooth.
It's fitted with a 9-speed sequential automatic gearbox, which offers very good throttle response.
It's an incredibly pleasant car to drive, and the fun part is...
that when you compare it to the Audi, it has a better balance between comfort and sportiness.
It's a tad more comfortable, which you'd expect from a car like this,
but at the same time, it offers more feedback in the steering wheel,
the steering is sharper, it's got sharper reactions, and that's why this is a nicer car to drive.
Other than that, it fitted with the most modern systems you could think of.
It's the same story in the Audi. Everything is helping you, kicking in, you name it.
If you've turned on the active lane keeping assist... No wait, I mean if you've turned it off,
if you don't let it steer. When you dare to go over the lines on the road,
it'll brake for you. That can be scary if you're swerving for oncoming traffic on a narrow road.
The fun part is that if you look at the Audi, all of the sensors, radars and antenna's...
are fitted in two huge blocks in the grille. If you see that car approaching in your rear view mirror,
it's almost like you've got the secret service on your tail. The Mercedes does a better job...
by putting it all in the Silver Star.
And that brings me to the hardest part of not only the video, but of my job as well.
I'll have to choose, and that can be easy or hard.
Today however, the choice is incredibly hard.
I've been driving both for weeks now, and both have their strong points.
The Audi is more practical, but the steering is better in here.
I like this interior better, but that's a matter of taste,
because the quality is great in both of them. They both have a great drivetrain...
Sure, I'd rather driven the CLS 350, but that wasn't available, so we shouldn't compare the performance...
So if were to put everything together... Personally, I think the Mercedes is just a tiny bit better,
but if you want to be sure, you should read the paper AutoWeek,
because that's where the full story is, with processed readings and such.
That's when I can give you my full conclusion, but in the meantime,
I'll keep driving the Mercedes for a while...