The tasty RS 7, with a 4.0L bi-turbo V8 belting out nearly 600 horsepower packed into a slinky sportback body, is the sort of delightful lunacy which acts as a speedy tonic to the raft of dour crossovers and SUVs which crowd parking lots at the mall. A new exclusive edition – a trim infuriatingly spelled in all lower-case letters – ratchets up the rarity even if it doesn’t provide any extra German horses.
The price goes up, too. A lot.
Audi is not alone in this phenomenon, of course. Witness the crew at Aston Martin who went through an era in which their pricing strategy was apparently “think of a price, then double it”. The RS 7 exclusive edition will bear a Monroney of $165,400 which is quite a walk from the standard RS 7’s sticker which starts at $118,500.
For yer money, Audi will sell you an RS 7 with a number of – erm – design enhancements. The exterior is painted in an exclusive Mamba Black pearl, a shade which apparently gives an effect in which the black paint carries undertones of blue. An exterior Carbon optic package, generally a $6,650 option on an RS 7, darkens the Audi rings and badges, puts carbon-like material on the exterior mirror caps and front spoiler, and jazzes up the rear diffuser element. There are 22-inch tires at each corner, cutting a 285 section on 30-series rubber. There is also a blue light signature in the headlight housing for good measure.
It does come with Ceramic brakes which is a $9,000 option on workaday RS 7 models. Biting into those discs are blue-painted calipers, a shade not available on other trims which means your nemesis at the yacht club will instantly know you’ve splashed out for something special. Dynamic Ride Control suspension and Sport exhaust are also part of the deal, so your frenemies will have no trouble hearing you accelerate out of the Ritz parking lot. Meanwhile, the cabin is decked out with similar addenda, including (surprise!) blue stitching on the seats and other interior surfaces. Leather coverings are extended to just about every touch point like the doors armrests and upper dashboard.
Configuring a check-every-box example of a 2022 RS 7 on the Audi build and price tool results in a machine costing $145,740, equipped with the likes of Ceramic brakes and a Bang & Olufsen sound system costing five grand. That lessens the delta between an RS 7 and an RS 7 exclusive edition – but 20 large is still a lot to pay for blue trim. Perhaps the one-percenters think differently.
[Image: Audi]
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