The Audi A7 is a 4-door luxury coupe based on the Audi A6 chassis but made to be more exciting and better-looking. The A7 differs from the A6 due to its more stylish design, and a more accommodating hatchback trunk, but with certain compromises that came with the design, such as less space in the rear and subpar visibility.
So, is Audi A7 a good used car? The Audi A7 can be a good used car if you know how to buy a used car properly. First of all, you need to have your budget straight before you decide to buy anything because buying just the car is not the only expense you will have. The A7 is a high-maintenance car which means that A7’s running costs are not the same as with economy-level cars.
The A7 is available with a plethora of engines starting from a 3.0L V6 and moving towards a twin-turbo V8. The design of the A7 is likely one of the main reasons why people opt to buy it over the A6. The driving experience is very much the same.
Reliability is also an important matter as cars such as these are complex and are in need of timely and thorough maintenance. All in all, the A7 can be a really good used car if you know what you are doing and if you go for an example that has been kept in decent condition without too many miles on the odometer.
A used Audi A7 – The costs
The costs and expenses associated with a used Audi A7 is likely the main factor you need to consider if you are interested in buying one used. Used Audi A7 prices range between $14,000 for the worst, oldest, highest mileage, low-spec examples all the way up to $150,000+ for the highest-spec low-mileage RS7 models.
Maintenance costs are also a really significant expense, and let’s take a 2018 Audi A7 Prestige as an example. Let’s say that you paid around $46,000 for a used example with around 60k miles on the clock. In the first five years of ownership, you could spend between $15,000-$20,000 on all costs including fuel, insurance, repairs, depreciation, and all other fees and taxes.
Used Audi A7 – What do I get for my money?
A used Audi A7 is still a tremendously luxurious four-door coupe that is hardly ever going out of style. Even the oldest 2011 examples are widely regarded as attention-grabbing. If you go for a highly specified model such as a Prestige trim level, you will enjoy numerous luxury features that are still missing in some higher-end cars.
Therefore, even though the car is older, it was so good when it came out that it is more than competitive even after 10 years old. Performance is also really good as all A7 models offer between 200hp and 600hp. All of them come with Audi’s Quattro AWD system and Audi’s proprietary torque converter gearbox which suits the car’s character really well.
Premium features such as heated and cooled seats, 360-degree cameras, high-end audio system, adaptive cruise control, and keyless functionalities are all present in every Audi A7 generation. However, you need to keep in mind that Apple CarPlay is only available in 2018 and on cars.
Which used Audi A7 is the best one to buy?
Now when we have successfully concluded that the A7 is indeed a really good used car, we need to decide which A7 you should buy. The 2017 Audi A7 is likely the one to get because it is the most reliable Audi A7 model year to date. It is also one of, if not the best-looking A7 model yet.
You should also consider buying the 2021 model if you want the latest and greatest A7 money can buy. The 2021 A7 is identical to the 2022 model, yet it costs about 10-15% less due to depreciation. The 2021 model is also packed with all the features you need, and it also seems to be a really reliable model year for the A7.
Finally, if you want to save a few bucks, you can also consider buying the 2012 model which was the very first model year for the A7. The 2012 model started it all, but you can find these for less than $20,000 which is indeed a bargain price. Reliability is good if you manage to find a well-kept example with all of its service and maintenance records intact.
FAQ Section
Should I buy a used Audi A7?
An Audi A7 is not the world’s most popular car which means that you first need to like the car before you even consider buying one. Logically, it may not be the best way to spend $20,000+ for a car as you can get more reliable, newer, and better-equipped cars for even less money than that.
However, the A7 is bought by people who want to own an A7, not a car similar to the A7 (except maybe the Mercedes CLS or the BMW 6-Series). As such, if you like the car and you can afford it, you should indeed consider buying one as life is simply too short to drive boring cars.
Is the Audi A7 better than the A6?
The Audi A7 is basically an Audi A6 in a tailor-made suit which means that underneath, these two are identical. The only mentionable differences between the two are the exterior styling, the trunk space, visibility, and rear-seat space. The A7 takes it in the styling and trunk space department while the A6 takes it in interior practicality and visibility.
Other than that, the A7 does come at a slight premium over the A6 because it comes with better equipment from the factory.
How quickly does an Audi A7 depreciate?
According to many online depreciation calculators, the Audi A7 seems to be losing about 10% of its value every year. This means that after five years, the car should lose between 48-58% of its value. After five years, the depreciation curve becomes less aggressive because the A7 should cost around 33-35% of its original value after 10 years of use.
