To go up against the RS7, you have to skip the “base” 8 Series Gran Coupe and look to the M8, which bumps the price up to $154,500. The RS7 is cheaper. The BMW is fitted with all-wheel drive, but it has the particularity of including a mode that only relays power and torque to the rear wheels, with the aim of faithfully restoring the behavior of rear-wheel drive. Fans will appreciate. In terms of pleasure, the M8 is also more characterful.

Much like BMW’s M8, you have to dig deeper (over $200,000) to get RS7-like performance aboard this Porsche Panamera. Less functional than an RS7, the Panamera is, shall we say, a “phenomenon” apart in the category. Neither beautiful nor ugly, this Porsche is just very different. At the wheel, it provides superior driving pleasure and greater uniformity, but not necessarily more exacerbated pure performance than Audi’s proposals. At equal performance, the Audi RS7 is less expensive to acquire (and maintain) and almost as exclusive (number of units produced).