THESE days the battle among performance cars has swivelled firmly towards aerodynamic efficiency and weight reduction, but nobody told that to the Audi RS7 Sportback Performance.

A menacing stance, fast-backed and five-metres long with five frameless doors, the RS7 Sportback also still weighs a whisker under two tonnes, but the addition of the Performance nameplate to the RS-tuned version of the regular A7 Sportback at least does what it says on the tin.

Power and torque for the 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine has lifted and its 0-100km/h acceleration claim has dropped by two-tenths to a blistering 3.7 seconds. And the price for all that Performance? $258,000 plus on-road costs, or $17,000 beyond the RS7 Sportback it has replaced.

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