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"What hasn&amp;#039;t already been said about the Audi A7? Yes, it&amp;#039;s been out in the European markets; yes, it made its appearance at the Los Angeles Auto Show; and yes, it combines the four-door coupe styling of the Mercedes CLS with the storage practicality of the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. So what&amp;#039;s new for the crossover sedan at New York Auto Show? Well, two things.   Number one. The Audi A7 Sportback was chosen by Auto Bild as the winner of its design summit. A German car magazine (think Road &amp;amp;amp; Track, only less meat and potato and a whole lot more schnitzel and spargel), Auto Bild selected 10 cars of which a jury panel picked the A7 for its aesthetics. Othmar Wickenheiser, professor of Transportation Design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, had this to say about the A7: &amp;quot;An absolutely harmonious design concept. Unembellished flanks, sinewy shoulders, streamlined sides \u2013 perfect.&amp;quot; Othmar should&amp;#039;ve been an auto journalist.           Want a real journalist&amp;#039;s take? Here&amp;#039;s what John Lamm, resident freelancer (oxymoron, anyone?) had to say: &amp;quot;The A7 is just as beautiful as the A6, while taking on more of a coupe proportion. This makes it even sleeker, though at the expense (just a bit) of easily getting into the back seat.&amp;quot;   Or, from Dennis Simanaitis, our Engineering Editor and resident staffer (obvious statement, anyone?) said: &amp;quot;Our earlier report left the impression that [the A7] follow[ed] closely in the tire tracks of BMW&amp;#039;s Gran Turismo and Mercedes&amp;#039; CLS. But seeing it &amp;quot;in the metal&amp;quot; stresses that, indeed, it&amp;#039;s an Audi and not to be confused with either of these.&amp;quot; Simanaitis goes on to describe the A7 as, &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s smaller than it appears in photos. Whereas the BMW Gran Turismo might pass for a conventional sedan and the Mercedes CLS clearly is one, the Sportback is more tidy and unabashedly a 5-door hatchback.&amp;quot; So the BMW-Benz comparison buck? It stops here.   In summary, the four-door-plus-hatch A7 is spacious with 49.0 cu. ft. of storage, but it loses points in the comfort category through its novel design. Although not small by any means \u2013 the A7 measures 195.7 in. long, 75.2 in. wide and 55.9 in. high \u2013 the rear doors and sloped roof are not friendly for large humans. For rear ingress/egress, tall people will need some bobble in their heads.           Pricing and Power. One is Lower Than We Thought.   Number two. Audi announced U.S. pricing for the A7. While we estimated it less than $80k back in November of 2010, converting its price in Europe from euro to dollar, the A7 3.0T Quattro Tiptronic will start at $59,250 (excluding $875 for destination). What does that get you? A 310-bhp, 3.0-liter TFSI V-6 supercharged engine and an 8-speed Tiptronic automatic with all-wheel drive standard -- a deal considering we had it pegged for $20k higher. Fuel efficiency is rated by the EPA at 18 mpg in the city, 28 mpg on the highway and 22 mpg combined. Other features include speed sensitive rear spoiler and Audi&amp;#039;s MMI interface. An Audi-first for the A7 is an available heads-up display in full color and high resolution. Full LED headlights, Night Vision Assistant, Pre-Sense Plus and Bang &amp;amp;amp; Olufsen audio are some of the other available options.   Armed with the two new facts, should you wish, you can check out the 2012 Audi A7 for yourself soon. They start hitting dealer showrooms later this month.          "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/car-shows/new-york-auto-show/news/a17142/2012-audi-a7-sportback/>