Styling, the RS7 is butt-ugly, imo.

Not a big fan of the rear styling of the RS7 and I also really wanted 5 seats. The RS7 is a 2+2, similar to the CLS.

Here are my 2 drive options:

2011 EC tuned E63

2015 AMS tuned E63s

What other car makes could I possibly need? LMAO

Sorry guys, I couldn't resist. And truth is that the 2011 will be sold fairly soon to a VERY lucky person. Rebuilt bottom end of motor. All new exhaust including cats. New rear axle. Transferable warranty with 4 years and 40k miles left on it! Selling it close to KBB value with all of my extras for free. Another shameless plug, sorry. Some of you may know this car as EVA 1 and she lives in the BA Cali. In mint condition with only 65k miles.

I'm in the Bay Area as well. I'd love to get a ride in a e63s to see how it feels vs my Turbo. PM me if you're open to meeting up sometime Friday or this weekend if we aren't too far from each other.

PM'd !

What a busy, but fun weekend.

I ended up going to Audi to take a look at this RS7 (https://www.audiburlingame.com/used/...40414a0a48.htm). I don't know if I really test drove the car correctly or not because it was fairly short, but I was underwhelmed by the performance and even more so on the handling.

I just got back from test driving a 2014 E63s wagon and I was impressed. From a power perspective, the E63 felt like it had more. It also felt more "agile" when taking a turn vs the RS7.

I wish I could have more time behind the wheel of these cars to really know which one I want to go with.

Still can't decide. Why is this so hard haha.

Hmmm, based on looks? I'd go with Merc > Audi.

Looks are in the eye of the beholder, but here is the list I have so far of pros/cons

2014-2016 RS7
+ I like the interior much more. Makes you feel "special" with the pop out screen and tweeter gimmick.
+ Is a "hatchback" so there is the option to fit my dog in the trunk with his head being able to pop up over the rear seats if I wanted to. I could get the E63s wagon, however the wife absolutely hates it.
+ Power. I'm going to end up doing probably just stage 2 tune/dp setup and from my research, seems to be way faster than a stage 2 tune/dp e63s (someone correct me if I'm wrong)
+ RS7 seems to have the most potential in getting stupid power vs the E63s
- Expensive compared to the E63s. I'm seeing the RS7 come in $10K+ more than a E63s if you were to compare between the two
- Only a 4 seater. I don't know how big of a deal breaker this would be as I rarely drive with more than 2 people in my car now, but have a feeling once we start our family, I'll want that 5th seat.
- From the one RS7 I test drove, the car really did feel like a boat. I'll need to give this another shot and even better if I can find one with a dynamic package

2014-2016 E63S
+ Felt more "peppy" when driving in comparison to the RS7
+ Has 5 seats, again, don't know how big this is going to come into play
+ Seems to be a lot easier to find for sale, which means I can wait until the perfect one at the perfect price comes along
- From the research I've done, the transmission really limits the torque on the car if modded. Don't want hardware being a limiting factor
- Although it has its differences, most of the time it just blends in with the other E series

Re-educate your wife....
:)

The US aversion for station wagons is weird to me. Yes, kids in the 70s grew up with wooded station wagons and have bad memories (or great ones - perfect for high school dating).I get that that generation doesn't want wagons (we all want to be the inverse of our parents of course)
In the 80s kids grew up in minivans, hence none of that generation wants a minivan. I get it.
90 and 00s was all about SUVs. But what's amazing to me is that the kids that grew up in them, STILL BUY SUVs today! I guess that generation has less desire to rebel against their parents?

In Europe of course the math is different. Since parking spaces are smaller, and sporty lifestyle means fitting things into car, not sitting high up, a smaller wagon fits the lifestyle of many much better than an SUV.

Back to topic. I have had numerous Audis over the years, including A4, S4, A6, and W12. I agree with your comment on interiors, Audis are simply the best. But if rear headroom is of any concern to you, pass on the RS7. It's tiny and the seats are uncomfortable. I have tweener kids and they can't fit (but then I'm 6'5" and hence sit pretty far back). If the RS6 was sold here I would get one of those.
Depending on where you live, A7s are also so very common.

Wife re-education is currently in progress. She at least has said she will go see one in person now haha.

I've been concerned about the rear seating and how it only seats 4, but again, I don't know how many times I've actually driven my current car with people in the back seat. Even at 5'10, when I sat in the back of the RS7 I felt like the roof was just right on top of my head. I'll really need to see if I can do a back-to-back comparison between the E63S and RS7 as far as performance/agility goes. Although I worry about the RS7 back seats now, I really don't think it's going to be a determining factor.

Take your old lady for a drive in a Honda and see how quickly she understands :)

I will chime in having faced some similar decisions with my buying process. Bay Area house #2 is also an upcoming consideration on our end as well as future kids. Looked at the RS7, but as others have stated, I was not a fan of the styling and cringed at the lack of rear headroom/seating for 5 people. In the end, decided to pick up a 16 E63 Sedan which is in the sweet spot with the depreciation hit due to the W213 release., while still retaining warranty and ELW coverage. Considered a wagon, but opted to keep our SUV instead as it will fit a 150lb Newfoundland better than the wagon and I don't care if it gets dirty. We decided to wait a few years in regards to house #2 once our family had grown to justify it, versus being pushed by the crazy Bay Area market.

That's my two cents, maybe it will help, maybe it won't.

Just giving a quick update here.

Still going back and forth between the RS7/E63S however I've now complicated things more by throwing in a S6 as well. I know that the S6 is "inferior" power wise in comparison to the RS7/E63S, however, they are also surprisingly cheap that you can find a pretty loaded 2016+ with 20-25k miles for $50-$55K. If I sold my other two cars for around $80K, that would mean I could bank $20-$25K towards my next toy car and/or house down payment (in the Bay Area, $20-$25K, isn't going to do much though).

I think I watched a video where a Stage 1 S6 is on par with a stock E63S if we are looking to compare.

If you're going to throw a variable into the equation... My suggestion would be for an S8 rather than S6. So much more car, refinement and is more livable as a daily than an S6. The newer platform is a huge improvement over the D3 and feels more nimble than any variant of the S8 in the past.

Just test drove a 2016 RS7 and wow... I need to find a E63S to see if I can tell any difference.

Also, just a general question, being in CA, I don't want to have to deal with smog problems. With a tune, will that be caught by smog?

GIAC on the RS7 should not cause any smog issues.

The RS7 is undoubtedly a powerful car, but I just can't get behind it. Literally. The back is too ugly to my eyes. For the 95% of car life that is lived at less than 10/10ths, I would regret it. However if you've got to have a hatch, then it sounds like your choice is made. The car should work for you.

Panamera Wagon is an option too unfortunately not available "used" yet.

Surprised you arent considering your Porsche as the daily. Its exactly what they are capable of doing without any fuss. That said, these are both way different cars and Ive had both!

Outside of both going really fast, they accomplish it in a way different fashion. For the Porsche, its essentially a 2 seater car that does well in pretty much every category score, but it's missing 'attitude'. It does anything you ask without fuss, but you could easily use it as a daily driver if you had a newer platform with a PDK transmission. The E63 is kind of like a wolf in sheep's clothing...it has exhaust burble on downshifts, and under that 4 door saloon, it has the DNA of a muscle car....you can feel Mercedes racing heritage when you drive it. It has an 'angry' feel to it; one that will keep up with your TT along with grabbing 3 of your friends and groceries on the way home from the track.

Mercedes does a great job making their AMG cars feel untamed. Porsche doesn't have that until you get into their track focused cars and even then you really could drive them daily. It's going to come down to personal preference - both get the job done.