Auto News 5

The runway at Norway's Kristiansand airport has been closed for our test, and the final takeoff section has been converted into a challenging autocross course. I taxi slowly down the tarmac, turn around, wait for the thumbs-up-and give it stick. The sensation that follows can be described only as mind-boggling. After four seconds, the yellow cruise missile, with a combined 526 hp and 649 lb-ft of torque coming from its four electric motors, passes the 62-mph mark. A few heartbeats later, we tick 100 mph. Past the airport tower, the speedometer indicates 125 mph, and before the first cone appears, I swear I see 150 mph.

If the Mercedes CLS invented the concept of a sedan leaping up one rung on the coolness chart to a "coupe," then it has a new competitor in town: the Audi A7 takes two leaps. Don't say the words out loud, but it's a hatchback station wagon. One that happens to call itself a coupe. That's two steps up the cool ladder from wagon, straight past sedan, and to coupe. Or so says Audi.