Audi Q7 reviews

The Q7 on the other hand comes brilliantly equipped and has a luxurious interior with seats that are the most comfortable. It's practical, very refined and has greater road presence felt. However, it's not dynamically the best.

DESIGN

Size is something the Q7 is known for. Raised to its full ride height, and with that enormous grille, slit headlights and wide haunches, it resembles a mini-truck. If anything, it's the rear styling that's a bit basic and boring. It looks too round and maybe even a bit outdated. Also, the Q7 is so long that it hangs over the edge of most parking spaces. The latest facelift has given the Q7 several detail improvements.

On the outside, the headlights are new and get Audi's LED daytime running lights and the turn indicators are now LED's, there's the subtle redesigns for the grille, particularly the thick chrome vertical highlights, the front and rear bumpers and their under-protectors are slightly altered, the door mouldings are new as are the tail-lights, which are now LED's. There are new wheels too, but you would need to be a Q7 addict to really spot some of these changes.

CABIN

The Q7's well appointed cabin makes you feel extra special and small upgrades to the well constructed interior allow it to keep pace with the ever-rising standards in this area. Inside, the appearance and finish of the instruments and switchgear has been improved, along with the new interior mood-lighting and the latest version of the MMI infotainment system which comes with a 10GB internal hard-drive. The seats are the most comfy - they feel like armchairs - and the red-and-white lighting on the instrument console, the sculpted steering and the spacious cabin make you feel like you've spent money well. Thanks to its length, there's fantastic space for the front and middle row passengers. It's got the most usable third row too and if you need boot space, the last row can be folded into the floor to make a flat loading area.

ENGINE

Q7 is powered by a 3.0-litre V6 TDi which is a very refined unit. The same powerplant has proved its brilliance in its lightest application, the A4 saloon but in a behemoth weighing 2.3 tonnes, the performance of the torquey 56kgm engine is evidently blunted. Still, the Q7's performance is in no way slow. It'll sail past the 100kph mark in 10.6 seconds, and while it doesn't snap to throttle inputs like its competition the BMW X5, it does a pretty good job of hustling its bulk. Still, overtaking manoeuvres do need a bit of planning; the six-speed auto is sluggish and takes its own time to kickdown. It doesn't have a paddle-shift function and has an irritating tendency to upshift mid-corner, which is exactly why it isn't the best engine-gearbox combo.

RIDE AND HANDLING

Despite its size and weight, the Q7 is a reasonably decent thing to punt around corners. The steering is characteristically Audi - light and effortless but devoid of feel. The Quattro set-up is biased towards road driving and under normal driving conditions power is split 40/60, front to rear, which gives the Q7 a nice handling balance in brisk driving. All Q7s get variable-height, adaptive air suspension and if you set it to Dynamic mode, it'll surprise you with its quickness. Body movements are well controlled, and it grips willingly and steers accurately. It rides quite well too - set it in Comfort mode and it absorbs most bumps without fuss. There is some lumpiness present over rippled tarmac, but we put it down to the big wheels and the low-profile tyres.

FACT FILE  Wheel base 3002 mm Fuel Diesel Type 6 cylinders in vee,2967 cc Installation Front, longitudinal Valve Gear 4 valves per cyl, DOHC per bank Maximum Power 240bhp Maximum Torque 56kgm