Good. Very good. But maybe not $70,000 good
By Bengt Halvorson
|
April 12, 2007
Introduction
Audi Q7 – Review: luxury vehicles are sometimes a lesson in diminishing returns. Any car, be it an econobox or a Bugatti Veyron, can get you from A to B. Luxury cars are supposed to do it with an amount of flair, style, performance and sophistication that matches their price. The Audi Q7 has the panache factor, with a 4.2-liter V8 engine, lavish interior loaded with features, and styling with a definite punch, and it certainly has the luxury price: Our loaded test car came out to around $68,500. That’s where the diminishing returns come in. We recently drove an Acura MDX with a sticker price that was about $48,500, and during our time in the Q7 we couldn’t figure out why this Audi was supposed to be $20,000 better than the Acura.
What We Drove
The Q7 shares the Volkswagen Touareg platform, its wheelbase stretched 5.8 inches for a third row of seats. Our Q7 4.2 Premium’s base sticker of $60,710 – with the $720 destination charge – included the 4.2-liter V8 engine and six-speed Tiptronic automatic, a DVD navigation system with Audi’s Multi Media Interface (MMI), and luxury necessities such as eight-way power and heated front seats, a power tailgate, leather upholstery and electric tilt/telescopic steering wheel. The S Line package on our car included 20-inch wheels, a three-spoke steering wheel, S Line-specific grille, aluminum interior trim and S Line badges. The air suspension was $2600, and adaptive cruise control added $2,100. The $550 towing package and the $500 Audi Side Assist – a blind-spot aid – brought the total to $68,520.
Performance
The 4.2-liter V8 engine under the Q7’s hood sings out 350 horsepower and 325 lb.-ft. of torque. It sounds good on paper, but while the engine is willing the flesh is portly: Tony Robbins would have trouble motivating the Q7’s whopping 5,467 pounds. The feeling of gutlessness is exacerbated by the V8’s lack of low-rev torque. It springs to life in the upper 2500 rpm, and that’s where you want to keep it if you’re driving aggressively, but fuel economy goes out the window: we got a lousy 11.6 mpg. The Tiptronic automatic helps, with quick downshifts in automatic mode, but we were disappointed with its manual mode. It upshifted at redline, and it doesn’t match revs on downshifts.
Handling
We may have our complaints with the powertrain, but not the handling. It drives like an Audi should, albeit a very heavy one: You feel the bulk in quick transitions as the steering works to move the mass from one direction to the other. Otherwise there’s easily controllable understeer at the limit, excellent brakes and the surefootedness of quattro. The air suspension’s off-road mode lifts the Q7 9.4 inches above the ground, providing ample ground clearance for light-to-medium duty excursions; if you don’t need a low range, the Q7 can likely handle it. When you’re on the road, the comfort setting smooths out bumps, but Audi’s impeccable road manners squashes any hint of float or wander.
Visibility
The Q7 boasts a big, airy greenhouse, with thin pillars and oversize outside mirrors that make maneuvering simple. That is, if you’re by yourself and have all the headrests folded. With the headrests up, rearward visibility vanishes, and if you have people or child seats in the third row, you can basically ignore your rear view mirror. Audi’s Side Assist blind spot helper is redundant: Every time it warned us about a vehicle, it was easily visible in the big side mirrors. In front, the hood slopes away quickly for easy parking and off-road maneuvers. When reversing, the MMI screen shows the world behind, along with an on-screen indicator that shows where the car will go as you turn the wheel.
Fun to Drive
Any enthusiast will enjoy driving the Q7. The handling is very good considering its size and weight, and it’s obvious that Audi has biased the Q7 toward handling, with off-road ability a secondary concern. The engine and transmission are very good, even if they don’t make the Q7 fast. However, you are aware of the vehicle’s mass at every turn. Even the sharp steering and sorted suspension can’t hide the fact that it weighs roughly 1,000 lb. more than the relatively nimble Acura MDX. Take the Q7 down a bumpy trail and it rewards there, too, as long as you don’t tackle more than a rugged fire road, soaking up ruts and rippled dirt roads with aplomb.
Front Comfort
The Q7 feels a lot like an Audi sedan in front, not surprising considering that the gauge panel is taken virtually intact from an A6. This is good in that it’s a great driver’s seat with plenty of support from the bottom, back and to the sides. We drove this car for a solid two hours without a single cheek shift, pretty darn impressive. There’s plenty of head room, and leg room is plentiful, too, but it feels surprisingly intimate. Maybe it’s the closeness of the center console, maybe it’s the closeness of the dash itself, maybe it’s the usual Audi black-on-black-on-black interior décor, but for some reason we felt slightly claustrophobic in the Q7.
Rear Comfort
The second row in the Q7 is no penalty box by any means. There’s very good foot, leg and head room for both occupants, and their kneecaps probably will never tell them the front seatbacks are hard plastic. The generous second row console is also handy, and its lid can be raised for an armrest. The third row, however, is a tight, cramped, hard-to reach joke that makes us wonder why Audi even bothered to add it. An average sized adult will beg for mercy after just a few minutes, and even kids will have a tough time, especially if they’re still in booster seats.
Interior Noise
Compromises exist everywhere, even in German luxury cars, and the 20-inch tires on the Q7 are a perfect example. They contribute greatly to the Q7’s excellent handling, but they also contribute to a great deal of the road noise we heard, thumping over every expansion joint, singing loudly on concrete and even asphalt roads. Wind noise is well controlled except around those big outside mirrors, and the rumble of the V8 is clearly audible at any speed save idle. None of the noises are particularly bad, just louder than we expected. If you think the Q7 is strictly a luxury car it’ll get on your nerves, but we think it’s all part of this crossover’s sporty character.
Loading Cargo
The Q7’s load floor is surprisingly high, and oly a minuscule 10.9 cu. ft. of cargo area if you’re trying to use the third row, not even enough for a standard grocery store haul. Fold the third row down and cargo area expands to 42 cu. ft., with a nice flat floor to boot. The second row also folds down flat for a total of 72.5 cu. ft. of cargo room. The cargo cover can only be used with the third row folded; put the seats up and you have to remove the whole cover, an unexpected oversight in this car’s design. The power liftgate can be opened remotely and closed with a push of a button.
Build Quality
Audi build quality is generally the best we see, and the Q7 is no exception. Despite our finest tooth comb, we couldn’t find one out of place panel or misaligned piece of trim. All the exterior panels feature tight gaps that lend to the car’s all-of-a-piece feel. The interior trim is matched perfectly, with the grain of the leather matching the door panels and dash, even though the latter are molded rubber and not cowhide. The aluminum trim pieces all fit beautifully, too. This is an interior that even obsessive nitpickers like us can live with.
Materials Quality
The Q7’s interior is a grab bag of Audi’s A6 and A8 sedans; no bad thing. Materials are top notch. That aluminum-look trim around the vents and gauges? It’s aluminum. That leather-look pattern on the center console arm rests in the front and rear? It’s leather. The plastics used are expensive and soft for the most part; the window sills are a little too stiff for our tastes. The headliner is a rich mesh material that’s also used on the pillars. You’ll have to look long and hard for a cheap spot in this Audi’s interior, longer than we did anyhow, because we never found one.
Styling
Audi’s wagons are frequently the best looking ones on the road (often more attractive than their sedan counterparts), so it makes sense that the Q7 would make for one attractive crossover. This car wasn’t designed, it was sculpted. The roof rails flow smoothly into the roof; the hood is subtly creased to emphasize the headlights; the fenders swell aggressively. The only miscue is the front end. OK, Audi, we get it, your grille is very, very aggressive. Combine the bigmouth grille with the nonfunctioning vents on either side below the bumper line, and the semi-functional vents below them next to the fog lights, and the secondary grille below the main one and, well, you have a mess.
Storage
No car is perfect, and Audis typically have lousy interior storage. Unfortunately, even though this is a utility vehicle, this Audi trait pervades. The door pockets are generously sized, with bottle holders that hold your bottle at a weird angle. However, the center console is small, the glovebox is mostly taken up by owner’s manuals, and there are only mesh nets behind the front seats. Deep cup holders are built into the center console lid, but that means you must remove your beverages before you open it to access the shallow compartment underneath. Second row passengers get a very generous bin with cupholders between the seats, and door pockets with bottle holders. Third row passengers get cupholders, and that’s it.
Infotainment Controls
One of our editors has a Palm Treo cell phone. He loves it and thinks of it as simple to use, but the rest of the staff dismisses it as too complex. We think Audi’s MMI is similar: Cleverly done and highly functional, but with a discouragingly steep learning curve. After a week with the Q7, some of its functions – such as programming the navigation system – were becoming second nature, while others were still frustrating. However, we all agreed that more operations should be taken out of the system since even switching between AM, FM and Sirius satellite radio is maddeningly complicated. Still, MMI is the best – or maybe we should say the least bad – of all the single-knob multifunction systems currently available.
Climate Controls
Basic climate controls have been separated from the MMI system, but if you want to do something as simple as synchronize the driver and passenger temperature settings, you have to click through several MMI menus. This is especially irritating because there were blank knockouts on the climate control panel. You also have to access MMI to adjust the seat heaters’ absurd six levels of adjustment; we doubt anybody’s backside can tell the difference between 1 and 2 on this scale. Shutting off the seat heater also requires a trip into MMI, but at least it automatically pops up once you start fiddling with the knob. The system worked extremely well, however, with vents throughout the Q7 keeping all occupants comfortable.
Secondary Controls
The Q7 follows Audi’s control philosophy, which means window switches on the door panel, a knob for lights on the dash, and a left-mounted cruise control stalk mounted behind and below the turn signal stalk. It’s all a little confusing if you’ve been raised on Hondas and Toyotas, but the acclimation period is painless. Then there’s Audi’s brilliant sunroof control; a knob you turn to adjust the sunroof’s opening size. Audi’s been doing this for years, and every time we use it we are amazed that nobody has imitated it exactly because it works so well. While Audi may follow its own lead on secondary controls, at least everything is logically placed.
Competition
The Q7’s price puts it against two different kinds of competitors. On one hand are traditional body-on-frame SUVs such as the Cadillac Escalade. On the other are similar crossover vehicles like the BMW X5 4.8. Both have their advantages: The truck-based Escalade has better towing and off-road capability, while the BMW boasts better handling and a little less weight to haul around. However, during our drive we couldn’t help but think that buyers more interested in substance than badges might do themselves a favor by visiting an Acura store. The new MDX is roomier, offers better acceleration and handling that’s at least as good, and most of the Q7’s features for about $20,000 less. You don’t get that Audi badge, but you’ll get a driving experience that is superior in many ways.
2nd Opinion – Wardlaw
Audi Q7 – Wardlaw’s Opinion:
Granted, I’ve spent more time in the Audi Q7 than its prime competitors from BMW and Mercedes, but this is my choice for a luxury suv. I like the styling, the comfort, and the performance. It even returned 14.4 mpg during my commute, which is better than I expected. It’s got just enough off-roading capability and just enough on-road handling prowess to keep me happy no matter the weather or terrain. It’s got just enough room for six or plenty of space for four and a good deal of stuff. Still, I sat next to a Mazda CX-9 at a light this morning, same color even, and wondered why someone might spend double for the Q7.
The Q7 shares the Volkswagen Touareg platform, its wheelbase stretched 5.8 inches for a third row of seats. Our Q7 4.2 Premium’s base sticker of $60,710 – with the $720 destination charge – included the 4.2-liter V8 engine and six-speed Tiptronic automatic, a DVD navigation system with Audi’s Multi Media Interface (MMI), and luxury necessities such as eight-way power and heated front seats, a power tailgate, leather upholstery and electric tilt/telescopic steering wheel. The S Line package on our car included 20-inch wheels, a three-spoke steering wheel, S Line-specific grille, aluminum interior trim and S Line badges. The air suspension was $2600, and adaptive cruise control added $2,100. The $550 towing package and the $500 Audi Side Assist – a blind-spot aid – brought the total to $68,520.
Performance
The 4.2-liter V8 engine under the Q7’s hood sings out 350 horsepower and 325 lb.-ft. of torque. It sounds good on paper, but while the engine is willing the flesh is portly: Tony Robbins would have trouble motivating the Q7’s whopping 5,467 pounds. The feeling of gutlessness is exacerbated by the V8’s lack of low-rev torque. It springs to life in the upper 2500 rpm, and that’s where you want to keep it if you’re driving aggressively, but fuel economy goes out the window: we got a lousy 11.6 mpg. The Tiptronic automatic helps, with quick downshifts in automatic mode, but we were disappointed with its manual mode. It upshifted at redline, and it doesn’t match revs on downshifts.
Handling
We may have our complaints with the powertrain, but not the handling. It drives like an Audi should, albeit a very heavy one: You feel the bulk in quick transitions as the steering works to move the mass from one direction to the other. Otherwise there’s easily controllable understeer at the limit, excellent brakes and the surefootedness of quattro. The air suspension’s off-road mode lifts the Q7 9.4 inches above the ground, providing ample ground clearance for light-to-medium duty excursions; if you don’t need a low range, the Q7 can likely handle it. When you’re on the road, the comfort setting smooths out bumps, but Audi’s impeccable road manners squashes any hint of float or wander.
Visibility
The Q7 boasts a big, airy greenhouse, with thin pillars and oversize outside mirrors that make maneuvering simple. That is, if you’re by yourself and have all the headrests folded. With the headrests up, rearward visibility vanishes, and if you have people or child seats in the third row, you can basically ignore your rear view mirror. Audi’s Side Assist blind spot helper is redundant: Every time it warned us about a vehicle, it was easily visible in the big side mirrors. In front, the hood slopes away quickly for easy parking and off-road maneuvers. When reversing, the MMI screen shows the world behind, along with an on-screen indicator that shows where the car will go as you turn the wheel.
Fun to Drive
Any enthusiast will enjoy driving the Q7. The handling is very good considering its size and weight, and it’s obvious that Audi has biased the Q7 toward handling, with off-road ability a secondary concern. The engine and transmission are very good, even if they don’t make the Q7 fast. However, you are aware of the vehicle’s mass at every turn. Even the sharp steering and sorted suspension can’t hide the fact that it weighs roughly 1,000 lb. more than the relatively nimble Acura MDX. Take the Q7 down a bumpy trail and it rewards there, too, as long as you don’t tackle more than a rugged fire road, soaking up ruts and rippled dirt roads with aplomb.
Front Comfort
The Q7 feels a lot like an Audi sedan in front, not surprising considering that the gauge panel is taken virtually intact from an A6. This is good in that it’s a great driver’s seat with plenty of support from the bottom, back and to the sides. We drove this car for a solid two hours without a single cheek shift, pretty darn impressive. There’s plenty of head room, and leg room is plentiful, too, but it feels surprisingly intimate. Maybe it’s the closeness of the center console, maybe it’s the closeness of the dash itself, maybe it’s the usual Audi black-on-black-on-black interior décor, but for some reason we felt slightly claustrophobic in the Q7.
Rear Comfort
The second row in the Q7 is no penalty box by any means. There’s very good foot, leg and head room for both occupants, and their kneecaps probably will never tell them the front seatbacks are hard plastic. The generous second row console is also handy, and its lid can be raised for an armrest. The third row, however, is a tight, cramped, hard-to reach joke that makes us wonder why Audi even bothered to add it. An average sized adult will beg for mercy after just a few minutes, and even kids will have a tough time, especially if they’re still in booster seats.
Interior Noise
Compromises exist everywhere, even in German luxury cars, and the 20-inch tires on the Q7 are a perfect example. They contribute greatly to the Q7’s excellent handling, but they also contribute to a great deal of the road noise we heard, thumping over every expansion joint, singing loudly on concrete and even asphalt roads. Wind noise is well controlled except around those big outside mirrors, and the rumble of the V8 is clearly audible at any speed save idle. None of the noises are particularly bad, just louder than we expected. If you think the Q7 is strictly a luxury car it’ll get on your nerves, but we think it’s all part of this crossover’s sporty character.
Loading Cargo
The Q7’s load floor is surprisingly high, and oly a minuscule 10.9 cu. ft. of cargo area if you’re trying to use the third row, not even enough for a standard grocery store haul. Fold the third row down and cargo area expands to 42 cu. ft., with a nice flat floor to boot. The second row also folds down flat for a total of 72.5 cu. ft. of cargo room. The cargo cover can only be used with the third row folded; put the seats up and you have to remove the whole cover, an unexpected oversight in this car’s design. The power liftgate can be opened remotely and closed with a push of a button.
Build Quality
Audi build quality is generally the best we see, and the Q7 is no exception. Despite our finest tooth comb, we couldn’t find one out of place panel or misaligned piece of trim. All the exterior panels feature tight gaps that lend to the car’s all-of-a-piece feel. The interior trim is matched perfectly, with the grain of the leather matching the door panels and dash, even though the latter are molded rubber and not cowhide. The aluminum trim pieces all fit beautifully, too. This is an interior that even obsessive nitpickers like us can live with.
Materials Quality
The Q7’s interior is a grab bag of Audi’s A6 and A8 sedans; no bad thing. Materials are top notch. That aluminum-look trim around the vents and gauges? It’s aluminum. That leather-look pattern on the center console arm rests in the front and rear? It’s leather. The plastics used are expensive and soft for the most part; the window sills are a little too stiff for our tastes. The headliner is a rich mesh material that’s also used on the pillars. You’ll have to look long and hard for a cheap spot in this Audi’s interior, longer than we did anyhow, because we never found one.
Styling
Audi’s wagons are frequently the best looking ones on the road (often more attractive than their sedan counterparts), so it makes sense that the Q7 would make for one attractive crossover. This car wasn’t designed, it was sculpted. The roof rails flow smoothly into the roof; the hood is subtly creased to emphasize the headlights; the fenders swell aggressively. The only miscue is the front end. OK, Audi, we get it, your grille is very, very aggressive. Combine the bigmouth grille with the nonfunctioning vents on either side below the bumper line, and the semi-functional vents below them next to the fog lights, and the secondary grille below the main one and, well, you have a mess.
Storage
No car is perfect, and Audis typically have lousy interior storage. Unfortunately, even though this is a utility vehicle, this Audi trait pervades. The door pockets are generously sized, with bottle holders that hold your bottle at a weird angle. However, the center console is small, the glovebox is mostly taken up by owner’s manuals, and there are only mesh nets behind the front seats. Deep cup holders are built into the center console lid, but that means you must remove your beverages before you open it to access the shallow compartment underneath. Second row passengers get a very generous bin with cupholders between the seats, and door pockets with bottle holders. Third row passengers get cupholders, and that’s it.
Infotainment Controls
One of our editors has a Palm Treo cell phone. He loves it and thinks of it as simple to use, but the rest of the staff dismisses it as too complex. We think Audi’s MMI is similar: Cleverly done and highly functional, but with a discouragingly steep learning curve. After a week with the Q7, some of its functions – such as programming the navigation system – were becoming second nature, while others were still frustrating. However, we all agreed that more operations should be taken out of the system since even switching between AM, FM and Sirius satellite radio is maddeningly complicated. Still, MMI is the best – or maybe we should say the least bad – of all the single-knob multifunction systems currently available.
Climate Controls
Basic climate controls have been separated from the MMI system, but if you want to do something as simple as synchronize the driver and passenger temperature settings, you have to click through several MMI menus. This is especially irritating because there were blank knockouts on the climate control panel. You also have to access MMI to adjust the seat heaters’ absurd six levels of adjustment; we doubt anybody’s backside can tell the difference between 1 and 2 on this scale. Shutting off the seat heater also requires a trip into MMI, but at least it automatically pops up once you start fiddling with the knob. The system worked extremely well, however, with vents throughout the Q7 keeping all occupants comfortable.
Secondary Controls
The Q7 follows Audi’s control philosophy, which means window switches on the door panel, a knob for lights on the dash, and a left-mounted cruise control stalk mounted behind and below the turn signal stalk. It’s all a little confusing if you’ve been raised on Hondas and Toyotas, but the acclimation period is painless. Then there’s Audi’s brilliant sunroof control; a knob you turn to adjust the sunroof’s opening size. Audi’s been doing this for years, and every time we use it we are amazed that nobody has imitated it exactly because it works so well. While Audi may follow its own lead on secondary controls, at least everything is logically placed.
Competition
The Q7’s price puts it against two different kinds of competitors. On one hand are traditional body-on-frame SUVs such as the Cadillac Escalade. On the other are similar crossover vehicles like the BMW X5 4.8. Both have their advantages: The truck-based Escalade has better towing and off-road capability, while the BMW boasts better handling and a little less weight to haul around. However, during our drive we couldn’t help but think that buyers more interested in substance than badges might do themselves a favor by visiting an Acura store. The new MDX is roomier, offers better acceleration and handling that’s at least as good, and most of the Q7’s features for about $20,000 less. You don’t get that Audi badge, but you’ll get a driving experience that is superior in many ways.
2nd Opinion – Wardlaw
Audi Q7 – Wardlaw’s Opinion:
Granted, I’ve spent more time in the Audi Q7 than its prime competitors from BMW and Mercedes, but this is my choice for a luxury suv. I like the styling, the comfort, and the performance. It even returned 14.4 mpg during my commute, which is better than I expected. It’s got just enough off-roading capability and just enough on-road handling prowess to keep me happy no matter the weather or terrain. It’s got just enough room for six or plenty of space for four and a good deal of stuff. Still, I sat next to a Mazda CX-9 at a light this morning, same color even, and wondered why someone might spend double for the Q7.
Chris Wardlaw
2nd Opinion – Chee
Audi Q7 – Chee’s Opinion:
You know the saying: You get what you pay for. And when you buy the 2007 Audi Q7, that saying translates into a beautiful car with an excellent interior, and superb road manners. Our tester cost almost 70k, and yes there are good vehicles available for less. If you like the way Audi puts together its cars, however, you will be pleased with the Q7. My drive, which consisted mostly of snarling, nasty freeway congestion with a dash of country road and a decent hill was enough to show off this utility vehicle’s sure-footed handling character, smooth-shifting transmission and powerful engine. If I had $70,000 to spend on a car, I wouldn’t be bargain shopping, and I’d look long and hard at the Audi Q7.
Brian Chee
Photography courtesy Ron Perry, Keith Buglewicz