All-new Audi Q7 Road Test Review

If I were a lawyer standing before a judge arguing against the ban on diesel cars above 2000cc in Delhi National Capital Region, the argument would go something like this:

Judge: Why should a rich man travel in a diesel car and pollute the environment?

Me: My Lord, the Audi Q 7 does not pollute and in fact meets the government of India laid down strict Bharat Stage IV emission norms. Besides, there are far more polluting cars that need to be banned. But not the Audi Q7.

And, My Lord, is being rich a crime? You say as though my client’s richness is a curse to the human race?

Judge: I will have none of it....The ban stays.

Me: In that case, Sir, Greatness Starts, when you don’t stop.... And there is no stopping my client and his car!

So my friends and all those who drive in Delhi NCR and elsewhere, with the Audi Q7 you feel the essence of greatness the moment you step into its luxurious interiors and navigate through the pot holed, terribly built roads of ours. It’s then you realise the mighty level of comfort this SUV has to offer to its owners and passengers.

The new Audi Q7 sports utility vehicle was launched in the country early December 2015. The vehicle is powered by a 45 TDI (3.0 TDI) diesel engine that delivers 249 bhp and 600 Nm of peak torque. With this new model becoming 325 kgs lighter than its predecessor, it means the vehicle can accelerate faster, move faster and deliver a better fuel efficiency, thereby ensuring that its environment friendly too. The car accelerates from 0 to 100 kmph in 7.1 seconds. Fuel efficiency is improved in this new vehicle at 14.75 kmpl.

Let me first describe the exteriors and interiors of this brilliant car for you.

Exteriors

The new Q7 comes with a moulded single frame grille. It has horizontal struts in aluminium with the Audi rings on it. The new Audi Q7 has smart Matrix LED headlights featuring double- arrow graphics and intense wheel arches. The shoulder line emphasises the wheels while the tailgate extends around the D-pillars and are complemented by new highlights such as inlay strips at the bottom of the doors with Quattro embossing. The model/technology name is there on the luggage compartment lid while the quattro logo is also there on the radiator grille and the dashboard on the passenger side.

The roof rails give a car sporty look to the strong and aerodynamically shaped Q7. The exhaust tailpipes at the rear have a dual-branch design, with rectangular trims, adding to the smart looks of the vehicle. While the window slot trims are in aluminium, the outer B and C pillar trims are in gloss black. The car also comes with a panoramic glass sunroof that has two sections. It has an electrical activation to raise and open the front glass section.

The Matrix LED headlights are no ordinary lights because each headlight divides its high beam into 30 individual light- emitting diodes paired with three reflectors. The control unit, which communicates with the camera on the rear view mirror, can switch the individual diodes off and on and dim them in 64 stages as needed. The intelligent cornering light is created by a shift in the light centre position. With millions of different resultant beam patterns, the Matrix LED headlights always superbly light up the road, without dazzling other road users, claims the company. The headlight range is automatically increased when the speed of the vehicle crosses approximately 110kmph. Sensors control the automatic lights-on function and the automatic windscreen wiper function, including coming home/leaving home function. It also controls the delayed switching-off/automatic switching-on of the main headlights, rear and number plate lights when parking/opening the vehicle.

Like I mentioned earlier, electronics at its best!

Overall the car looks quite appealing with its quality paint finish and the dark grey coloured sections that warp itself around the car in the form of the front and rear bumper sections, sill trims and wheel arch trims. The door trim strips have the quattro embossing and under body protection both in front and rear are in a dull silver finish. The cast aluminium wheels in 5-spoke star design enhance the looks of the car. 

Interiors

It’s when you step inside the large vehicle you realise how luxurious and comfortable it is. The cabin is spacious and the seats are made of high quality cricket leather. The company claims that the leather is extremely hard wearing and durable, tanned without the use of chromium. The front seats are electrically adjustable which also includes a memory function for the driver seat. Whether you like it or not, sometimes the driver has all the fun! There is electric adjustment of seat height, fore/aft position, seat and backrest angle as well as electric 4-way lumbar support. There are also two pre-sets for the electrically adjustable driver seat, the exterior mirrors and the electric steering wheel adjustment.

The car comes with a leather steering wheel in 4-spoke design with multifunction plus and shift paddles with 14 multifunction keys for operating the available infotainment features. The steering wheel can be adjusted for height and reach. The gear selector knob is also in leather, with the colour coordinated with the selected vehicle interior colour and to match the dashboard top side

The fully digital 12.3 inch instrument cluster displays shows multiple information as per the driver requirement such as vehicle speed/engine speed, map representation, radio/media information etc. The Audi virtual cockpit is operated via the multifunction steering wheel. The sound quality in the cabin is amazing because of the Bose 3D Sound System with 19 loudspeakers including 3D Sound loudspeaker, centre speaker and subwoofer, 15-channel amplifier with a total output of 558 watts. Additional loudspeakers have been fitted in the A-pillar. All these together create a uniquely authentic 3D surround experience in the vehicle.  Also, through the Bluetooth interface one can make hands-free calls in the vehicle using the microphone. Bluetooth audio streaming too is possible from your mobile phone.  

As in the company’s  flagship A8  L  sedan,  the  inlays  come  in two  parts,  with  the different materials  forming effective  contrasts-  Upper inlay in brushed aluminium and lower  in walnut terra brown. A newly developed luxurious four-zone climate control system is standard on the all-new Audi   Q7 with the temperature display integrated in the rotary control.   

While the front has a centre armrest, the rear seats have at the centre armrest with two cup holders. The rear seats in second row allow individual manual adjustment of fore/aft position at a ratio of 35: 30:35 as well as the backrest angle. The 2 seats in the third row include additional double-folding mechanism.

The new Audi Q7 has an electric luggage compartment with a cover that can be electrically opened and closed. This can be done via a button on the vehicle key or in the driver door or by means of the soft-touch button in the luggage compartment lid handle recess. The lid can be closed via a button on the inside of the luggage compartment lid, the button in the driver door or the optional convenience key (long press). The height of the vehicle can be adjusted for comfortable loading / unloading of the luggage.

Luggage space inside the car can be increased by electrically folding third row seats. A massive luggage space of 1,955 litres can be obtained by folding the second row seats which splits in the ratio of 35:30:35. But we noticed that the moment you bolt a spare wheel at the rear portion of the luggage compartment, then it’s not possible to open up the third row seats. So it’s a choice between a spare wheel or the third row seats. Knowing the rich who buy the Audi Q7, we know they keep their families small and trim to enjoy the good things in life!

Speaking of storage, there are storage compartments in the front and rear door trims for for bottles up to 1 litre, storage nets on the reverse of the front seat backrests, storage compartment in the centre console, besides the usual glove compartment on the front-passenger side and two cup holders on the centre console and one 12V socket.

If the headlights of the car are impressive, so are the interior lighting in LED technology. There are lights in the front and the rear and one for the optional 3rd row of seats, including capacitive reading

lights in front, reflected lighting on centre console, vanity lights, front and rear footwell lighting, glove compartment light, front and rear entry lights, front and rear inside door handles, active door warning lights, luggage compartment lights to the right and left as well as courtesy lighting in the luggage compartment lid for easy loading and unloading. In addition to this lighting, there is also contour lighting for dashboard and front and rear door trim, lighting of front and rear door pockets with capacitive activation (contactless light control) and front and rear ambient door lighting

Air-conditioning too has a touch of luxury in the new Audi Q7. The car boasts of a 4-zone deluxe automatic air conditioning. Everything in the cabin, even the footwell temperature in front can be adjusted to one’s liking. 

Performance

The Audi Q7 is a large vehicle but the moment you get behind its wheel, it’s like you are driving a car that is so easy to handle and the massive girth does not intimidate you. This is primarily because of the massive engineering embedded in its chassis, engine, gear box and suspension, all weaved together with loads of electronics.

The self-locking centre differential – the heart of the quattro all-wheel drive system – is integrated into the housing of the eight-speed tiptronic transmission. The design with centre differential and front axle drive integrated in the tiptronic transmission is significantly more   compact   and   lighter in weight than the predecessor model. One could feel while driving that the Q7 felt quite nimble even in some of the most off-road conditions.

Through the Audi   Drive   Select   one can opt for any one of these modes: Comfort, Auto, Dynamic, Individual and Off-road.  In conjunction with adaptive air suspension the All-road and lift/off road mode is added.  The all-new Audi Q7 displays the tilt angle of the car when   in the all road   or lift/off road.

When we drove the vehicle on some hard off-road terrains, the lift-off mode came quite handy, ensuring that the underbelly did not rub against the large mounds of mud and stones. The air suspension made it feel as though we were floating on seated on bales of cotton.

Thanks to the Quattro technology, there was permanent distribution of the drive force to all four wheels. There was nothing much we had to do, except keep our hands on the steering wheel and our eyes on the uneven roads. Since the rear axle is variably controlled via a self-locking centre differential, traction to the wheels was perfect and handling an absolute joy. Later as we drove the car on smooth roads and purposely took those sharp corners we realised that the wheel-selective torque controls mean so much to the over stability of the car. The centre differential distributes the drive force between the axles as needed.

 The electronically controlled air suspension including tilt angle display acts separately on each of the 4 wheels, providing for balanced handling characteristics. The quick-shifting eight speed tiptronic transmission, along with the quattro drive, allowed the car to perform superbly on both the rough and smooth terrains we briefly drove on.

This new Audi Q7 is also equipped with assistance systems like the auto park assist and 360 degree surround camera with bird’s eye view. Hold assist stops the vehicle over an indefinite period of time both in the uphill and downhill gradients. It also has a tyre pressure monitoring system.  Air pressures and temperatures of the individual tyres are displayed in the MMI system whilst driving. Cruise control features comes handy at speeds from about 30 to 250 kmph and above. Ideally, if you have to unhindered road before you, then with the Audi Q7 you can simply move on....And like the way Audi says, “Greatness starts when you don’t stop”. Wise words indeed!