All-new Audi Q7 Road Test Review

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!