Audi‘s biggest SUV is back, baby. Before you all start clutching your chardies in horror, yes, it is still powered by a diesel.
The all-new third-generation Audi Q7 carries the weight of a nameplate that has become one of the brand’s most important models. Since slapping down its bulbous bum in 2005, Q7 has served posh families, entitled executives, rampant road trippers, and those who weekend away 30 pairs of shoes. You know who you are.
The latest model isn’t reinventing the wheel. Instead, Audi has doubled down on what made it haveable in the first place. There is more space, more technology, more comfort, and ladles of fragile gadgetry that is super fab, until it breaks.
At first glance, the new Q7 looks very familiar, but Audi’s designers massaged every surface. The Singleframe grille sits higher and wider, the shoulder line is more pronounced, and the upright rear section gives the SUV a stronger look while freeing up additional interior space.
It looks imperious, which is exactly what buyers in this segment want. Nobody spends this kind of money hoping their luxury SUV drifts discreetly into oblivion.
The big news is inside.
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ABOVE: All New Audi Q7
Audi Q7 comes with five, six, or seven seats. The six-seater replaces the middle-row bench with two captain’s chairs, turning the second row into fancy business-class airline seating. That leaves the occasional third row to be used when the middle row feels generous. As always, the full 3rd row makes both the 2nd and 3rd rows far less capacious.
Families will likely stick with the seven-seat arrangement. Three child seats can fit across the second row, a claim that will attract crabby parents who have spent ages battling booster seats and ISOFIX anchors.
Luggage space would please Lady Bracknell enormously. Depending on seating configuration, the Q7 offers up to 2,075 litres of handbag capacity. She’d never be caught dead outdoors, but some do insist on filling their wagons with nasty sports gear, filthy camping equipment, cheap flat-pack furniture, and the spoils of a weekend at Bunnings.
The cabin smarts are a substantial leap into the unknown, so get ready.
A curved OLED display sweeps across the dashboard, joined by a passenger screen and a new-look centre console. Audi’s latest software supports a growing app ecosystem, while voice commands have become more sophisticated. If the built-in assistant cannot answer a question, it can now hand the query across to ChatGPT. Fortunately for all, it steers clear of any association with the glitchy Android Open Source Project, the subject of much angst in our recent stories.
As for ChatGPT, whether this is a good idea or not will reveal itself in due course. But sure, let’s dumb down humans even more, we get what we deserve.
Audi has also amped up the ambient lighting, if you’ll pardon my pun, or even if you don’t. LED illumination is splashed lavishly across the dashboard and doors, while the optional interaction light communicates vehicle functions through visual cues. The completely unnecessary effect appears more like a luxury lounge than a traditional SUV cabin. The world needs more distractions while driving, doesn’t it?
Then there is the utterly gorgeous panoramic roof.
This is not just any old big chunk of glass. Audi’s roof can switch personalities between transparent, opaque, and dappled modes. One moment passengers can be bathed in bright light, the next they will be sitting under a translucent patterned effect, or a slightly darker, fully opaque roof.
Audi has also integrated illumination into the roof itself. Seventy-eight LEDs create subtle ambient lighting effects across the glass surface, turning the roof into part skylight and part architectural light show.
Music lovers are in for a treat.
The Bang & Olufsen 4D audio uses 22 speakers and seat-mounted actuators that allow passengers to both hear and feel bass frequencies through their bodies. Audi says the system creates a concert-like experience, but it seems to be so much more.
Whether that means listening to Kylie Minogue feels like attending a live performance remains to be tested, but it certainly sounds more entertaining than my reviews on cars. No it doesn’t, don’t be so rude!
Audi continues its obsession with lighting technology on the outside.
The schmick new digital Matrix LED headlights can project information directly onto the road ahead. Advanced OLED tail lights communicate warnings to surrounding traffic and, in a wonderfully theatrical flourish, can also project their turn indicators onto the road surface at night. I like something that is both pretty, and pretty useful.
Cyclists, pedestrians, and distracted drivers receive a giant illuminated hint about where two-and-a-half tonnes of German SUV plans to go next.
Audi has also introduced illuminated welcome projections around the doors. Open the vehicle and geometric light patterns spread across the ground beneath your feet. It is dramatic, theatrical, and exactly the kind of thing owners will demonstrate to friends within thirty seconds of taking delivery.
Power comes from a 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel in either 220kW/630Nm guise, or 180kW/500Nm for those thrifty types who will probably take the badges off. Both are mild hybrids, and there is an electric-powered compressor to add a smidge of throttle response.
Diesels have gone off the boil in some markets, but torque never goes out of style. Buyers towing boats, horse floats, or, God forbid, caravans will appreciate an engine with decent pulling power without behaving like a recalcitrant teenager.
The hybrid assistance system adds additional electric power during acceleration and very short periods of low-speed electric driving. Audi claims the result is improved responsiveness and reduced fuel consumption. Our 48V mild-hybrid impressions have been lukewarm at best. Perhaps this one will change our minds.
Naturally, quattro all-wheel drive is standard.
Audi revised the centre differential and suspension systems for good measure. Buyers can choose conventional steel springs or fabulous adaptive air suspension with sportier settings. Sadly, although those who enjoy hustling a seven-seat luxury SUV through winding roads will love it, they might find things change when bits break or go wrong.
While that might sound like fantasy, Audi’s big barges have always handled better than their bulk would first suggest.
The technology list extends to parking and safety systems. This is slightly crazy. The Q7 can learn parking manoeuvres, memorise routes into difficult garages, and even reverse itself out again. Emergency assistance systems can bring the vehicle to a controlled stop if the driver falls off his perch, while enhanced exit warnings help prevent passengers from opening doors into cyclists or traffic. Is that good or bad?
Production begins in Bratislava, Slovakia, with European deliveries commencing later this year.
Australian specifications have yet to be confirmed, because we are second-class citizens who pay first-class prices. If history is any guide, we can expect the new Q7 to materialise in our showrooms loaded to the gunwales with technology, wrapped in lashings of leather, with a price to give you night terrors.
The luxury SUV arms race continues. Audi is waving its flag in a room increasingly crowded with new models with more stuff for a fraction of the money. Will people continue to pay over the odds?
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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