+ Click to Enlarge AUDI Q7: It's the real thing, a school-runner and shopping trolley of heroic dimensions.

February 14, 2006
By John Simister

Specifications
Model: Audi Q7 3.0 TDI
Price: £37 285 (R400 000)
Engine: 2967cc, V6, 24 valves, 174kW at 4000rpm, 500Nm from 1750-2750rpm
Transmission: Six-speed auto, all-wheel drive
Performance: 215km/h, 0-100km/h in nine seconds, 10.6 litres/100km official average

The Arizona desert. Giant cacti, big sky, big spaces, room to breathe. A land full of 4x4s and remnants of cowboy culture, preserved in aspic in tourist shops. A place where even an Audi Q7 can look in scale, to the manner born. Normal.

It seemed enormous when we saw it first at last September's Frankfurt show. It touted a hybrid powertrain then, to keep something back for the proper public revelation in January at Detroit, but it was near enough the final article - and there will be a hybrid Q7 for 2008.

You think a Porsche Cayenne is big? Or a Volkswagen Touareg? Then prepare for shock and awe. Audi's first full-size SUV - the A6 Allroad - was a practice run.

This is the school-run mutha, the protective shield for offspring and egos, the car designed (so says Audi's marketing research) for people who "enjoy nature but are not concerned with the environment".

I mention those two fellow-German leviathans because the Q7 is their evolved cousin. It's based on an extended version of the platform that underpins both those cars and is built in the same Bratislava factory.

That extra length, which makes the 2.3-tonne Q7 an improbable 5.08m long, allows for a third row of seats so the giant Audi becomes a seven-seater (or a six-seater if you specify the "captain's chairs" plus-centre-console option for the middle row).

In the open air, the Q7 loses a little of its vastness. It helps that the design is in proportion with itself; only when you stand next to it and wonder what the roof must look like do you take in the enormity of the wheels and wheel-arches.

But it's not as bluff, as crushing as a Range Rover or a Land Cruiser; the shape is flowing, not Cubist, with rounded front corners and typically Audi side-feature lines to break up those deep flanks.

French-Canadian designer Dany Garand describes the Q7 as having a coupé-like upper body with its shallow side windows, which is stretching a point, but the end result does show flashes of elegance.

No beeps

The tail shows this the best. The tailgate flares outwards to incorporate the entire tail-light units, so there's no ugly cutline and a wide load aperture.

You can specify an electric opening and closing mechanism, too, which can be programmed to stop automatically at your preferred opening height and - joy! - doesn't beep at you as it moves (Chrysler take note).

But how is the Q7 going to look on a normal streetscape? Will that fierce front grille give small children nightmares of engulfment by the Audiosaurus?

How will those children ever heave open those vast doors and scale the doorsills?

Once installed, they and their parents will be surrounded by luscious quality and space. Audi expects to sell half its Q7s in the US, and owners of a Chevy Blazer or Ford Explorer will be blown away by the Q7's interior sophistication.

On-road off-roader

It's like being in an A8 but with a better view, including upwards if you have the optional glass sun-roof. And there's none of the full-on 4x4 stuff you get in a serious off-roader, no differential locks or low-range gear sets. This is designed, oxymoronically, as an on-road off-roader.

How does the Q7 differ from its cousins? In place of the cousins' centre differential and low-ratio gear train is a Torsen differential designed to give the same nominal 40 percent front, 60 percent rear torque split that helps to make the rapid Audi RS4 such an engaging drive.

Suspension components are aluminium and the rear suspension is redesigned to take up less space.

A Cayenne is stiff and sporty, a Touareg is softer and vaguer. The Q7 manages to feel sporty-ish and supple-ish, helped by the air suspension that will be standard in the UK.

This can be set to comfort (pillowy), dynamic (sometimes jittery) and automatic (soft or firm, as needed) and it allows the suspension to rise for off-road use or be lowered for easy loading.

The Q7 might not be as capable as its cousins when rock-climbing and it won't trouble a Range Rover or a Discovery, but it has good ground clearance, plenty of suspension movement and a traction and stability system good enough to keep you moving as long as at least two wheels are on the ground.

Slither 'n slide

It can also pick its way downhill, speed limited and grip maximised by those same systems, just as Land Rover did first with its hill-descent control. An off-road electronic stability control setting even allows some slither 'n slide to help keep you moving.

This isn't a mere 4x4, though. Being an Audi, it's a "quattro". Audi wants to stress its on-road all-wheel drive expertise and fortunately the Q7 feels remarkably wieldy, stable and agile when you take some corners even though the steering is too light and anaesthetised.

That rearward torque bias helps here and there's none of the vagueness and top-heaviness too often felt in feebler 4x4s.

The width helps counteract the height; it's two metres excluding the mirrors, the same as a standard UK width-restrictor. Oh dear.

Forward thrust

And the forward thrust? The petrol engine is a 4.2-litre V8 with direct injection, 260kW and a 7.3sec 0-100km/h time, despite the tonnage. Figures suggest 13.7 litres/100km; we'll see how that translates to the real world.

The sensible alternative is a three-litre TDI turbodiesel with injectors triggered by ultra-accurate piezo-electric crystals. It has 174kW, more torque than the mighty V8 and still reaches 100km/h in nine seconds.

It feels lively, and is as smooth as the third option, the 3.6-litre, direct-injection petrol V6 available later in the year. Each has a six-speed automatic transmission, with optional shifters; the petrol V6 will also be offered as a manual.

I was ready to hate the Q7 for its enormity and profligacy and ultimate pointlessness, and I would certainly never have one, but there's no doubt that it fits its role superbly.

If you must have a giant 4x4, and you like Audis, your dream has just come true. -The Independent, London

motoring.co.za's Dave Abrahams will be driving the Q7 in Germany at the end of February - look out for his first-hand impressions of of Audis' super-size SUV.

The rivals

BMW X5 3.0D SE £36 565 (SA price: R521 900)

Getting old now, but the X5 remains a coveted status-affirming SUV despite modest off-road abilities. Good to drive on road, but avoid the too-firm sport suspension. This straight-six diesel has 162kW and plenty of relaxed pace.

LAND ROVER DISCOVERY TDV6 SE £36 995 (SA price: R510 000)

A brilliant off-roader whose "Terrain Response" system tailors traction and suspension height to the conditions. It's very heavy but it looks ultra-modern, is wieldy to drive and has a great 2.7-litre turbodiesel.

MERCEDES-BENZ ML320 CDI £36 715 (SA price: R535 000)

The styling is over-dramatic but the latest M-class is vastly better than the old one thanks mainly to a lighter, stronger structure. This turbodiesel V6 is the one to have. Serious off-roading kit is optional.

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