Australia’s appetite for large luxury SUVs is at an all-time high, but the 2016 Audi Q7 enters a segment filled with excellent and new contenders â€" so how does it go?
The new Audi Q7 comes almost a decade after the original model went on sale in 2006. Although this new version does away with its predecessor’s rather droopy look, it again wears familiar Audi styling. Truly, it’s almost as if Audi designers took the design file of an A3 hatch and clicked ‘expand’.
But, while it looks rather bland on the outside, the interior is typically Audi â€" which is to say, one of the best in its class.
From the seats, to the roof lining, all the way through to the central infotainment system, climate control vents and all their associated switchgear, as well as the full LED instrument cluster, the Q7 â€" in this writer’s opinion â€" is a match for the BMW X5 and Range Rover Sport in offering the chicest interior in this class.
Unlike, say, the new Mercedes-Benz GLE (replacement for the ML), which is overcome by too many buttons and not much else, the Q7 is a case in point of how to create a smart, sophisticated, functional and yet still classy and premium interior without compromise.
Our test car was the 3.0 TDI Quattro tiptronic, which for now is the only offering in Audi Australia’s new Q7 range. The six-cylinder diesel produces a reasonable 200kW of power and 600Nm of torque. The engine is coupled to an all-wheel drive system that operates via an eight-speed automatic transmission.
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