Audi Q7 Review & Prices

The Audi Q7 is a stalwart of the large SUV world, and this particular version has been on sale in its current form for over a decade. But Audi’s kept it up to date with facelifts, nip/tucks and the odd bit of open-heart surgery, so despite its age the Q7 still feels modern.

It’s not so much like a Hollywood celebrity aging poorly - more like a national treasure who despite showing the occasional wrinkle still gets great parts in all your favourite shows. It takes more of a supporting role in the ‘large SUV’ series, though, because with alternatives such as the BMW X5 and Land Rover Defender, it has a tough job standing out. That’s before you consider cheaper options such as the Hyundai Santa Fe, or electric SUVs like the BMW iX or Kia EV9.

But thanks to its constant series of updates and improvements, the Q7 remains one of the best large SUVs you can buy, especially if you’re looking for a car to fit a large family.

The latest facelift gave the Q7 a new grille and lights at the front, so it looks like the rest of Audi’s range. Those lights do plenty of tricks, too - not only are they the super-sophisticated Matrix LED type, but you can fiddle with the arrangement of the sharp-looking daytime running lights in the car’s software to display different patterns.

Watch: Review of the high-performance Audi SQ7

The Q7 is a big SUV with seven seats, and though it’s not quite as accommodating in the third row as something like a Land Rover Discovery or BMW X7 it’s still more than roomy enough for adults to get comfy. Boot space with all three rows in place is quite poor, however - you’ll need to fold down at least one of the back seats to fit anybody’s luggage in.

Where the Q7 plays its trump card is for families with lots of children. With a staggering six ISOFIX child seat mounting points - that’s one in every seat bar the driver’s - you can safely accommodate a whole litter. Even the best MPVs can’t usually handle that much. It means that not only can you fit in loads of kids if you need to, but that even if you only have one or two then there’s tons of flexibility in where they sit.

The Q7’s interior is another area that’s been seriously updated in the ten years since it launched. It has a total of three screens, with a driver’s’ display, a large one for infotainment and a lower screen that houses the climate controls and some other settings. It’s a setup that looks a bit dated compared to Audi’s most modern SUVs such as the Q6 e-tron - but it works pretty well, and it’s all set into a dashboard that has immaculate build quality and sumptuous materials.

There are a few engine options available for the Q7. At the top end, there’s the beastly V8-powered SQ7 (reviewed separately) but for more sensible heads there’s a choice of two diesel engines, one petrol engine and one petrol plug-in hybrid - all with six cylinders.

Regardless of powertrain, the Q7 is superb to drive even a decade on from launch. Thanks to air suspension, it irons out big bumps really effectively, but it doesn’t feel too floaty or sickness-inducing. It even corners pretty well - not quite up to the standards of a BMW X5, but not half bad.

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For a big, posh SUV, the Audi Q7 isn’t bad value. It undercuts a basic BMW X5 by a significant chunk, considering that the much larger X7 - which is really more comparable in terms of space and practicality - costs more than £90,000, the Q7’s starting price of just under £70,000 seems a positive bargain.

A basic Land Rover Discovery or Volvo XC90 do undercut the Q7, and if you’re not bothered about badge prestige you can save a pretty penny by going for a non-premium alternative, such as a Peugeot 5008 or Hyundai Santa Fe.

All Q7s come sumptuously equipped, though, with air suspension, 20-inch alloys, Matrix LED lights, leather upholstery and all the safety kit you could want as standard. S Line models look the neatest with chrome trim, but if you step up to Black Edition the Q7 looks meaner with gloss black extras as well as black alloy wheels. The top-spec Vorsprung model demands more than £20,000 over the basic S Line but does come with just about everything you could think of, kitchen sink included.

The Audi Q7 is quiet, comfortable and relaxing to drive, although you don’t get quite the commanding driving position found in other SUVs

In town

The Audi Q7 is one of the easiest big SUVs to drive around town because its dimensions are very easy to judge and – despite it not being the tallest of its type – you still get a great view out.

There’s also four-wheel steering available on some models, giving it the turning circle and manoeuvrability of a much smaller car and making it far easier to deal with tight parking spaces or multi-storey car parks. Getting parked up is hassle-free thanks to the car’s light controls and the creep function of its automatic gearbox, which makes it easy to control delicately at slow speeds.

Parking sensors are fitted as standard all around and you get a reversing camera with a large, colourful display. It’s all very impressive, although we would still consider the optional Technology Pack. It adds a Park Assist which can select a space and accelerate, brake and steer you straight into it, automatically. (There’s also a Technology Plus pack which includes remote parking assist, allowing you to shuffle the Q7 back and forth a little from outside, using your phone as a remote control). There’s a standard 360-degree camera which is a bit like having a drone filming a view above the car – it means you can tackle width restrictors and park tight against the kerb without risking wheel damage.

The Q7 is surprisingly good at other aspects of town driving. It will roll over the nastiest of speed humps like they’re not there and the air suspension smooths out the road like you’re floating on, well, air. It’s got plenty of performance, too, although sometimes it’s held back by the automatic gearbox that’s slow to respond when you want a quick burst of acceleration.

On the motorway

Out on the motorway, the Q7’s slow responding gearbox isn’t such an issue and you’ll find it’s a very relaxing car to travel big distances in. The air suspension deserves special praise again because it makes you feel like the lower half of your body has been given an epidural – you really feel very little from the seat of your pants.

On top of that, there’s little wind noise and the engines are also quiet. The optional Tour Pack can make driving even easier, simply because it does much of the driving for you on motorways and in queuing traffic – just turn it on, keep your hands on the steering wheel and let your Q7 take care of the rest. It does feel slightly ridiculous that basic models of the Q7 don’t come with adaptive cruise control as standard, though - even some of the cheapest hatchbacks offer this nowadays.

On a twisty road

The Audi Q7 is pretty good on a country road. Yet again, the adjustable air suspension helps here because it cuts out body roll in its stiffest setting and helps make the Audi feel more nimble than the likes of a Land Rover Discovery. The Audi even feels pretty quick, especially with the 50 TDI diesel engine which has loads of oomph.

Okay, so a Porsche Cayenne is more overtly sporty but it comes at the expense of comfort – it’s the Q7 that is a better overall package. The better option is a BMW X5, which feels more agile than the Q7 but doesn’t sacrifice how well it absorbs bumps. You could upgrade to the expensive, and high-performance, SQ7 if you want a Q7 with a more aggressive chassis setup, but that does come at the cost of some everyday usability, not to mention that it’s ruinously thirsty on fuel.

The Audi Q7 has loads of room for five adults and its boot is big and practical, however alternatives are roomier in the third row of seats.

You won't have much difficulty getting comfortable in the Audi Q7 because both front seats come with electrical adjustment, while your seat also has a memory function so it’s easy to get it back in your position after someone else has driven the car.

Even the lumbar adjustment is electrical – handy when you need extra support on a long journey – and if that doesn’t dull your back pain, the standard heated seats should do the job. Finding handy interior storage is far from a pain. The Q7’s door bins are huge, you get plenty of USB charging points, the glove box is a decent size and you get two cup holders in the front and the back. Even your passengers in the third row get cup holders.

Space in the back seats

The space in the Q7’s middle row is impressive. Your tall passengers will have plenty of knee and headroom and the seats slide back on their runners and recline, so your passengers don’t need to feel like they’re being short-changed. Even with three people in the middle row, the Q7 is really comfortable, the centre seat is supportive and the large footwells have plenty of space for everyone’s feet – it’s better than a Volvo XC90 or Land Rover Discovery in this respect.

Babies are well catered for too. The Q7 has no fewer than six ISOFIX mounts and fitting a baby seat to the middle row is easy – once you remove the (slightly old-fashioned) cover, the ISOFIX points are easy to line up to your seats’ mounts and the Q7’s large rear doors give you plenty off room to move. Somewhere the Q7 doesn’t impress quite so much is in the third row.

Accessing it is a bit of a faff that involves hauling the outer middle-row seats out of the way (gas struts hold them in place at least) and clambering in behind it, before locking the middle seat back into position. Once you're in, you’ll find head and legroom is tight if you’re tall – the Land Rover Discovery or BMW X7 are better bets if this matters to you. Just remember that if you’re buying a plug-in hybrid TFSI e version of the Audi Q7, you won’t get the extra seats in the boot — it’s strictly a five-seater.

Boot Space

With all its seven seats in place, the Audi Q7 has about the same capacity as a Volkswagen Polo small family car, which is less than a Volvo XC90 with all seven seats upright. Because the load opening is large and there’s no lip to lift stuff over, getting luggage into the boot is easy and heavy items can easily be slid into place.

The third row of seats folds away electrically (slowly) to reveal the kind of boot capacity you’d expect of a large SUV – 780 litres to be exact. It’s enough to swallow a set of suitcases with quite a lot of room left over for boxes and soft bags. It's also just fractionally more than you'll get in the XC90, which has 775 litres, and the BMW X5's 650 litres. A Land Rover Discovery holds even more — 922 litres — but Land Rover measures its boots loaded up to the roof, so it’s not quite an equal contest.

Even with all the back seats folded away, the load bay remains completely flat and serves up a total load capacity of 1,925 litres (which is almost 100 litres more than the Volvo). It’s ideal for house moves or flat-pack furniture raids to Ikea, and the sheer size of the boot opening makes it easy to load an adult’s bicycle without the need to remove any of its wheels. Boot features include a 12V power socket, luggage tethers, shopping hooks and a netted storage area, but there is no useful storage under the boot floor and nowhere to store the parcel shelf when it is not in use.

Just remember if you’re buying a TFSIe plug-in hybrid Q7 that boot volume falls to 650 litres with the rear seats up, or 1,835 litres with the seats folded down. That’s because the hybrid system’s battery takes up so much space.

The Audi Q7’s interior design and construction are top-notch, but the centre touchscreen can be fiddly to use on the move

The Audi Q7’s interior looks absolutely brilliant and there’s no rattle or movements in the trim. You get soft-touch plastics on the dashboard and the tops of the doors, which you can upgrade for leather and you get shiny black plastics trim pieces with chrome metal highlights. All models also get coloured ambient lighting that gives the Audi a cocktail-bar theme at night.

Want a sportier look? Then popular Black Edition models are the ones to go for thanks to their standard leather upholstery, sports seats, sports steering wheel and matt aluminium inlays but just beware that the cabin can look very dark and gloomy depending on how you spec the interior colours.

Whichever version of Q7 you go for, you get an excellent infotainment system with no less than three colourful displays to play with. The centre touchscreen is used for most of the car’s systems and it features haptic feedback (which vibrates to imitate pressing an actual button) and large tile-like menus. They're still not the easiest to operate when you’re driving, although a lot of the features are also accessible on the wide Virtual Cockpit display behind the steering wheel.

Having said that, your easiest option is plugging your smartphone in and using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – giving you access to your phone’s reliable voice activation system.

The third and final display is stacked below the centre touchscreen and is used to control the car’s ventilation system, seat heating and (when you’ve got it) cooling. It has a permanent layout that makes it easier to use on the move, has haptic feedback (which still feels odd, to be honest) and which is just as clear and colourful as the Q7’s other screens.

There are four engine options for the basic Q7 - excluding the high-performance SQ7 model.

At the base level you get a fantastic 231hp 3.0-litre diesel engine. It’s not exactly slow - 0-62mph takes 7.1 seconds - and it feels very well-suited to the Q7’s bulk, though you may be more interested in the slightly beefier 286hp version if you’re regularly going to be travelling fully-laden.

Both versions claim about 35mpg and should achieve more than 30mpg in the real world, more on a long run - but will suffer with round-town economy. However, thanks to a massive 75-litre fuel tank you should be able to do well over 500 miles between fill-ups, making these diesel engines the best option if you have long distances to travel.

The powerful 340hp 3.0-litre petrol engine is more efficient than you might expect, but with an average of about 27mpg it’s still not great. Opt for this only if you really dislike diesel engines - and if that’s the case, you’d be better off with a BMW X5 40i, which can return about 35mpg in the real world.

The 381hp petrol-electric 55 TFSI e plug-in hybrid is a good option for company car users or if you do lots of short journeys around town. A plug-in range of just 29 miles pales in comparison to the PHEV BMW X5 or Range Rover Sport, though - so there are definitely better plug-in hybrid options out there. Bear in mind also that fuel economy tumbles when the battery is discharged, so for most people a diesel is probably a better bet.

First year road tax is chunky for all the regular combustion models, and none make for good company car choices thanks to high BiK rates. The plug-in hybrid is the best option here.

The current Audi Q7 has been on sale since 2015 but was retested by Euro NCAP in 2019 (when the Q7 was given its first big update), scoring the full five stars in the process. All Q7s come with safety features such as automatic emergency braking that detect pedestrians and cyclists, and works at town and motorway speeds. You also get a pop-up bonnet that protects pedestrians in the event of a collision and lane assist that can gently steer the car in lane on the motorway and A roads. It’s also worth mentioning that the Q7 comes with an alarm as standard.

Audi’s reliability ratings often don’t reflect the company’s premium brand billing, although you do at least have a three-year/60,000-mile warranty to fall back on, and you can extend it to a five-year/90,000-mile at extra cost. The Q7 has been subject to several recalls relating to its steering rack, third-row seats that can deform in an accident and faulty shock absorbers. Audi finished — somewhat shockingly — close to the bottom of the latest Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, ahead of only Fiat and MG.