Audi SQ7 Review & Prices

The Audi SQ7 looks more or less like the sensible, luxurious, practical Audi Q7 that you know. Only, this one has been doing extra leg days at the gym, and bought a pair of studded running shoes because, blimey, it can really sprint. An SUV going this fast is like watching a fat bloke run like Usain Bolt.

For all the extra power and performance, Audi’s design team must have had ‘subtle’ written in big letters on the office white-board on the day the SQ7 was designed, because aside from some slightly meaner looking wheels, it’s really hard to tell it apart from a standard model on the outside.

Yes, you get bigger air intakes in the front, but this is one of those annoying cars with fake exhaust pipes, and the big 21-inch wheels just don’t look all that massive anymore.

If you’re expecting more in the way of visual fireworks inside, well… you can expect away, because there aren’t any. True, you do get a slightly chunkier flat-bottom steering wheel, and there are nice sports seats in the front — which can optionally be had with diamond-quilted leather — but other than that it’s basically the same cabin as you get in a regular Q7. Upgrade to the pricier Vorsprung model and you get more leather inside, and a massive glass roof, but there’s still little to separate it from regular versions, and there’s no getting away from the fact that the SQ7’s cabin is starting to look a little old.

On the upside, this is a very sensible interior and there’s enormous space inside the SQ7. The front and middle seats have stretch-out space even for tall adults, and kids fit happily in the folding third row, even with the middle row pushed all the way back. If you’re prepared to slide seats around a bit, you can potentially get seven adults in, but the ones in row three won’t thank you for it.

Fold away those third-row seats and you get an enormous boot — up to 793 litres which should swallow all the suitcases, posh shopping bags or golf paraphernalia you can throw at it. That’s more space than you’d find in a BMW X5 or Range Rover Sport, and there’s a flat floor and no loading lip, so your back will thank you for buying the Audi.

Then again, that’s true of all Q7 models, but this is the SQ7, so it surely has to be more thrilling to drive?

Up to a point, yes. Stab at the big throttle pedal, and the 507hp twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 surges and gargles and shoves you forward with serious thrust. This massive machine can hit 60mph from rest in just 4.1 seconds, so it’s as fast as a BMW M2. And the BMW M2 doesn’t share an engine with a Bentley or a Lamborghini.

Sadly, though, while you can watch the scenery whoosh past in a dramatic blur, you won’t get to listen to anything nice. The V8 engine is really, really quiet — so quiet that Audi has actually fitted the SQ7 with a stereo cheat code, so that the speakers in the cabin play some sporty V8 noises as you drive in Dynamic mode. The problem is that these are pretty obviously fake — it’s like someone trying to play the theme from Star Wars on a Casio keyboard.

Then again, this silent-but-lethal nature — the SQ7 is like a four-wheeled version of Jason Statham — makes it a brilliant Autobahn… sorry, motorway cruiser. There’s ample performance in reserve for dealing with sluggish traffic, and the air suspension — fully adaptive and adjustable — eases over any rippled road surfaces.

The automatic gearbox is also smooth and fuss-free, if a bit slow-witted, and the quattro four-wheel drive means that you won’t have to be worried by any inclement weather. There is also a host of electronic driver aids which can take the pain out of long runs, and — surprisingly — it’s even easy to drive in town, thanks to light steering, good visibility, and a surround-view camera system.

Again, though, this is all true of the standard Q7, so if you can live without the jump-to-hyperspace acceleration, and enjoy the much better fuel economy (the SQ7 is really, really thirsty) then you can save yourself a packet and just buy a standard diesel or plug-in hybrid Q7. However, for those who want the ultimate — and want the bragging rights of a V8 engine — nothing but the SQ7 will do.

See how much you could save by checking out our Audi SQ7 deals page or browsing the latest SQ7 lease deals. You can also check out used Audi SQ7s and other used Audis for sale through our network of trusted dealers. Did you know you can also sell your car through Carwow, too?

In one sense, the SQ7 is a bargain, because you’re getting the same V8 turbo engine as you’d get in a Bentley Bentayga or a Lamborghini Urus, and getting it (albeit with less power) for several thousand pounds less. However… a basic SQ7 nudges up to £100,000 and that’s almost enough to buy a Porsche Cayenne GTS, which again has the same engine, and which is much sharper to drive than the Audi. The SQ7 is much cheaper than a BMW X5M, but then the X5M is considerably more powerful and much sportier. The closest Mercedes alternative is the straight-six-engined GLE AMG 53, and even that’s a little more affordable than the Audi, albeit the Mercedes is quite a lot less powerful.

The SQ7 is impressively fast and comfortable. It’s also more agile in corners than you might think, but not enough so to be truly fun to drive

In town

Somewhat surprisingly for a big, heavy, high-performance SUV, the Audi SQ7 is actually pretty comfortable over bumps around town, thanks to having standard air suspension. It actually floats along and feels genuinely luxurious.

In spite of the fact that the SQ7 is also as big as a container ship (almost), it does have rear wheel steering so it never feels too massive around town, and you can get it through tighter manoeuvres than you might expect. Great when you’re parking, or negotiating mini-roundabouts.

The automatic gearbox isn’t the quickest thing when it comes to response time, but it is very smooth and that’s arguably more important in a car like this.

On the motorway

Clearly, any car that’s been as carefully designed to work on German Authobahns as the SQ7 is going to be just fine on British motorways. The effortless torque from the engine (770Nm of it) means that, even with the slightly slow-witted gearbox, you’re never short of an extra bit of shove to get past a slow-moving lorry, or to slot into fast moving traffic.

The air suspension lowers automatically at higher speeds to make the SQ7 slightly more aerodynamic, but even in the lower setting, it’s never uncomfortable and those big tyres don’t cause too much road noise, even on rough concrete surfaces.

Combine all that with the excellent front seats and you have an exceptional motorway cruiser. Aside from the fuel consumption…

On a twisty road

You really can push the SQ7, and push it hard. Accelerate through a fast corner and it just seems to find more and more grip to pull you through to the next straight. And then with a 4.1-second 0-62mph time, you’ll find that the next corner comes up pretty sharpish.

Is it fun, though? Sort of. Getting a big, hefty SUV like this to go fast is always going to be fun, up to a point, but the SQ7 doesn’t have the sheer sportiness to compete with the likes of the Porsche Cayenne. That said, it does turn into corners sharply for a car this big, but you’re never unaware of how high up the centre of gravity is.

That 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 has masses of power and torque, and at first it sounds like it’s making all kinds of epic noises, but you soon realise that a lot of that noise is coming from the stereo — it’s fake V8 noise to make the Audi seem sportier than it really is, which is a shame.

The SQ7 is pretty massive inside, and those sitting in the first two rows will be very comfortable indeed. Anyone in the third row is going to be cramped, though

Up front, the SQ7’s cabin is huge, so even the tallest driver will have no difficulty getting comfortable. There are big door bins which will swallow large bottles of water, and there’s plenty of space in the storage bin under the front seat armrest; you’ll find a wireless phone charger in there too. Annoyingly, the cupholders are a bit shallow and they have a lid on them that’s hinged the wrong way around, so you have to crane your hand a bit over the edge of the lid to get at anything.

Space in the back seats

There is a lot of space in the SQ7’s second row, and you can adjust what’s available thanks to rear seats that slide back and forth, as well as reclining. Although it’s a shame that the big, high-backed front seats reduce the visibility for those behind, it is very comfortable in the back.

What about the way, way back though? The SQ7 is a seven-seater, and there is surprisingly decent space in the third row, although it’s not what you’d call generous. If you want proper adult-sized third row seats, you’ll need to look at the more expensive BMW X7. It’s a shame, too, that the third row seats don’t get the gorgeous diamond-quilting for the leather that you’ll find in rows one and two.

Boot space

Impressively, even with all seven seats in use, the SQ7 still has around 300 litres of usable boot space left, which certainly isn’t massive but it’s better than you’ll find in some others.

The third row of seats folds electrically, headrests and all, when you use the buttons inside the edge of the boot, and that opens up a whopping 704 litres of space. By comparison, a BMW X5 boasts 650 litres, but the five-seat Porsche Cayenne has 770 litres. Mind you, The SQ7 still has 150 litres less than you get in the standard Q7, mostly thanks to some S-specific stuff taking up underfloor boot space. Do some more folding and drop the middle row of seats, and you’ll have 2,050 litres of cargo space, which kinda turns this SQ7 into a leather-lined V8 van.

The Audi SQ7 has a handsome, well-made interior with an impressive infotainment system. It’s a little dark and hard-edged compared to a Range Rover, though

Audi has been renowned for its cabins for a long time now, and the SQ7 isn’t going to change that. Quality levels are excellent, but there is an argument that says that the black-and-chrome look of the interior isn’t as welcoming as the softer, warmer style of a Range Rover Sport, and equally the SQ7’s cabin is starting to look a bit old now.

That’s partially compensated for by the S-spec high-back bucket front seats, which get gorgeous Bentley-style diamond quilted leather trim. Even the stubby little gear selector gets perforated leather, although we can’t imagine you’d be using it enough to get sweaty hands.

The SQ7 does get a very good infotainment system which is split across two screens. The upper screen looks after navigation, music streaming, and connected internet surfaces, while the lower screen takes care of the heating and air conditioning. Those air conditioning controls are a little more fiddly than proper buttons would be, especially when on the move, but you do get used to them. Both screens give your fingers a useful little haptic feedback when you press any ‘buttons’ which, again, feels weird but you do get used to that too.

The main digital instruments are really nice and clear, and this being the SQ7 you can call up an S-specific display which gives you a big rev counter, just like you used to get in the old R8 V10 supercar. Mind you, it also gives you a lap timer, and who’s going to be timing laps in an SQ7, unless they mean laps of the M25?

The original SQ7 used a big V8 turbo diesel, and while it was quick, it could also be economical. Officially, it could do 30mpg, and you could even coax it to do 35mpg if you were really careful. This generation of SQ7 has switched to a 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 which means your fuel economy is going to be… worse. Way, way worse. Audi officially claims that it’ll do 23.5mpg, but we averaged 17mpg on our test, and saw a low of 11mpg at one point. And that’s in spite of the engine’s ability to switch off cylinders to save fuel on light throttle openings. At least it comes, as standard, with a big 85-litre fuel tank.

You’ll be facing CO2 emissions of 274g/km, which means you’ll be paying the highest vehicle excise duty rate in year one, plus the surcharge for cars costing more than £40,000, which you have to pay on top of the standard year-two-onwards £195 road tax payment, for the first five years of ownership. If you’re a company car buyer, the SQ7 is going to be more expensive than electric or plug-in hybrid options.

The standard Q7 gets a full five-star safety rating from the Euro NCAP independent crash tests, and that includes a 92% rating for adult occupant protection, with an 86% score for child occupants. Impressively, it also scores 71% for its ability to protect vulnerable road users such as cyclists and pedestrians, which is a good figure for a big, heavy SUV.

Unfortunately, Audi has left some electronic safety aids on the options list. If you want a blind spot monitor, front and rear crossing traffic warning, and door exit warning, you’ll have to cough up £1,450 for the ‘City Assist Pack.’ As standard, you do get collision warning and automatic emergency braking – which also stops you pulling across a junction into the path of an oncoming car – lane departure steering, and radar-guided cruise control.

The SQ7 is a big, expensive Audi so it should be reliable, and that 4.0-litre V8 engine is used in loads of other cars, including many from Bentley, Lamborghini, and Porsche, so any of its issues and problems should have been ironed out by now.

The only worry, really, is wear and tear — this much power with this much weight equals a lot of tyres, brake pads, and brake discs being burned through, and you’d have to have some concerns for things like gearboxes and suspension parts in the longer term.

All Audis come with a standard two-year unlimited mileage warranty, which is boosted to a third year but with a 60,000-mile limit. You can upgrade that to a five-year warranty, but that will cost you more than £3,000 for a model like the SQ7.