Base price: $48,350
As Tested: $61,225
280 horsepower
3.6L DOHC turbocharged
V6 automatic
with Tiptronic
14 city / 20 highway
More info:
www.audiusa.com
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Like the Porsche Cayenne and BMW X6, the Q7 has the look of a vehicle that wants to be drag-racing, not dragging a boat behind it on a trailer. Its V-shaped hood, curvaceous wedge shape, 20-inch chrome wheels with summer performance tires (a $2,400 option on our metallic silver tester) and muscular lines give Audi's flagship SUV the look of a juiced-up sports coupe. Add on the rear spoiler and dual exhaust, and the Q7 is practically begging not to be taken off road into the mud.
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Appointed with aluminum and wood inlays, premium leather ($1,000) and a front-and-rear seat panorama sunroof ($1,850, plus 10 minutes to figure out exactly how to operate it), the Q7 does nothing to tarnish Audi's excellent rep for interior design. Our $61K test vehicle came pimped out with a technology package ($3,400 for nav and assorted other upgrades, including side assist, an annoying blind-spot warning system that causes your side-view mirror to blink if someone is in your blind spot) and a convenience package ($1,950 for a Bose sound system, among other add-ons). It also had a third row of seats standard -- ideal for kids and professional jockeys -- that fold flat easily for extra storage space.
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The Audi Q7 may be a sports car wannabe at heart, but it's not going to give you the adrenaline rush of an RS8. Audi claims the V8 version can hit 60 mph in 7.1 seconds and our V6 version clocks in at 8.2 ticks. But it still had plenty of power to get up an on-ramp and into traffic without causing chain-reaction crashes behind us. The steering is simply amazing for an SUV this size -- we have no idea how the Servotronic speed-sensitive steering works, but it does, as we negotiated tight quarters with much more ease than significantly smaller SUVs. It may not be as fast as a sports car, but it's just about as easy to park.
-- by Sam Jemielity
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