The Biggest Surprise in the Audi Q7 3-Row Luxury SUV? How Much You Get for the Price
And, at $60K it’s perfectly designed to fit your life.
It seems like everything in the Audi Q7 Quattro is designed to fit you perfectly. With many interior features that are adjustable, from the center row seats to the center console arm rest, drivers and passengers can adjust things for their own comfort level. And with beautiful details like leather seats, a split-opening center arm rest, a panoramic sun roof, controls at your fingertips and buttons for everything, it’s built to complement how you live your life.
We spent a week with the the Q7, a 4 cylinder 248-horsepower turbo all wheel drive SUV to discover what it is that buyers love about this popular luxury car. Not surprisingly, it’s filled with luxuries, but what surprised me most is all you get for $61,000, the price of the model we test drove.
See all the facts about the Audi Q7 luxury 3 row SUV here, including pricing, critical details and what you need to know.
A Nicely Sized, Nicely Proportioned SUV
The Audi Q7 is a mid-sized SUV with a third row, so it’s great for families, people who need bit of extra space and parents of fur babies. But it didn’t feel oversized. It was easy to drive, easy to park and offered plenty of visibility. The rear cargo space is ample for luggage, large hauls, strollers or dog crates, especially when the third row is folded; it has 37.5 cubic feet of space. With the third row seats are up, of course, space is less, at 14.8 cubic feet—still enough room for few Lacrosse bags, strollers or groceries.
Related: No need for a third row? See how the Audi Q5 stacks up.
A Movable Center Arm Rest Means Technology Is at Your Fingertips
The center console is filled with technology and all of it is laid out so it’s in easy reach, even when your arm is resting on the leather-covered arm rest which moves back and forth so you can position it comfortably so no matter your size, all the infotainment and climate controls are at your fingertips.
A Ponytail Headrest Means You’re Always Comfortable
The headrest adjusts forward or back and up or down so you can easily accommodate a ponytail without moving your seat. Just push a button on the side and pull or push it the direction you want it. I can’t tell you how much I love this feature, especially after you get your seat perfectly positioned and set it with the seat memory function.
Related: How Does the Audi Q7 Compare to the Q8?
Second and Third Row Seats Have Flexibility, Too
Getting into the third row can be easy; the center row seats move forward and back allowing access, and you can also you can set them where you want to accommodate leg room in the second or third row. This also means you can move the second row forward so you can reach back to pop the pacifier back in the baby’s mouth. The seats also easily fold forward to allow access to the third row; this is how you access the third row if the Q7 has a 3-seat bench in the second row. If it’s equipped with second row captains chairs, the third row is easily accessed by walking between the the captains chairs.
The third row can be folded up or down with a push of a button, or several buttons: There are buttons in the cargo area and on the wall next to the second row seats making it easy to put them up or down from either place.
Then, there’s a motion activated lift gate. With your key in your handbag or pocket, just swipe your foot under the bumper and it opens to reveal good cargo space behind the third row, even more if the third row is down, for a stroller, book bags, Lacrosse bags and more.
Related: Yes you need a luxury car. Here are 6 reasons why.
A Second Row Bonus: Three Car Seats Fit Across the Second Row!
This might seem counterintuitive since the Q7 has a third row, but like many families, we always found the third row to be more likely used when absolutely necessary rather than for daily use. And, for families with three kids in car seats, having them close at hand and not having to climb into the third row to buckle up your kid can be a good thing.
So, we installed three car seats—two convertible car seats for bigger kids and one infant car seat—across the second row and they all fit nicely. In fact, all three seats have LATCH anchors (as do the two third row seats) and the two outboard seats accommodated the convertible car seats with plenty of room to spare; the child car seats we tried seats fit on the bench seat with room to spare and the doors closed with no problem.
If I were planning to use the third row on a regular basis, however, I would opt for the second row captains chairs. While accessing the third row is fairly easy, if there are car seats behind the drivers and passengers seats they’d have to be uninstalled to get into the third row.
Related: BMW finally added a full size SUV to the line up and we are thrilled. You will be too.
Luxe Details “Un-Kidify” This Car
Part of the appeal of an SUV is that while it’s great for hauling kids, you don’t have to fork over all of your identity to parenting. You can still be your stylish, discerning, elegant, adventurous self. Until, that is, you take out the kids car seats to pick up your parents at the airport and discover the horror of year’s worth of Goldfish and gummy vitamins stuck in the crack between the seat and the seat back.
Audi has a solution for that: an upholstered bolster snaps onto the LATCH anchors giving you a quick fix to whatever might be lingering in the abyss. Pop the bolster out and the LATCH anchors are prominent and easy to spot for attaching the car seat’s latch, so, no digging around in the abyss for them and discovering the ick.
And the seat belt buckles are on a hinge so they tuck neatly into their own space when you don’t need them, but easy to grab when you do.
Other details that keep the Audi Q7 elegant are the dark floor mats so the dirt and snow that your little angels bring into the car can easily be washed away and solid seat backs on the back of the front seats that let you wipe away marks your passengers may leave. The panoramic sun roof gives the interior a lovely, airy feel and the white leather upholstery is so gorgeous you’ll think, well, may be I can teach my kids to keep this car clean.
Related: The 9 Best Three-Row SUVs From Luxury to Affordable
Active Safety Technology That Keeps You Safe On the Road
Audi fills its cars with a suite of safety tech features that look out for you and help you drive — a real bonus when the car is filled with kids who don’t necessarily understand that driving is your job and being well-behaved is theirs.
The safety package on the model we test drove, a $2,800 add-on to the Premium models but standard on the Prestige model, includes:
- Adaptive cruise control
- Lane keep assist, which helps to nudge you back in your lane if you drift
- Traffic jam assist, which combines adaptive cruise and lane keep assist to regulate your speed with the traffic, coming to a full stop when traffic does and starting up again when possible, and keep your car in its lane (though you do have to remain alert and active behind the wheel)
- Road sign reader, which can be set to blink if you’re going faster than the speed limit; I love this feature for teen drivers!
- Park steering assist, which will use sensors to locate a parking spot and steer the car into the spot while you control the accelerator
- Adaptive high beam headlights
- Surround view camera
Related: Does the Audi Q7 Pass the Ultimate Car Seat Challenge? The Best 3 Row SUVs for Child Car Seats
The Drive Experience: Easy to Manage and Plenty of “Oh Yeah…!”
Audi’s reputation is built on two things: Luxury and performance. The Q7 delivers on the luxury promise, even in the base model, and when it comes to performance, you have a bit of a choice: good or great. We tested out the Quattro 4-cylinder turbo model with 248 horsepower and found it to be fine for most around town driving. On winding back roads I put it into dynamic and it was just that: Suddenly dynamic, with a more powerful and responsive feel. In comfort I found it got improved fuel economy but was not as quick to get going from a red light or a stop sign. Still, even in comfort the Q7 was fine merging onto the highway and getting up to speed.
The Q7 has paddle shifters which can further enhance the drive experience as well as provide a bit of downshifting to give your brakes a break when towing or driving on a seep downhill grade.
For even more fun, the Audi Q7’s engine can be upgraded to the 329 horsepower 6-cylinder for $6,400. But at $61,000, I was more than thrilled with the interior details and drive experience. In fact, I was very pleasantly surprised by all you get for the price tag of the 2019 Audi Q7 Quattro.
What We Listened to in the Audi Q7 Quattro SUV
Music, whether you’re lulling little ones to sleep or finally relaxing and listening to the music you love, matters. This is what sounded great in this car.
Disclosure: The Audi Q7 was provided for this review. All opinions are my own.
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Categorized:Car Reviews SUVs
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