If you hadn't noticed, there's a storm brewing in the industry and we have VW to thank. The furore surrounding the revelation that the German automotive giant fitted 'cheat' software in as many as 11 million of their 2.0-litre TDI-powered vehicles (across many of their brands including Audi and Škoda) will be far reaching, of that you can sure.
Good news for consumers, though, because the discrepancies between lab-tested emissions outputs versus real world driving conditions will hopefully, all but disappear as the world's governmental/testing institutions rally to make them one and the same. Or, at the very least forces manufacturer transparency and accountability with regards to emissions and fuel consumption figures.
How often do we see a claimed fuel consumption by a manufacturer often litres lower than what is achievable in the real world? Hopefully, this will become a thing of the past.
Which brings us to full-size SUVs. Not known for their light weight, fuel efficiency or minuscule CO2 emissions, these behemoths have often come in for harsh criticism, and rightly so. But, considering where Volkswagen's cheating exploits will leave the industry - and the resulting, even tighter, emissions laws - the pressure felt by manufacturers to drastically improve their Sports Utility Vehicles, will be huge.
This is the new Audi Q7, and the big news is that it's managed to shed an astonishing (of up to) 325kg! That weight loss translates, visually, into 37 mm shorter and 15 mm slimmer. As was always the case with the Q7, it's by no means a small SUV at 5.05 metres in length, 1.97 metres in width, and 1.74 metres in height, sitting on 2.99-metre wheelbase.
Whereas the previous generation Q7 never managed to look anything other than huge, awkward and rather uncomfortable in its own skin, the new version is far more agreeable design. It comfortably belies its size, managed in part by pushing the wheels further towards each corner, with resulting shorter overhangs and a lowered ride height of 50mm, endowing the new Q7 with a more station wagon-like look.
Yes, Audi's now traditional photocopy-by-design philosophy is ever present, so too is the need for mammoth sized wheels for maximum visual appeal. Anything short of 20-inch is going to look positively ridiculous in those huge wheel arches and vast side body panels.
Xenon headlights are now offered as standard, with full LED headlights and Matrix LED headlights available as an option. Matrix LED headlights divide the high beam into 15 individual diodes paired with three reflectors. A camera on the interior mirror analyses the traffic situation and in turn individually turns the diodes on and off, or dims in them in 64 stages each, depending on the situation.
Perhaps it's least attractive angle - to spice up the rear - LED rear lights are standard on all models. The wrap-around tailgate provides a wide boot opening, allowing for easier loading and beneath that new rectangular tailpipes are set in an aluminium look diffusor.
Q7 launches in South Africa with one engine initially. A 3.0-litre TDI good for 183 kW of power and 600 Nm of torque mated to an eight-speed tiptronic. Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is a claimed 6.3 seconds, with a top speed of 234 km/h, if you're absolutely obsessed with figures, however, fairly meaningless to most SUV drivers. Average fuel consumption is a claimed 5.7 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, with CO2 emissions also a claimed 149 grammes kilometre. Many claims, and we'll have to see what that translates into in real-world conditions.
Slightly more compact than before, the interior of the new Q7 is promised to be more spacious, with an extra 41mm of headroom up front. Shoulder and knee space is improved over the previous model as well.
Audi's futuristic virtual cockpit makes its appearance on the new Q7 replacing traditional analogue dials and instrumentation with a fully interactive 12.3-inch, 1440 x 540-pixel resolution TFT screen ahead of the driver. Working in tandem with Audi's standard MMI navigation plus system which includes an impressive list of multimedia equipment. Namely: a DVD drive, two SD card readers, onboard flash memory, a choice between Bose or Bang & Olufsen sound system, two USB ports, Bluetooth connectivity, all linked to an 8.3-inch high-resolution central screen.
Rear passengers are well catered for with the Audi Tablet which functions like regular tablets. With added functionality for in-car use, passengers in the Q7 can, for example, view the current route in the map app and input a new waypoint and even pass the information to main display up front. Presumably this is for those that might have a chauffeur.
Audi Tablet runs the Android operating system and has 32 GB of internal memory and can be expanded via the microSD slot. Powered by a Tegra processor 40 from NVIDIA the Audi Tablet has been praised as fast and responsive by tech website Engadget.
Still a full seven-seat SUV, new Q7 offers 295 litres of boot space with the third row in use. Tumble the sixth and seventh seats down yields 890 litres, with 2075 litres available with the second-row seatbacks folded down. To ease loading items into the boot, the sill has been lowered by nearly five centimetres.
Quattro is obviously present on the new Q7 with a centre differential replacing the previous models transfer case. Under normal driving conditions, power is distributed between the front and rear axles in a 40:60 ratio. However, should a wheel lose grip, it can transfer as much as 70 percent of the power to the front and a maximum of 85 percent to the rear.
Optional adaptive air suspension can adjust the ride height position of the body as required. At the offroad level, which is limited to a speed of 80 km/h, customers can increase the ride height by as much as 60mm, increasing off-road capabilities. On road, the Q7 automatically lowers by 15mm at 120km/h and above.
In terms of driver assistance systems, Audi claims to offer more systems as standard equipment than any other model on the market. These include attention assist, hold assist, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter, rear parking system, Audi pre-sense basic and Audi pre-sense city.
Optional assistance systems include adaptive cruise control, night vision assist, head up display, traffic jam assist, Audi active lane assist, collision avoidance assist, rear cross traffic assist and trailer maneuver assist.
Further standard equipment includes:
| Audi MMI navigation Plus and Touchpad control |
| 18-inch alloy wheels |
| Xenon plus headlights |
| Keyless start |
| Audi drive select |
| Audi music interface with USB |
| Bluetooth interface with audio streaming |
| Partial leather upholstery |
| Electrically operated tailgate |
| Front and rear PDC |
| Reverse camera |
| Leather-trimmed, 4-spoke multifunction steering wheel Plus with shift paddles |
| Cruise control system |
| Two-zone digital air conditionin |
| LED interior lighting |
Pricing:
| 3.0 TDI Quattro Tiptronic | R924,000.00 |
