Car: Audi Q7 3.0TDI
Prices: £38,560-£44,495 - on the road
Insurance Group: 17
Emissions: 234-239g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 8.5s / Max Speed 134mph
Fuel Consumption: [3.0 TDI Clean Diesel] (combined) 31.7mpg
Safety: twin front airbags, side airbags, seatbelt pretensioners, ESP, ABS, EBD, ASR.
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height 4086/1983/1737mm
HOW DO YOU Q?
Our Rating: 7.4 / 10
The 3.0-Litre TDI diesel engines give an added dose of real world economics to Audi’s imperious Q7. Steve Walker reports…
Audi’s effortlessly cool brand image might jar slightly with the unbridled extravagance of the luxury 4x4 sector but in no way can the company’s Q7 offering be considered a shrinking violet. With over five meters of length, the capacity to seat seven and tipping the scales at nearly 2,300kg, it isn’t small. Just be thankful there are 3.0-litre TDI engine options to keep the running costs reasonably inconspicuous. And clean diesel technology to ensure that this car is actually greener than you might think.
If the green lobby is to be believed, luxury 4x4s are devils incarnate, devouring the planet’s virgin resources, trailing an acrid plume of toxic emissions and running over domestic pets for the hell of it. It’s true that big offroaders like Audi’s Q7 don’t do the environment many favours but neither do many other kinds of motorcar and if you opt for this model in 3.0 TDI Clean Diesel form, you can drive it with a relatively clear conscience. There’s a premium of around £1,500 for the Clean Diesel option rather than the standard 3.0 TDI and going this route doesn’t offer you much improvement in CO2 (234g/km down from 239g/km), while fuel consumption stays about the same at around 31mpg on the combined cycle. So why would you go the ‘Clean Diesel’ route?
The answer is that, contrary to popular opinion, going ‘green’ isn’t just about lowering CO2. Instead, Audi’s Clean Diesel technology concentrates on reducing Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions, regarded by many as being dramatically more harmful to humans than Carbon Dioxide (CO2). The suppression of NOx is widely regarded by experts as being as crucial to our wellbeing as the reduction of CO2 because on contact with sunlight it can form photochemical smog, a form of air pollution which can cause damage to lung tissue and a reduction in lung function. Capable of removing up to 90 per cent of NOx particles from exhaust gases, this Audi’s ultra-low emission technology already meets proposed EU6 emissions limits that are not due to come into force in Europe until 2014.
All this is crucially important for Audi’s Q7 range, for nearly all Q7s sold in the UK are 3.0 TDI diesel models. Diesel itself is big news in the luxury 4x4 sector. It fuelled 42% of all models sold in 2000, by 2004 this had increased to 67% and the trend has continued. It’s not difficult to see why either. Compare the Q7 3.0 TDI’s 31mpg return to the 22.2mpg you’ll get in the 4.2-litre V8 petrol version. For the record, a humble Ford Mondeo 2.5T saloon
Both of the 3.0-litreTDI diesels in the Q7 produce a 240PS maximum power output at 4,000rpm but the headline figure is the 500Nm of torque that’s produced at just 1,750rpm. Thanks to this, the Q7 responds to throttle inputs at low speeds in a manner that defies its bulk. Floor it, and the engine, along with its 6-speed tiptronic gearbox, will contrive to get you to 60mph in 8.5s. If conditions allow, there’s also a 134mph top speed to be explored. The 3.0 TDI engine is noticeably noisier than the petrol alternatives but it’s still very refined in the grand scheme of things. At 70mph it’s the rustling of the wind around the Q7’s A-pillars that provides the acoustic accompaniment but it’s at a muted level that means the Q7 is virtually as refined as an A6 executive saloon.
Audi engineers never knowingly pass up a chance to remind us that it was they who popularised 4x4 transmissions in road cars back in the early 80s and the Q7 features the latest version of the quattro system. It’s designed more for on-road handling than extreme all-terrain action but the Q7 will still do far more offroad than most owners will want to do in their £40,000 SUVs. Torque is split 40:60 between the front and rear wheels via a Torsen centre differential. If slip is detected by the ESP stability control system, power can then be diverted with as much as 65% channelled to the front or 85% to the rear. Audi’s adaptive air suspension system is standard on all Q7 models and this can be jacked-up to offer different degrees of ground clearance. ‘Offroad’ mode is 35mm higher than standard and ‘Lift’ mode is 25mm higher than that, giving a total clearance of 240mm. There’s even hill descent assist and a trailer stabilisation system for owners looking to tow.
The Q7 handles very well on the tarmac with the weighty steering doing much to inspire confidence and no small amount of composure in corners considering the vehicle’s formidable bulk. In fact, it’s easy to forget you’re piloting something q
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