Comfortable, practical driver pleaser

Since the Q7 was introduced to South Africa in 2006 it has notched up 4,700 sales and it is not surprising because it more than holds its own in the classy company of competitors such as Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5, Land Rover Discovery and Infiniti QX70. Our test car was the top of the range 3.0TDI Quattro powered by a powerful V6 3.0-litre turbo diesel that kicks out 183kW and 600Nm which is good enough for a sub-7 sec 0-100km/h sprint and a top speed of 234km/h.

Easy and likeable

Audi claims a fuel consumption of 6.3/100km/h (in perfect laboratory conditions) which we could not equal or come close to during the week with the car although, in mitigation, our driving was mainly confined to urban roads. It is an easy, very likeable SUV to drive (even in heavy traffic), although parking it is not all that easy, even with the assistance of rear parking cameras (par for the course when piloting these large people-carriers). The eight-speed tiptronic transmission shifts quick and silky. The lower gears are short ratio and particularly snappy, while the top gear ratio is high to reduce revs and fuel consumption.

Solidly planted

The electro-mechanical steering is responsive and the Q7 handles particularly well, considering its size and weight. Under normal driving conditions power is distributed 40:60 between front and rear axles but is automatically transferred according to driving conditions and style. Through fast corners and even in tight bends the Q7 feels solidly planted, thanks to suspension tweaks and lowered ground clearance (there is also an option of adaptive air suspension, all-wheel steering and adaptive cruise control to improve this even further).

The Q7 has the most impressive list of driver aids in this segment with tick-offs such as attention assist, hold assist, cruise control and adjustable speed limiter (plus a long list of optional extras).

Outstanding living quarters

The living quarters are outstanding – airy, spacious, comfortable and, with few exceptions, very user-friendly, even down to the push button, fold-down third row of seats. The list of fancy technology is extensive and includes an 8.3-inch, high resolution monitor, navigation, DVD drive, two card readers, flash memory, two USB ports, Bluetooth interface, smartphone voice control and email reading. (Optional extras include a larger screen, the choice of top-of-range sound systems and additional speakers).

The luggage compartment is generous and even in seven-seater mode it has a 295 litre capacity. As a five-seater this grows to 890 litres. With all the rear seats down it becomes a 'van' with 2,075 litres of open space. A great loading aid is its electrically opening and closing tail-gate, particularly when loading awkward, heavy objects.

In terms of eye-candy the Q7 is one of the best lookers thanks to its neat body lines and trim such as LED lights, rear diffuser, twin rectangular tailpipes, big alloy wheels and acres of glass all round.

Undoubtedly one of the best in class the Q7 3.0-litre TDI we had on test wears an eye-watering price tag of R924,000 (without any fancy optional extras which could easily push this to beyond the R1-million mark) but the price includes a five-year/100,000km Audi Freeway Plan which can be extended to six years/200,000km.