Audi Q7: All generations brought together!

With things are, you’d never believe there existed a time when an SUV was not the obvious choice. But that was the case 20 years ago. Or 19 years and 6 months ago to be precise, because that’s when the Audi Q7 rocked up and everything changed. To be clear, the SUV wasn’t a new breed. Bollywood, politicians and industrialists were already patrons but remember those were the days when SUVs hadn’t fully migrated away from the body on frame construction and were consequently bouncy and perpetually unsettled. If you wanted proper luxury, you bought a sedan. So, what changed?

Rewind to the 2003 Detroit Motor Show where Audi showed off the Pikes Peak quattro concept. Two years later came the Q7 and, on the design front, not much changed. Audi engineers took the same VW Group platform as the Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg but enlarged it. Massively. It was nearly 5 metres long and 1.8 metres in height. And they used that space to put in a third row of seats; voila, we had our first luxury 7-seater. The India launch happened the very next year, 2006, and it was priced starting from ₹61 lakh. Those were early years for Audi in India. They had three models in their portfolio, A4, A6 and A8, and the ambition was to sell – in total, the whole portfolio – 300 units in 2006 and double that to 600 in 2007. As for local assembly, the then director of Audi’s overseas region said they will do that upon hitting, “optimal sales volumes”.

Those volumes came super-quick, because Bollywood fell in love with the Q7. From Salman Khan to Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, John Abraham, Sanjay Dutt, Kareena Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, the list of stars seen in the Q7 was endless. Now you will ask what does Bollywood know of cars, and you’ll probably be right. Except in October 2010, the Editor did a comparison test with the Mercedes-Benz GL, Toyota Land Cruiser LC 200 and BMW X5, and concluded, “I’ve never been a big fan of Bollywood and I still believe prevailing fashions, rather than sense, dictate what they step out of. But in the case of the Q7 they’ve chosen well. They’ve chosen the best.”

Three years later came the gen 1 update that introduced LED DRLs, setting the stage for the lighting innovation Audi would always be known for. On the inside the Q7 set the benchmark for others to aspire to – even today this 15-year-old gen 1 Q7 feels special, and in the current era of touchscreens we find ourselves in, the forest of buttons is a refreshing diversion. At launch the S-Line pack got individual bucket seats in the second row with a fridge under the armrest along with ambient lighting, rear DVD screens, Bang & Olufsen stereo with a hard drive, and a three-piece sunroof, forerunner to today’s panoramic sunroof. Made it great to be driven in, but it was even better to drive.

Those days SUVs rolled generously and weren’t known for particularly great body control. The Q7 re-wrote the rule book, the dynamics aided by quattro permanent four-wheel-drive and a Torsen centre differential similar to the RS4 with a 40:60 front to rear torque split. On the handling the Editor remarked it was, “Quite remarkable when you consider you’re piloting the equivalent of a three-storey house at 200kmph round a corner.”

At launch the Q7 got a 4.2-litre V8 FSI and 3-litre V6 TDI, the latter taking the Q7 to 100kmph in 9.6 seconds – making it nearly as quick as the contemporary Skoda Octavia RS and Honda Accord V6. Then came the Q7 with the 4.2-litre V8 TDI that slashed the 100kmph sprint to 6.5 seconds and got the editor to wax lyrical, “You’re a mute spectator to a biblical struggle between the colossal engine and aerodynamics, this massive brick-like SUV, rear squatting, nose aiming for the horizon, thundering and hammering whatever resistance the air has to offer.”

But that wasn’t all. Audi went one step further, using all their Le Mans winning heritage, to shoehorn a V12 TDI in the Q7. It made 499bhp of power and 1000Nm of torque! That was 15 years ago! It was the most powerful diesel in the world and did 0-100kmph in 5.5 seconds. And the only reason it didn’t come to India had nothing to do with homologation of the engine but a lack of experience with the standard carbon-ceramic brakes in India.

In 2015, after the Q7 found half a million customers, it was completely overhauled with an even more imposing single-frame grille. It obviously appealed to Bollywood who continued to adopt it en-masse but now there was a whole new demographic that jumped in. Cricketers. It was now based on the brand-new MLB platform, the first recipient ahead of the Touareg, Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus, highlighting how important the Q7 had become in the massive VW Group’s global scheme of things.

The body-in-white was 325kg lighter making it, “Light on its feet, and that is the best compliment you can pay an SUV.” Thanks to aluminium, 67kg was reduced from the weight of the suspension. Air suspension was standard while the 40:60 Quattro torque split could now go up to 85 per cent to the rear for better handling chops delivering, “Outstanding body control. For something that can seat seven, its handling will raise your eyebrows and that’s at no expense to comfort.” On the inside this was, “The new benchmark, and by a mile at that. The quality in the cabin – the plastics, metal finishes, wood veneers, stalks, haptic feedback of the knobs and dials, even the click-clack of the indicators is astonishing.”

In August 2016 the Q7 went up against the GLS, X5 and Volvo XC 90 and won the test. This was the editor’s verdict, “It [the Q7] really is stunning. It rides as well as the GLS, and yet it handles nearly as well as the X5. The engine and suspension refinement is astonishing. The interiors, especially the quality with which it is put together, is even more jaw-dropping. It can rise on its toes and go very far off-road. And, for sure, it is big enough.”

That prompted us to undertake what was evo India’s biggest road trip, up until then, in the tyre tracks of a team of Germans led by Paul Hartlmaier who, in 1935-36, undertook a 17,000km drive across India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in three DKWs. Auto Union, of which DKW was a part (along with Horch, Wanderer and Audi hence the four rings of the Auto Union badge), had set up their first dealership in erstwhile Bombay and the India representative needed to market the quality and reliability of German-built cars.

Our quattro Xpedition followed in the tyre tracks of those three DKWs, from Mumbai to Delhi, Kolkata via Gangtok, down to Chennai, then Bangalore, Thalassery, Madurai and wrapping up at Coimbatore where we found an original DKW at the Gee Dee museum. The editor summed up his time in the Q7, “This is, without a doubt, the finest car or SUV I’ve had the pleasure of road tripping in, anywhere in the world.” That was 2016. The years post that weren’t easy. Then came Covid. Finally in 2022 came the update on the Gen 2 Q7. This was very, very important for Audi. Cars such as the R8 might be halo cars but truth be told, Audi’s success, the reason why it became the go-to brand in cricket, Bollywood and by extension every other circle that mattered, was the Q7, and the rub-off effect led to the Q5 and Q3 selling in volumes.

The gen 2.2’s arrival coincided with a revival in Audi India fortunes with sales jumping 101 per cent. This was a mid-life update and continued on the MLB chassis, retaining the 2994mm wheelbase – nearly three metres – which meant space was always in plenty. No lacking visual presence either, exuding all the aura that we had come to expect of the Q7.

The interiors were updated with the three-screen layout – 12.3 inch Virtual Cockpit, 10.1-inch infotainment and 8.6-inch screen replacing the physical air-con controls. What didn’t change was Audi’s focus on quality. Everything went click-clack; everything felt built to last. The bigger change was under the hood, the full-size 3-litre turbo-V6 petrol put out 335bhp and could propel the big SUV to 100kmph in just 5.9 seconds while topping off at 250kmph. The Q7 also found favour with enthusiasts, the example we have here being a prime example running a stage 3 tune pumping out 410bhp and 820Nm making it the among the fastest of its kind in the country.

The ride quality, on run-flat 255/55 R19 tyres was, “The benchmark in comfort in the luxury 7-seater SUV class.” Quattro got the addition of wheel-selective torque control that uses the stability control to mimic the functioning of an LSD, braking the inside wheels and thus sending torque to the outside wheels and improving grip and cornering speeds. And there is genuine hype around the revival of the Q7, so much so that the allocation for the first quarter was sold out in January itself, aided by the pricing which was kept very competitive at `88 lakh.

Two years later the Q7 was updated again with typical Q7 vibes but added muscle. Up front the new single-frame grille is flanked by more aggressive air dams in the redesigned bumpers and more elaborately designed matrix LED headlamps that look, how do we put this, more Vorsprung durch Technik-y. Audi introduced the world to daytime running LED lights and ever since, they’ve always done the most elaborately and intricately-jewelled lights in their class. The Audi rings are now 2D, part of a modern brand identity while at the rear, the Q7 badging is in a dark chrome finish, and the exhaust tips and diffuser have been revamped to look cooler. Inside it remains largely unchanged, with the same crisp digital screens, well laid out instrumentation and top notch quality with the addition of a 730W 19-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system.

To drive the Q7 feels just as polished as before, powered by the now-familiar 3-litre V6 turbo-petrol engine. With 335bhp and 500Nm on tap and 48-volt mild hybrid assistance, the 0-100kmph sprint drops to 5.6 seconds. And on the road, it has everything we know and love about the Q7 – that is the key takeaway from bringing together all generations of the Q7.

What were the Q7’s strengths? Sure you got size, three row seating and imposing presence. But it was also really nice to drive. And to road trip across India, it was phenomenal. Great ride comfort and great body control. You could chew miles effortlessly, in safety and outstanding comfort. This was as good to drive as it was to be driven in, and its quality told you that you spent good money on a very good car. It’s why, even today, the Q7 is a strong player in the segment even appealing to younger drivers and women.

To quote from one of the dozens of Q7 stories we have done, “Bollywood is happier to be seen running late from the back of a Q7, and that has only served to amp up India’s traditional obsession with SUVs. It’s remarkable how Audi has managed to pitch the Q7 among the elite of Bollywood, so much so that the Q7, for all practical purposes, is now the default choice here.” The original Q7, it was the SUV to have for the rich and famous. And by extension made the SUV the obvious choice for buyers irrespective of the segment.

Watch our full video on the Audi Q7 on our YouTube channel!