Test drive Audi Q7
Test Drive

Test drive Audi Q7

Never before has Audi changed the appearance of its car so much during restyling, and has not yet arranged a test drive in a country where there are no snakes and you can drink beer in the morning.

Only in Ireland can an older woman slowly finish her breakfast can smile and nod approvingly when you order a pint of Guinness at 11am. And there is also a very simple philosophy, which is followed by almost all residents: "You need to worry about only two things - are you healthy or sick." This explains a little that in the first eight hours in the Irish city of Kerry and its environs, I saw exactly zero BMW cars and one Mercedes-Benz (it still won't work to show off the old premium salary: the license plates always have the year of issue).

But there were a lot of Audi around. At least those ten Q7s intended for journalists who flew in for the first test of the updated SUV. How are Ireland and the first SUV in the history of the Ingolstadt brand connected? Most likely not directly. Indeed, last year 234 of these cars were sold here - almost six times less than, say, A4 Allroad.

Test drive Audi Q7

Another thing is the very unusual beauty (for me now it is the most beautiful country in the world) of these places, which, perhaps, allows you to emphasize how much the car has changed. In recent years, even Audi fans have begun to complain that the Ingolstadt company is not famous for the fact that when restyling it somehow greatly changes the appearance of the car. Most often, the matter is limited to a cosmetic change in design, but with the technique, they can work more seriously.

This is not at all about the updated Q7. It seems that it has not changed so seriously in all 14 years that have passed since the debut in Frankfurt. It is easy to make a mistake and call this car new, not updated, because it received new front and rear parts. It is not for nothing that Audi calls it exactly new.

Test drive Audi Q7

The number of my friends who asked about Ireland and Conor McGregor's signature whiskey is huge, but less than those who recently asked me about the price or opinion about Q8. So when I say that the updated Q7 has become very similar to its brother, I give it a huge compliment.

Here, for example, the same octagonal radiator grille. And get ready, now you will see it on all SUVs of the Audi brand - this is a kind of emblem of the brand's SUVs and crossovers. By the way, people who accused Audi that all of its cars are similar to one another, like the Irish leprechauns to the same McGregor, received a powerful answer: at least the entire off-road line will now be very different from sedans, station wagons and coupes.

Test drive Audi Q7

The grill isn't everything, the car has new headlights. In the base, they are diode, in more expensive configurations - matrix, capable of turning off a segment in the light beam so as not to blind oncoming drivers, but in the top ones - laser ones. The dimensions of the SUV, by the way, have changed slightly: due to the new shape of the bumpers, the length has grown by 11 mm, up to 5062 millimeters.

Even at the static presentation of the novelty, David Hakobyan talked with the exterior designer of the updated Q7, and he noted the new, more unloaded rear of the SUV and even named his favorite design element - a chrome strip running from one lamp to another. Looks incredibly stylish live.

Test drive Audi Q7

Ireland is a country whose hospitality is no less famous than the Caucasian one, but we were immediately warned: the fines for exceeding here are evil, even though you can drive from 0,8 ppm, that is, in a state of light blackout. In addition, the road has to be shared with numerous cyclists, sheep and sometimes cows. Don't be surprised, milk is a very important product for Ireland: 43% of all raw materials produced in the country are used to make Baileys liqueur - yes, it is also Irish.

We managed to drive two modifications out of three possible at once: a 340-horsepower petrol, which, by the way, will not be available in Russia, because the overwhelming majority of sales fell on the version with “heavy” fuel, and a 286-horsepower diesel one. Only the most modest version with a three-liter diesel engine with a capacity of 231 horsepower remained behind the scenes. The Q7's engines remain the same as on the pre-styled SUV, but all variants of the car are now a so-called mild hybrid. An electric motor generator is integrated into the automatic transmission and is powered by a 48-volt vehicle electrical system.

Test drive Audi Q7

It is connected during acceleration, reducing the load on the internal combustion engine and saving fuel. He is also responsible for quickly starting the engine, since when coasting at speeds from 55 to 160 km / h, the electronics can turn off the engine for up to 40 seconds. The battery for this entire system is in the trunk. It is because of him, it seems, the volume of the luggage compartment has decreased by 25 liters.

It seemed to me, let all fans of the Bavarian car industry forgive me, that the Q7 drives better than the X5, which I had a chance to drive not so long ago. This is as unusual as not meeting a snake on the territory of Ireland (another plus in the piggy bank of becoming my favorite country: according to legend, Saint Patrick made an agreement with reptiles so that they would not appear here), but, for me, Audi behaves almost perfectly for an SUV. That is, it does not heel, does not vibrate on uneven roads, is very stable in turns and is dynamic. A gasoline car accelerates to 100 km / h in 5,9 seconds, a diesel one in 6,3 seconds. My only gripe with driving is soft and not very informative brakes.

Test drive Audi Q7

The absence of roll and vibration is the merit of the electromechanical active anti-roll stability system, which is the first time installed on a full-size SUV. Its adjustable anti-roll bars reduce roll angle and body sway. At low speeds, up to 5 degrees in the direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the front wheels, the rear wheels can move. The system is not included in the basic equipment, but is installed in a package with active electromechanical anti-roll bars and a shorter steering gear - 2,4 turns from lock to lock against 2,9.

Do you know what's strange? For example, the fact that the Irish do not pull the birthday people by the ears, but turn them upside down and hit the floor: how many years - so many blows. But there was something even more unusual about this trip - driving a left-hand drive car in a country with left-hand traffic.

I had to constantly adjust the movement of the car, pull myself up so as not to drive into the oncoming lane. But thanks to this, and also the fact that the road lanes in Ireland are unrealistically narrow, I finally felt the benefits of the lane control system. You turn it on and forget about some of the problems: the Q7 steers itself so as not to leave its lane. Hands, however, will not be able to let go: the electronics will be alarmed in just a few seconds and threaten that it will turn off if you stop taking part in the taxiing process.

Thanks to the huge number of electronic assistants, even in a situation when you are driving on an unusual side of the road, I had the opportunity to study the interior a little. There are two traditional Audi touchscreens measuring 10,1 and 8,6 inches. Everything works brilliantly, with a fashionable double recoil function: sound and tactile sensations, but the screens glare in the sun, and if you turn off the car, numerous fingerprints immediately become visible on them. Another 12,3 inches on the dashboard is occupied by the virtual instrument cluster. In the database, however, they will remain analog.

Test drive Audi Q7

The three things that I liked the most about the interior of the Q7 are very comfortable seats with an ideal combination of softness and stiffness of supports for me, a super audio system (I'm sure you will have to pay a lot of money for it) and ... the fact that you can communicate with the car, and in Russian.

Yes, in the age of "Alice" and "Siri" no one can be surprised by a smart assistant, but nevertheless, when the car understands your commands, and not linearly, but tightens them up and conducts an almost real dialogue with you, it is still impressive. As well as the fact that the navigation system here tracks trips and remembers familiar places, itself offering convenient route options to them.

Would I buy myself one? If I had spent my time in Ireland not testing a car, but tracking down a leprechaun and digging up his pot of gold hidden at the end of the rainbow, I would surely have. However, even in this case, I would have to wait pretty long: there are no prices for cars that will be sold in Russia yet, since they will come to us only in the first quarter of 2020. And even on them - Russian - I will now look for some signs from Ireland. Countries where the capital has one pub for every 100 inhabitants.

Body typeSUVSUVSUV
dimensions

(length / width / height), mm
5063/1970/17415063/1970/17415063/1970/1741
Wheelbase, mm299429942994
Curb weight, kgn. d.n. d.n. d.
engine's typeGasoline, with a turbineDiesel, with turbineDiesel, with turbine
Working volume, cubic meters cm299529672967
Max. power,

l. with. (at rpm)
340 (5000 – 6400)286 (3500 – 4000)231 (3250 – 4750)
Max twist. moment,

Nm (at rpm)
500 (1370 – 4500)600 (2250 – 3250)500 (1750 – 3250)
Drive type, transmissionFour-wheel drive, 8-speed TiptronicFour-wheel drive, 8-speed TiptronicFour-wheel drive, 8-speed Tiptronic
Max. speed km / h250241229
Acceleration from 0 to 100 km / h, s5,96,37,1
Fuel consumption

(mixed cycle), l / 100 km
n. d.n. d.n. d.
Price from, USDNot announcedNot announcedNot announced

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