In a world of gas-conscious car consumers, Audi has come out with a SUV for the future. When the Q7 3.0 TDI was introduced, it went against the grain of what Americans perceived of luxury SUV’s. It promised excellent gas mileage and it had a diesel engine. But could it deliver on appearance and performance?

The Exterior

The Q7 commands attention unlike SUVs in its class. There’s something about it that makes jaws drop. Maybe its those beautiful LED lights or the big shiny emblem on a powerful-looking grille. Whatever it is, you can’t deny the luxurious appearance.






The Q7 is attractively styled, lending itself to a sleek and sporty look. It’s classy and elegant without being stuffy. Think of it as the Julia Roberts or Brad Pitt of utility vehicles.






The Interior

Audi delivers on its promise of luxury with the interior of the Q7. The one we test drove had the Cardamom Beige leather seating. The front seats are heatable (if you purchase the cold weather package) and feature 12-way power control, meaning ultra comfort when driving.

If you decide on a Premium plus model with all the bells and whistles, you get the Audi MMI navigation, Xenon plus with LED lights, auto-dimming, and power-folding mirrors, Bose surround sound, advanced parking system with a rear view camera, and a panorama sunroof. The sunroof actually makes the interior appear much bigger than it actually is.








You wouldn’t think that a vehicle like this would have a great deal of room, but during our trip to Big Bear Lake we actually ended up sleeping in the back because the campsites where we had planned to camp out were actually closed. Instead of checking into an inn, we decided to test out the roominess of this 7-seater. All the seats in the back can fold down for cargo space, so we were able to sleep in the back with our legs stretched out.





Although the Q7 does seat seven, the two people sitting in the back will not have that much leg room. Three adults in the middle and two kids in the back would be ok.

The Drive





The Q7 TDI features a 225 horsepower V6 turbocharged engine that served well during our road trip to Big Bear. Driving up the windy mountains requires a firm grip of the road, which the Q7 provided. The quattro permanent all-wheel-drive and six-speed auto transmission with tiptronic are standard.

In our week together, the average miles per gallon was around 22-23, which I consider pretty decent. It’s rated at 17 city mpg and 25 highway mpg. A nice feature is that the car automatically calculates your average mpg which you can view on the dash.

The diesel engine is a faint murmur and gas fumes were virtually non-existent. Finding gas stations that carry diesel is relatively easy in Southern California, however, I was surprised to discover that diesel is actually much more expensive - around 25 cents more than regular unleaded. I paid around $3.25-$3.30 per gallon, which is considerably higher than the rest of the country.

The Price

The base model of the Q7 TDI is $50,900, but with the premium plus features ($6,000), cold weather package ($500), and Destination Charge ($825), the total for the model we test drove came out to $58,225.00