New Audi Q7 2026 review: large SUV is good to drive at last
We hit the road in the new Audi Q7 to see if the seven-seat SUV is finally a serious BMW X5 rival
Verdict
The most obvious improvement the new Audi Q7 makes from the old car is in terms of its driving dynamics. The chassis and suspension tweaks should be enough to concern those at BMW, and the V6 diesel remains a very well matched powerplant, even if the new mild-hybrid system hasn’t boosted efficiency as much as we’d like. From launch, there’s not as much choice as offered by the new X5 or Mercedes GLE – but as an all-rounder, the Q7 in TDI form remains a tough competitor.
After a series of facelifts that kept the old Q7 going for over a decade, Audi has finally brought out a new, third-generation model. Its arrival is timely, because BMW has just taken the wraps off its latest X5 and the Mercedes GLE recently received a substantial mid-life facelift, too.
Put simply, the prime reason why the previous Q7 lived on for so long was that it was rather good. It felt premium inside – maybe not as posh as its Bentley Bentayga or Porsche Cayenne siblings, but just as well built, and a noticeable step above the Volkswagen Touareg. It also drove far better than you might have expected, once options such as rear-wheel steering were fitted.
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The new car immediately has a problem, though, because it’s around £10,000 more expensive in its base form than the old car, at £82,560. And that price tag is only going to go up once plug-in hybrid power joins the sole diesel powertrain currently available.
That diesel unit is an evolution of the 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 found in the old Q7, only now it has mild-hybrid assistance. An electric motor helps to boost power to 295bhp from 282bhp, and torque is up by 30Nm to a colossal 630Nm. Other markets get a less powerful 242bhp option, but it’s not destined for the UK due to the perceived lack of customer demand.
The eight-speed automatic transmission and quattro all-wheel-drive system are familiar from the previous Q7, but what is new is the limited-slip central differential with a preload function that constantly applies pressure to split torque faster between the two axles. The idea is that this maximises traction before any wheel slip occurs, and it’s standard across the range.
Another neat feature is a revised rear-wheel-steering set-up, which was previously an option on the old car, but is now standard from the off. It can turn the rear wheels up to five degrees to aid cornering ability, but also low-speed manoeuvrability – which is just as well, because the Q7’s wheelbase is now over three metres long.
The Q7 was never the sharpest to drive of the large premium SUV cohort, but the tweaks show that Audi has started to focus more on this area, and there’s further good news in this respect. The engine’s new mild-hybrid assistance improves responsiveness by flattening the torque curve for smoother, more consistent acceleration throughout the rev range.
Weirdly, considering its 2,425kg kerbweight, the highlight of our Q7 drive came on winding, mountain roads. Alongside the revised engine there’s a new adaptive air-suspension system, which is an optional extra in other markets, but standard on UK models.
That’s a very good thing, because Audi’s engineers have come up with a truly wonderful set-up. In the Balance drive mode it filters out crevices and bumps in the road superbly, even on the largest 23-inch wheels – not something we were able to say about big Audis of old. You don’t feel the need to switch to the Comfort mode, although if you choose to, there’s a bit more pitch and roll which helps if trundling over big speed bumps, but makes the Q7 a little unsettled at speed.
Despite Audi claiming the tiny electric motor can power the Q7 by itself at slow speeds or for specific manoeuvres, it’s here that the engine delivers that unmistakably agricultural sound you get with a diesel. On the motorway, the Audi settles into a cruise where the initial low-speed engine grumble almost completely dissipates, with wind and road noise also being kept at bay.
The surprisingly wide range of driving characteristics enabled by the air-suspension is most noticeable when you switch to Sport mode. The Q7 is no sports car, but it tightens in bends, with up to 30mm of lowered ride height, rear-wheel steer getting the back end in line and active anti-roll bars providing a stable platform to lean on the deep levels of grip. The steering in Sport mode becomes slightly weightier, too, although one issue is the hexagonal shape of the wheel itself. This means it can feel annoyingly clunky in bends while feeding it through your hands. It might make sense in a race car with very little steering lock, but on road cars it’s a design fad that simply doesn’t work.
The brakes, meanwhile, are phenomenal, with massive 400mm discs up front with six-piston calipers. Stopping power is a given considering their size, but the travel in the pedal is very well calibrated.
With the Q7’s new-found handling qualities (which bodes well for the sportier SQ7 variant), the uplift in power from the hybridised diesel is well matched to the chassis. In-gear performance is easily quick enough to make overtakes a breeze, and while the torque delivery is not as instant as you would find on an EV (as Audi claims) it never feels sluggish on the throttle, while the V6 sounds better at speed, too. The gearchanges are a bit more slack though; even in Sport mode they blur from one gear to the next.
You might think that with extra electrification the new Q7 would be far more economical than the old one. It pumps out less in the way of CO2 emissions than before at 202g/km compared to 217g/km, but the efficiency gains are marginal on paper at 36.6mpg, as opposed to 35.6mpg for the old 282bhp TDI V6.
In the real world we found those figures even closer still, as around town we were lucky to get over 30mpg, with stretches of motorway and B-road increasing this to the mid-30s. The recently facelifted Mercedes GLE in 286bhp 350d diesel form beats the Audi only slightly when it comes to efficiency and emissions, claiming 37.7mpg and 197g/km respectively.
If economy is super important to you, then it might be worth holding out for the Q7 plug-in hybrid. We know it’ll get the same system as the A6 PHEV, meaning a battery capacity of 25.8kWh and an electric range of around 60 miles.
Jump inside the Q7 – which if you go for the mid-spec £88,965 Edition 1 or top-spec £101,665 Vorsprung requires you to use the annoyingly slow electrically opening doors – and you’ll find an interior that’s a clear evolution over that of the old car. It’s quite conservative compared to the BMW X5’s radical dash layout incorporating Panoramic iDrive, and more akin to the Mercedes GLE’s, especially with the three-screen layout, which sees two 12.3-inch displays flank a central 14.5-inch touchscreen.
Audi’s own infotainment system is one of the better ones on the market, with a clear view of key information readily available and rapid response times between various menus and functions. We’re not sure if the loss of the dedicated climate control display from the old Q7 is a good thing, because the tab at the bottom of the touchscreen is a little more difficult to use while driving.
And initially, you might consider the single-panel steering wheel buttons and the weird positioning of the gear selector and indicators on small tabs behind the steering wheel to be ergonomic missteps. But after a day of driving, using them became second nature.
One of the test cars we looked around had a light beige leather and wood trim, which was reminiscent of Audi’s Chinese arm ‘AUDI’ and the lovely interior of its E7X SUV. It’s a shame this isn’t an option on UK-bound Q7s, as it breathes a bit of light into what is a drab interior – unless you go for the Edition 1 with its huge panoramic sunroof, or the Vorsprung which adds the option of cream-coloured seats.
Even with those features in mind, we’d still opt for the base level Q7 at present. It delivers a saving of over £6,000, but you get the same excellent engine and broadly the same chassis as with the other two models, plus brilliant build quality and seating for seven as standard. Be warned, though: despite the first and second row seats offering a huge amount of space, those in the third row are strictly for kids.
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| Model: | Audi Q7 TDI S line |
| Price: | £82,560 |
| Engine: | Turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 diesel mild-hybrid |
| Power/torque: | 295bhp/630Nm |
| Transmission: | Eight-speed automatic, four-wheel drive |
| 0-62mph: | 6.0 seconds |
| Top speed: | 146mph |
| Economy: | 36.6mpg |
| CO2: | 202g/km |
| Size (L/W/H): | 5,056/2,205/1,757mm |
| On sale: | Now |
