New Audi Q7 India review, test drive

Moving along

One of the highlights of the Q7 has got to be how easy it is to drive in traffic – rush hour in Pune felt surprisingly serene at the helm of the Q7. Visibility is great so you are not always fretting about where to place it, there’s a 360-degree camera for times when you are and there’s even Park Assist that will automatically steer the Q7 into a sizeable enough parking. Set to ‘Comfort’, the steering also feels nice and light. There are as many as six settings for the standard air suspension too but we did find ourselves shuffling between the options more than needed; there seems to be no way to completely arrest the body’s constant, if minute, up and down motion. The thing is the Q7 tends to get caught out by imperfections on our roads quite frequently and that’s a shame. Even on smooth stretches, the Q7 wallows and feels softer than it rightfully should. At highway speeds, you’ll be best off with the suspension set to ‘Dynamic’ rather than ‘Comfort’. Doing so, reduces, if not eliminates, the vertical movement. Still, straightline stability is brilliant which, along with the minimal engine, wind and road noise, allows the Q7 to mask speed incredibly well.

Gains have been made in dynamics too. On long sweeping corners, the steering offers reasonable feel though you’re always aware it’s artificially weighted. In tighter sections, the Q7 also feels generally readier to change direction, no doubt helped by the torque vectoring system on board. The Q7 is still not an engaging SUV to drive in the vein of the Porsche Cayenne or BMW X5 but typical buyers are unlikely to be too bothered.

Similarly, most owners will be happy with the knowledge that their Q7s can go off-road without ever needing to test its capabilities in the rough. Should traction ever become an issue, the Quattro system that typically splits torque 40:60 front to back, can allocate 70 percent of power to the front axle or 85 percent to the rear axle. Setting the suspension to ‘Off-Road’ also raises ride height by a handy 60mm and ground clearance to 235mm. In addition to these, there’s also the usual driver aids such as hill-start assist and hill descent control. And it always helps to know this is a Euro NCAP 5 star-rated car.