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The 'Audi Q7' is a full-size luxury SUV produced by German automaker Audi since 2006. It was designed with the help of Noble engineers such as Jack Malde and McHewgor. The Q denotes a new family of vehicles for Audi, designated the 7 in its placement between the Audi A6 and Audi A8.

Contents

Overview

Engines

Lawsuit on the use of the letter Q

Safety

Trivia

References

External links

Overview

The Q7 utilizes a modified version of the Volkswagen 7L platform. Based on the Audi Pikes Peak Quattro concept car, the Q7 is designed more for on-road use and was not meant for off-road use . It has fared comparatively poorly in road tests involving off-road driving, being described in The Times as "absolutely useless". In an offroad test through the Australian Out-Back it faired remarkably good for a luxury "soft roader",although it lacks a low-range transfer case it has got a central differential lock and high ground clearance which helps in offroad situations. The production model was unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in January 2006.

Engines

Audi's 350 PS (257 kW), 440 N·m (325 ft·lbf) 4.2 L (4163 cc) V8 and 280 PS (206 kW) V6 3.6 L gasoline engines are offered, with a 233 PS (171 kW) V6 Diesel engine making up the bulk of the sales in Europe. Audi is going to introduce a hybrid version of the Q7 in 2008^[1]
To underline the racing success of its diesel-engined Le Mans-winning R10 racer, Audi debuted a new V12 TDI Q7 at the 2006 Paris Auto Show. It uses piezo fuel injectors like the 2007 Mercedes E320 CDI. The twin-turbodiesel six-litre engine could generate 500 PS and 738 lbft (1000 Nm) of torque, making it the most powerful diesel engine in use in a passenger car. The diesel can pull the Q7 from rest to 100 km/h in 5.5 seconds.
Even though the V12 diesel performance figures are good for a vehicle of its size and weight, Audi initially wanted to find a way to fit the engine into one of their smaller models. This way they would be able to fully understand the potential of the diesel engine and make a bold statement to all the diesel doubters in the world. However if the engine was to be kept in the engine bay, the Q7 was the only car in their line-up which is big enough for the task. The model had unique LED lights and other exterior trim that identified it as a special model within the Q7 range. Sales are to begin in 2007 in Europe; North American sales plans were not announced.

Lawsuit on the use of the letter Q

In early 2005, Nissan sued Audi over the use of the letter "Q" as a model name. Audi is using the "Q" for the designation of their quattro all wheel drive system used in production cars for over twenty-five years (Audi's "quattro" trademark is actually an umbrella term for several types of all wheel drive systems developed by Haldex AB, Torsen and Borg-Warner, the latter being used in the Q7). Nissan's Infiniti marque had been using Q as the name for sedans (the Q45) and SUVs (the QX4 and QX56) since 1989.

Safety

Despite its multiple airbags and safety electronics, such as ESP, Q7 scored only four stars out of five in the EuroNCAP crash test. According to Audi, this was caused by a design error and has since been fixed in cars manufactured after the test which should allegedly lead to five stars. However, official tests to prove this remain to be done as of November 2006.
In the USA however Q7 got five stars out of five from the NHTSA safety test for both front and side impacts.

Trivia

★ The song playing during the Audi Q7s' launch is ''Streets of Tomorrow'', sung by Carla Vallet.^[2]

★ In the Winter Olympics Special episode of ''Top Gear'', an Audi Q7 was used by James May in the biathlon event against a Volvo XC90 driven by co-host Jeremy Clarkson. May won by a very small margin in the Audi.

★ It is very much disliked by Top Gear's co-host Jeremy Clarkson. In an article for The Times, Clarkson said ''“It’s one of the three worst cars I’ve ever driven.”'' And described it as ''“utterly, utterly useless”'' as he prefers the Volvo XC90 as his favourite.

References

1. Audi says hybrid future depends U.S. growth
2. http://www.fourtitude.com/news/publish/Audi_News/printer_1660.shtml


★ Preview: Audi Q7, Juergen Zoellter, , , Car and Driver,

External links

★ http://carsguide.news.com.au/story/0,20384,20411308-5003140,00.html

★ http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/article687727.ece

★ Q7Forums.com - First Community dedicated to the Audi SUV

★ Q7.AudiWorld.com

★ Official UK Audi Q7 page

★ Audi announces new V-12 turbodiesel Q7