Good. Very good. But maybe not $70,000 good  by Keith Buglewicz

Audi Q7 – Review: Luxury vehicles are sometimes a lesson in diminishing returns. Any car, be it an econobox or a Bugatti Veyron, can get you from A to B. Luxury cars are supposed to do it with an amount of flair, style, performance and sophistication that matches their price. The Audi Q7 has the panache factor, with a 4.2-liter V8 engine, lavish interior loaded with features, and styling with a definite punch, and it certainly has the luxury price: Our loaded test car came out to around $68,500. That’s where the diminishing returns come in. We recently drove an Acura MDX with a sticker price that was about $48,500, and during our time in the Q7 we couldn’t figure out why this Audi was supposed to be $20,000 better than the Acura.

The Q7 shares the Volkswagen Touareg platform, its wheelbase stretched 5.8 inches for a third row of seats. Our Q7 4.2 Premium’s base sticker of $60,710 – with the $720 destination charge – included the 4.2-liter V8 engine and six-speed Tiptronic automatic, a DVD navigation system with Audi’s Multi Media Interface (MMI), and luxury necessities such as eight-way power and heated front seats, a power tailgate, leather upholstery and electric tilt/telescopic steering wheel. The S Line package on our car included 20-inch wheels, a three-spoke steering wheel, S Line-specific grille, aluminum interior trim and S Line badges. The air suspension was $2600, and adaptive cruise control added $2,100. The $550 towing package and the $500 Audi Side Assist – a blind-spot aid – brought the total to $68,520.

The 4.2-liter V8 engine under the Q7’s hood sings out 350 horsepower and 325 lb.-ft. of torque. It sounds good on paper, but while the engine is willing the flesh is portly: Tony Robbins would have trouble motivating the Q7’s whopping 5,467 pounds. The feeling of gutlessness is exacerbated by the V8’s lack of low-rev torque. It springs to life in the upper 2500 rpm, and that’s where you want to keep it if you’re driving aggressively, but fuel economy goes out the window: we got a lousy 11.6 mpg. The Tiptronic automatic helps, with quick downshifts in automatic mode, but we were disappointed with its manual mode. It upshifted at redline, and it doesn’t match revs on downshifts.

We may have our complaints with the powertrain, but not the handling. It drives like an Audi should, albeit a very heavy one: You feel the bulk in quick transitions as the steering works to move the mass from one direction to the other. Otherwise there’s easily controllable understeer at the limit, excellent brakes and the surefootedness of quattro. The air suspension’s off-road mode lifts the Q7 9.4 inches above the ground, providing ample ground clearance for light-to-medium duty excursions; if you don’t need a low range, the Q7 can likely handle it. When you’re on the road, the comfort setting smooths out bumps, but Audi’s impeccable road manners squashes any hint of float or wander.

The Q7 boasts a big, airy greenhouse, with thin pillars and oversize outside mirrors that make maneuvering simple. That is, if you’re by yourself and have all the headrests folded. With the headrests up, rearward visibility vanishes, and if you have people or child seats in the third row, you can basically ignore your rear view mirror. Audi’s Side Assist blind spot helper is redundant: Every time it warned us about a vehicle, it was easily visible in the big side mirrors. In front, the hood slopes away quickly for easy parking and off-road maneuvers. When reversing, the MMI screen shows the world behind, along with an on-screen indicator that shows where the car will go as you turn the wheel.

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