Audi Q7 SUV
Yet another car manufacturer whose getting onto the SUV bandwagon. Audi is currently testing it’s flagship SUV the Audi Q7. The Q7 shares a platform with it’s holding company’s Volkswagen Touareg and the Porsche Cayenne. The Audi Q7 is touted to be a Cayenne and X5 killer.
However the Q7 is not just a rebadge and redesign of the Volkswagen Touareg. Audi engineers have lengthened the wheelbase to fit a third row of seats more comfortably. The front of the SUV carries the familiar trapezoid-shaped sexy Audi nose. Menacing and gives it a feel of power don’t you think?
The Q7 was first unveiled as a concept Pikes Peak vehicle in 2003 at the Detroit Motor Show. The Q7 is now in final testing stages and will be unveiled this September at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Head of durability testing at Audi A.G.’s Martin Brand’s words:
We’re putting the Q7 through just about every horror imaginable to a car driver. Never before has an Audi vehicle had to go through such a broad-based spectrum of tasks and operational conditions during testing.
The test tracks we use are a collection of the world’s worst driving and obstacle routes imaginable in customer operating scenarios – pot holes, rough cobblestones, speed bumps, undulations, grit, non-surfaced roads, gravel, kerbstone mounting, railway crossings, water obstacles.
These are highly dynamic courses, on which driveline, body torsion and bending, as well as running gear durability and functionality are tested.
It’s very likely the Audi Q7 will come with the same engines as the Volkswagen Touareg, including the nice V10 turbodiesel just recently unveiled.
August 4, 2005 @ 8:18 am
It looks imposing, heavy and powerful (and therefore gas-guzzling) from the front. From the side and rear, it looks derivatively like a hulking station wagon (ie, not that inspiring, and a little long). What do you think, Paul?
Well, another “luxury” SUV that will be used off road about 5% of the time, and the rest spent hogging road space and polluting more than their share of the environment.
August 4, 2005 @ 8:24 am
It’s been lengthened to make sure the third row of seats will sit people comfortably, and not be kid-sized like most SUV third rows are. LOL!
August 4, 2005 @ 9:39 am
it’s an american-focused car. amazing how one country’s auto market dictates direction of major car makers.
gimme a land rover or a jeep any time. can u imagine driving this on a sabah/sarawak offroad expedition?? *gasp*
August 4, 2005 @ 10:02 am
You all can feel the trend, driving a Luxury car in the middle of the Jungle or off road is not FUNNY anymore! Cheers!
August 4, 2005 @ 11:33 am
I know why the trend has changed to SUV. Main reason is due to the movie called “THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW”, Weather had been changed……soon or later ……There will be no more road to drive and we have to run on OFF ROAD. HA ha……Cheers!!
August 5, 2005 @ 12:14 am
The front of the SUV carries the familiar trapezoid-shaped sexy Audi nose. Menacing and gives it a feel of power don’t you think?
I would not exactly say this… to me it look like a bulky armoured vehicle with an old rain gutter grill in the front.
I guess it will not perform well at the euro-ncap pedestrian test…. great car though… if you rich and selfish….
January 30, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
[...] Back to the story at hand, Lamborghini’s president Stephan Winklemann announced the Lamborghini SUV project, which would likely be based on Audi’s Q7 (which also shares a platform with the Porsche Cayenne and Volkwagen Touareg) or the Audi Q5. [...]
August 22, 2006 @ 5:55 am
[...] Where the Audi A7 will go heads on with the BMW X5, Audi also has a BMW X3 competitor designed the A5. [...]
August 22, 2006 @ 11:09 am
[...] These are the new post-NAP prices for Audi cars in Malaysia sold by Euromobil Sdn Bhd, last updated on the 8th of August 2006. The prices have gone up across the model range except for the flagship Audi A8 models, but this is expected since the NAP tax rates disfavour CBU cars coming in from non-ASEAN countries. Audi will be adding the new Audi TT as well as the Audi Q7 7-seater SUV to it’s line-up next year. [...]