Published:
26 April 2012You might expect a full size SUV to have an interior designed with all the chunky, hairy chested style its genre suggests. But you have to remember that this an Audi first and everything else a somewhat distant second, so in fact what you get is a cabin reminiscent of any other expensive Audi, albeit somewhat further from the ground.
Not that we quibble with this. We know the car’s intended role in life has nothing whatever to go with battling its way through jungles or across the Russian Steppes but instead carrying all the apparatus of family life while keeping the owner sane and satisfied. And this the Q7 does to Audi’s usual and usually phenomenally high standards.
Indeed you could argue it’s even better at keeping its occupants happy because it comes with that most commanding of driving positions, one you’d need a Range Rover to comfortably best. The quality of the controls, common sense of their distribution and the ease with which they operate place the Q7 on a level above the Mercedes GL and at least on a par with the very latest BMW X5.
And of course there is space aplenty. It would be very odd in a car of such mammoth proportions were there not. Even so, this is a very comfortable for five but a less capable seven seater. Those rear seats are mounted quite high so at least the children they carry will have a clear view out, but head room is quite limited and leg room especially so.
Access is not the easiest either. And while the boot is big enough with the third row seats folded, the loading lip is very high which means hauling heavy items aboard will often require two people where otherwise one may have sufficed.
