Styling
Amazingly, the third-gen Q7 has done something unusual in the modern automotive world: it hasn't grown in size. Well, not in terms of length, at least. At 5,056mm from tip to tail, the newbie is about 11mm shorter than the Mk2 it replaces. Although we might be misleading you to a degree here, as the new Audi is wider (+40mm), taller (+66mm) and possessed of a longer wheelbase at 3,002mm (+8mm).
The thing is, the Mk3 is not exactly what we'd call a looker. It's essentially just an oversized
Q3 or
Q6 e-tron, and we don't think either of those two Audis are easy on the eye themselves. With that chunky, lantern-jawed chin, squinting lights, ginormous Singleframe grille (the one on the Q7 can now illuminate at night - joy) and the large, slabby flanks, this SUV looks like a hefty old brute. It also has a pronounced front overhang when viewed in profile, so it's certainly no supermodel.
To counterbalance its intimidating physical presence, Audi does offer the Q7 on 20- to 23-inch alloys, which at lease ensure no variant has the unfortunate affliction of appearing to be drastically under-wheeled.
Interior
Audi's portfolio-wide build quality has, in recent years, perhaps not been of the usual stratospheric levels we'd expect of this company when it comes to interior material finishing, but the Q7 is a return to form. The textures and surfaces used in the SUV are all wonderful, and they feels as solidly put-together as you could possibly wish for.
That said, some of the marque's fabled ergonomic know-how has been eroded because the Q7 comes with three giant digital screens as its standard interface on all models, a move which has done away with almost all physical switchgear, including a separate and dedicated panel of climate controls. It is also benighted with that convoluted carbuncle of a left-hand column 'stalk' which we first saw in the Q3, and we didn't much care for it there, either. All just to visually balance out a column-mounted shifter on the right of the wheel, as well.
But the 11.9-inch Audi Virtual Cockpit Plus cluster, the 14.5-inch MMI Navigation Plus with MMI touch infotainment system, and the 12.3-inch MMI Front Passenger Display all work stupendously well, with ultra-crisp graphics and snappy response rates. You can even upgrade the tech from there with items like powered doors (these are, in truth, a bit annoying and flaky in operation, although some people will think they're amazing), an opacifying panoramic sunroof, a meaty head-up display for the driver, and a stonking 22-speaker Bang & Olufsen Premium Sound system that has bass actuators in the front seats that pulse in time to the rhythm of the music. Yup, the Q7 can be a proper technofest if you wish it to be.
Practicality
For a physically large car on the outside, and considering its three-metre-plus wheelbase, the sixth and seventh seats in the Audi Q7 Mk3 remain bijou, rather than bounteous. Our driving companion, who was five-foot-six, sat back there for a while and she wasn't exactly blessed with a surfeit of comfortable kneeroom.
You can configure the Audi's cabin layout just how you want it using the electrically powered seats in all seven positions. This is clearly a premium-tilting ruse by the German firm and we understand why it has gone with motorised chairs, but when you're waiting for them to slowly slide forward and then tilt their seatbacks at the press of a button, you can't help thinking how much quicker the whole process would be if you could only adjust the sodding things manually.
Still, passenger space in the middle of the Q7 is cavernous so if you're using it as a five-seater, with the third row folded down, there should be no room-related complaints from your passengers. You also get a 722-litre boot in such an arrangement, rising to a goliath 1,980 litres with all five of the Audi's rearwards passenger seats folded away.
The Q7 is practical in other ways, too, such as having six Isofix positions to help destress frazzled parents, and boasting a towing capacity of the maximum 3.5 tonnes, and offering lots of interior storage solutions and cubbies, plus a good spread of USB sockets, to ensure it helps take as much of the sting as possible out of family motoring.
Performance
In 2015, the Mk2 Audi Q7 initially arrived with a 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6, first landing with 272hp and 600Nm, with a lesser 218hp/500Nm variant following on soon after. Fast forward 110 per cent of a decade, and the Mk3 Q7 is launching with... a 3.0-litre turbodiesel V6, either with 299hp/630Nm or 245hp/500Nm. Oh. Right. Could anyone tell us where the last 11 years have got to, please? We seem to have blacked out and missed a sizeable chunk of history.
No matter; Audi has at least added mild-hybrid technology to the Mk3, so, y'know... there's
that. But while those whopping increases of 27hp and 30Nm must surely make the 2026 Q7 so much quicker than its forefather, there's been a whopping increase elsewhere. In 2015, a turbo-dee seven-seat Audi SUV weighed 2,060kg. Here in the mid-2020s? It's bang on 2.5 tonnes, a bloating of no less than 440 kilos. Yikes.
However, we're not actually complaining about this seeming continuation of the Q7's technical status quo. To be driving a barrel-chested, big-hearted V6 diesel in this day and age is, if anything, actually quite refreshing and pleasant. Aided and abetted by a super-slick eight-speed Tiptronic auto, driving all through wheels through (natch) Audi's quattro technology, the Q7 surfs about on its low-range, electrically assisted torque (it has one of those EPC 'turbos' in it to eliminate turbo lag) in an effortless, reassuringly progressive fashion that makes it feel muscular and edifying in equal measure. Helps that, here in the UK, we're only getting the higher-powered 299hp model anyway; the 245hp variant is not for these shores.
The problem, though, is that the Q7 TDI feels about as quick on partial throttle openings in and around town as it does when you flatten the hammer out on the open road. There's a strange calibration of the power delivery that serves to make the SUV feel a tad undernourished once the tacho needle swings past about 2,500rpm. Don't get us wrong, the 3.0-litre lump remains velvet smooth out to its understandably modest redline, but there's no great surge of acceleration to be found after the initial hints from the Audi's drivetrain that it is going to have flexibility in spades. In the end, it doesn't, and you can probably blame that 2,500kg kerb weight for blunting the Q7's sensation of speed at anything above about 80km/h.
There's another issue, too, and that's fuel consumption. We did a 40-mile loop in the Q7 TDI and while there was some chugging up hill and loafing back down dale (except we were in the Alps, and we don't think either the French or the Swiss refer to their mountainous terrain as 'The Dales'), it was a generally easy-going route. We also weren't mercilessly thrashing the thing all the way around, either, so an indicated 13.8 litres/100km is somewhat alarming as it works out at the SUV galumphing down its derv at a rate of 20.5mpg. Yikes again.
Ride & Handling
The great news here is that every third-gen Q7 in the UK comes on air suspension as standard. This is a fully adaptive system and it is teamed to four-wheel steering, to hopefully give the Audi as much rolling comfort and surprising agility as is possible.
Well, this decision has undoubtedly worked on the refinement front. The Q7 is a delight to travel in, no matter what size alloy wheels it is on nor in what state the tarmac underneath its tyres happens to be. The Audi SUV simply oozes along any and all roads with a tautly controlled yet supple gait, never letting its considerable unsprung mass at all corners permeate into the passenger compartment through the medium of crashes and bangs in the wake of road compressions. It is, to quote that oh-so-up-to-date musical act Sade, a smooth operator.
It's not quite so unremittingly impressive for roadholding, but considering its mass and stature the Q7 TDI also isn't bad in this regard. The main two facets holding it back from greatness are a chassis which is resolutely foursquare and inert, reluctant to give any sense that it might be cajoled into anything even approaching playfuness, and steering which is the absolute epitome of 'something and nothing'. You kind of can't fault it, because it's light, accurate and consistent. But you also won't revel in a single detail about it, because the set-up lacks any sort of nuance or informativeness whatsoever.
Yet those steering rear wheels do bring a sense of nimbleness in the corners to the Q7's driving experience that you might not envisage if focusing too much on this being a 2.5-tonne, five-metre-long SUV, while the brakes are strong and beautifully judged as well - so the Audi can mask its weight rather effectively, if it needs to. The adaptive air suspension also does a fine job of keeping the Q7's body in check through the twistier bits, so the outcome is that if you need to hustle the Audi along and maintain as much of the hard-won pace you've built up on the straights while you're traversing the curves, then the German chariot won't go all to pot in such circumstances. But it'll be rare the Q7 ever manages to put an indelible smile on its driver's face, that's for certain.
Value
As at the time of writing, just the 299hp TDI MHEV powertrain with Tiptronic and quattro is offered in the UK Audi Q7 range, with three specifications of S line (£81,665), Edition 1 (£88,965) and Vorsprung (£101,665). Not cheap, any of those (especially not that eye-widening Vorsprung), but there is a lot of kit on every single version of the Q7 - with even an S line coming with 20-inch wheels, Matrix LED headlights, three-zone climate control, heated front seats, a ten-speaker audio array, twin 25-watt wireless smartphone chargers, adaptive cruise and a whole roster of ADAS gear, on top of the three screens we mentioned earlier and much, much more besides. You can also see that, if this is where the Q7 is positioned, the impending Q9 is going to be one meaty mutha when it comes to list prices.
What we're not entirely clear on is how Audi will flesh out the Q7 range from hereon in, to bolster the diesel's case. A plug-in-hybrid derivative has already been verbally confirmed by Audi's reps, although we're not sure how it will compare to the
Mk2 PHEV at this stage. And we'd also be delighted to see a return of the monster SQ7 flagship, but whether that would be as the
outrageous TDI it was originally or in some variation of its
later, charismatic V8 TFSI petrol, we don't know.
Verdict
A typically assured, if a little safe, showing from the new Audi Q7 ensures that it will immediately become a desirable object in the seven-seat premium SUV arena. It's not without its flaws, such as questionable exterior styling, cramped seating in row three, a forgettable chassis tune, the surprising lack of oomph of its EPC-enabled MHEV system and also the sheer expense of some of the higher-spec models. But exceptional ride comfort and rolling refinement, a top-notch interior and the innate charm of a V6 turbodiesel powerplant, in an era when such a thing is normally frowned upon, cannot be ignored. As long as you don't mind its Desperate Dan face and you've got deep pockets, you ought to be giving the Mk3 Q7 serious consideration if you're in the market for this kind of upmarket, family conveyance.
