I love Audis. I love the way they look, I love the way they drive and I love the sound of their 4.2 V8 engine. But the Q7 is a bit of an odd duck to me in the Audi line-up. I'm used to their sporty, luxurious cars, not this brute of an SUV. That beautiful 4.2 V8 brings many of Audis cars to life but that V8's punch is sapped by the extra bulk of the Q7...
Yes, I'm complaining how smooth it is! It doesn't down shift as quickly as I'd like it or react as quickly as I'd like it to. Instead, I felt the transmission would prefer to deftly shift to maintain a superbly comfortable ride even if that meant slowing the reaction to my throttle input. I prefer a more lively driving experience. To relieve this boredom, I placed the shifter into "S" and I heard that beautiful melody of 350 horses racing up and down the freeways the entire time.
However, with that beast of a V8 unleashed by the sporty shift programming, the ride became more jerky and rough as it hung in low gears and downshifted more aggressively. I couldn't find a happy middle ground. Either I had to be frustrated with its lack of response or rocked by its wild bucking bronco or a ride.
Scott Jacobs, Senior Photographer
mrnewsguy says:
11:52 AM, 04/ 9/07
Alas, it seems the "S" stands for "sport" ... and not "Scott."
:-)
redliner says:
01:23 PM, 04/ 9/07
It's still better than BMW iDrive and its 3million possible settings for everything. Not to mention the 10 min it will take you to go to the sporty settings, especialy on cars like the M6