Test drive Audi Q7 2006 - 2009 SUV

Ace peak

Do not be surprised that the text material about the first international test drive of the first Audi SUV does not really correspond to the illustrative series. The fact is that the most interesting part of the test drive took place at the Bundeswehr training ground in Germany, and there, as on any military facility, certain restrictions on photography apply. Many journalists, after listening to the instructions that it is possible there, that it is impossible, did not even begin to combine the equipment - they say, it’s better to ride more. And there was a reason for this. Allowed angles are usually boring, but it’s always nice to ride.
 
Tighty day. The Bundeswehr training ground near Regensburg is an unimportant replacement for real off -road. This is not a Kubinka near Moscow where the tanks are getting stuck. Everything is cultural and clean. The road is a pretty decent forest primer. Or, perhaps, a gravel - this is not visible under a layer of ice and snow. The snow was piled shortly before our arrival. They rolled it tightly, then everything was fled, then froze - and as a result it turned out that it happens in Moscow in the morning of the first tin in the season (when the ice is already there, and there are still no anti -alter reagents on it). Figure skating on the Audi Q7, in principle, is possible if you turn off the stabilization system, but she is like a vigilant mother: it seems to be asleep, but she sees everything. It allows you to slightly gully, to set a little, to slip, but if he feels that pranks are about to leave the category of children's, interferes immediately-he strangles the agility on those wheels that are not needed at the moment. In most situations, this saves, and only three of a large group of journalists came out sideways - in the sense that when passing a steep turn, the car was carried sideways (naked ice that you want!) And it was not possible to pull it out with gas. All three took turns sideways to the resting column. In one turn, to the same column. The consultation on the analysis of flights decided that the drivers were simply slightly overdue at speed. There were no other excesses, no one celebrated the tin day anymore.
 
In general, Q7 on all types of road surface and on off -road moderate severity (in our case, in the snow above the ankles, but below the knee) behaves very confidently, unless, of course, the driver is very self -confident. The latest generation, which was tested on the RS4, through a self -locking differential, Torsen, regularly gives out a traction forward/back in a proportion of 40:60. Depending on the driving situation, the front wheels can be supplied from 15 to 65 percent of the traction, from 35 to 85. Since Torsen is pure mechanics (worm differential), it works instantly, no delay.
 
There were no anti -tank ditches, ranges and other engineering barriers at the Bundeswehr training ground (warriors there only on ice and on a snowfield learn, or what?). If they were there, adaptive pneumatic suspension Q7, raising the clearance to 240 mm, would hardly help. And on the available snowdrifts - very nothing. So, sometimes, so as not to struck a belly ...
Large liters. They say that if the main market of Audi Q7 had not been appointed North America, then the car would be made less and easier. And so we have more than five meters of length, three meters of the wheelbase, weight far over two tons and seven maximum possible seats. Who, but I like it. The large car is bad on the narrow streets of some Parisian, where, by the way, only five to seven years ago, contact parking went out of fashion. And we, as you know, who has more iron, is right. Is it the only thing? Let's calculate the luggage litting. If we take a seven-seater option, then with all the riders (the third row of seats-for people up to 160 cm of arbitrary complexion; this is for another 330 liter of cargo space for overdated fast food-already well. But most of us are unlikely to be needed by seven places, and this is taken into account by a powerful hurricane: the main option for Europe (and for Russia) declared five -seater. And here is a capacity record in its class: with the set of the second row, the luggage volume is 775 liters! Fold the rear seats and get 2035 liters of maximum cargo capacity. Go bad ...
 
In the usual European version of the Q7 in the second row - three seats with longitudinal adjustment (salary - 100 mm). But by order you can do two - increased comfort, with a folding armrest between the chairs under which there will be a large duffel compartment. Plus two cup holders. By the way, there can be six in all cup holders - this is not counting holders for one and a half liter bottles in door pockets.
 
Have you loaded? Everything that did not fit into the salon (well, my friend, you and a flea market) is in the trailer. Just die your towing ardor up to 3.5 tons - this is the maximum of what the machine is capable of dragging on the hook. With such possibilities, a car train stabilization system will be very superfluous for Q7. And she is here.
 
The Audi Q7 SUV is extremely richly charged. Here are just some points of the list of basic and optional equipment: adaptive air suspension that changes the clearance from 165 to 240 mm; automotive train stabilization system; course stability system; brake assistant; descent from a hill; adaptive cruise control; four-zone climate control; multimedia interface MMI; Panoramic hatch Open Sky; 20-inch wheels; Audi Side Assist shift assistant with a range of radars 50 m ...
Ains, Tswei - and expected. What Audi Q7 has little is engines. There will not be the motor diversity that is famous for the Volkswagen concern. Well, maybe someday they will add some particularly brutal dvigun to the gamut for a wretched steepness. (I hold a bet, you now thought about the V10 from the Lamborghini Gallardo - and thought it was asking him correctly. But it’s too early to talk about it.) To date, the Q7 motor gamut consists of two engines - gasoline and diesel. Both go with a 6-speed Tiptronic automatic machine.
 
On a test drive, I first sat on a diesel and ... and, as they say, got hooked on it. Yes, so that I did not want to get off. I liked this unit. The three-liter V-shaped TDI six with the latest generation Common Rail system (with piezoinjectors) produces 500 Nm of torque in the speed range of 1750-2750. Do I need to comment on these digits? What amazing, this engine is almost inaudible. We can say thanks to the sound insulation of the salon, but Audi employees claim that this engine itself is a quiet record holder in its class. I willingly believe.
 
However, an alternative gasoline 4.2V8 FSI with direct injection is also a guy is not a miss. It is he who, by the way, is declared as a top motor for Q7. And given the traditionally incredulous attitude of Russians to diesel engines (or rather, to diesel fuel), it could be argued that we would mainly take a gasoline version from us, if it were not for a truly crazy difference in basic prices. Diesel is cheaper than thirty thousand dollars! (This is because in the basic equipment it is significantly more modest than gasoline.) You will involuntarily think: maybe it will not choke on our diesel fuel? Gasoline is also not always good, but we somehow endure ...

Text Sergey Sorokin, photo Audi AG

WHAT'S IN A NAME...
The ideas embodied in the Audi Q7 serial car were originally tested at the Audi Pikes Peak concept, presented in 2003 at the Detroit car dealership. Over the three years of the way from the concept to the series, the car acquired a stylistic finished appearance and lost a loud name. The latter circumstance, I must say, pretty upset many fans of the brand - especially those who live in America and are not indifferent to motorsport. For them, the words Pikes Peak sound much nicer than giving the chancellery of the letter-cyphrae index Q7. Let's explain. In the USA, in the rocky mountains, on the territory of Colorado, there is a peak pike 4300 m high. A huge number of extreme lovers (climbers, mauntin bikers, paraglider, etc.), which are drawn up as a national park, are attracted to the terrain around it, among which Motorists occupy their separate niche - in particular, participants in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Race (21 km of the mountain track - 156 undeveloped turns). In the mid-80s of the last century, the Audi Motorsport team reigned at these races-three victories in a row! In 1985, Michelus Muton brought the victory (recall, this is the first woman-the champion of the world in rally), in 1986, Bobby Untzer was fixed by her success, and in 1987 Walter Rerle distinguished himself-by the way, he not only won The race, but also set a record for the passage of the highway (10: 47.85 min.). In memory of those victories, the concept of Audi Pikes Peak was named. It is a pity, but unlike the car, her name did not go into the series.

Audi Q7
 
Basin 4.2 V8 FSI diesel 3.0 V6 TDI
Working volume (cubic meter) 4163 2967
Power (L.S. at rpm) 350 at 6800 233 at 4000
Moment (Nm at rpm) 440 at 3500 500 at 1750-2750
The permanent drive is complete
Gearbox Automatic 6-speed Tiptronic
Length/width/height (mm) 5086/1983/1737
Wheel base (mm) 3002
Equipped mass (kg) 2240 2295
Acceleration to 100 km/h (c) 7.4 9.1
Maximum speed (km/h) 248 216
Fuel consumption (l/100 km) 13.6 10.5
The base price in Moscow ($) 107 673 76 965

 

Source: "Autopilot"