The Audi Q7 is a great highway car, and when it comes to India’s brand new highways, it eats miles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, writes Kushan Mitra
It is one thing to drive a car on the smooth lovely Alpine roads of southern Switzerland, but another to take that same car down an Indian highway. When I drove the new Audi Q7 in Europe, it was utterly brilliant.
The new car, which definitely looks far less aggressive and muscular than the car it replaces, feels far more planted on the road, far steadier and could handle the lovely switchbacks on the climb up to Verbier. Not something you would expect a big bruiser such as the Audi Q7 to do. But as we mentioned about the looks, this car is like a heavyweight boxer in a slim-fit tuxedo. It has even reduced a bit of its dimensions.
As it is the second-generation, Q7 has lost a lot of weight, thanks to more aluminium being used in the body, and feels far more refined than the previous generation car. Yet, it also seems to have lost some of that brutish charm that it previously had. And that feels apparent on the highway, where despite its size, it lacks the imposing nature of the previous generation car. Not that people do not move out of the way of this Q7 when they see one approaching at a massive rate of knots.
The Q7 will mainly be bought by people with an oversized sense of importance and driven to places where they should not be driven — Delhi’s Khan Market for example. However, it is on the highway, loaded up that the Q7 actually shines. The brilliant new highways that Nitin Gadkari promised us are actually being delivered, and the Q7 is a treat to drive on these fabulous roads. For one, like the old car, it has a lot of space. Unfortunately, the spare tyre takes up almost a third of the luggage space. Unlike BMW India, Audi has not decided to trust ‘run-flat’ tyres as customer experience with them has been really poor. In Europe and America, all these cars now have modern tyres that remove the need for an underfloor spare, but in India, buyers burned by the first generation of run-flats are demanding a spare and Audi India is giving them one.
Yet, given that the boot is the size of a small house, there is still more than enough space for a few large suitcases and more. The spare will have to removed, which requires a few minutes of manual labour, if one wants to access the two seats of the third row though. So despite the weight and size loss, the car is still huge inside. And quite comfortable too, both in the first and second row. One could easily fall asleep in the back and not feel a thing. The brilliant sound system makes the car sound like being inside a concert hall. And the air-conditioningIJ Well, in 40 degree heat, it chills the car in no time.
As for the driving experience, this refined beast is wonderful. It can build up speed fairly quickly but will change direction rapidly when instructed. Few Q7s will ever go off the road in India, but the air suspension is soft and the car will raise itself when it finds itself in difficult terrain. In fact, the hill climbing and descent qualities of the Q7 are surprisingly good if you ever find a need for them.
However, with the Supreme Court’s current ban on diesel cars with engines greater than 2,000cc being registered in Delhi, the sad fact is that you can’t have one if you live in the Capital right now. It is a pity, really, because this is a class-leading vehicle, and at Rs72-77.5 lakh ex-showroom price, it is extremely good value for its size as well.