Audi Q7 e-tron 2018 Review

Irrespective of your views on politics, you have to feel for the leader of a party when they lose the support of their colleagues, often despite good intentions.

In a way, Audi’s Q7 e-tron has had to endure its own Malcolm Turnbull treatment in Australia (or Kevin Rudd, or Tony Abbott, or…. the list goes on) – albeit without the back-stabbing element.

Here we have a vehicle that has been available internationally since 2015, and was first slated for arrival in Australia in 2016. It missed that original deadline by a long shot, but finally, the Audi Q7 e-tron plug-in hybrid is available in Australia.

Not that you’d really know it. Audi Australia is not outwardly promoting its high-riding eco warrior SUV flagship. As such, there will be no national tours cosseting babies or reading books at primary schools.

Audi’s resistance may have something to do with the fact it is about to launch a sparkling new, all-electric SUV known simply as the e-tron. That model is due to be premiered in Europe in September, before a slated Australian arrival of 2019.

It could also centre on reasoning the Audi Q7 e-tron is not the only hybrid vehicle in its segment, with the likes of the BMW X5 40e ($119,900), Mercedes-Benz GLE 500e Hybrid ($129,500) and Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid ($145,500) delivering similar functionality. None of those cars have particularly set the world on fire from a sales perspective, perhaps Audi would rather spare its advertising budget for something else?

Regardless, we saw it fit to get behind the wheel of the lesser-promoted Audi Q7 e-tron, spending two weeks and 1600km at the wheel. And while it isn’t without flaw, its diesel-hybrid formula holds a lot of merit for the Australian market – perhaps more so than its incoming, all-electric replacement.

The thinking behind the Audi Q7 e-tron is that it combines the nippy efficiency of an electric car in the city with the long frugal legs of a diesel in the country.

It will likewise charge owners the equivalent of purchasing both cars, thanks to a sticker price of $139,000 (plus on-road costs), a $33,000 premium on the regular Q7 diesel on which it is based.

We’ll go more into specifics further down, but the standard suite of equipment is extensive.

The nuts and bolts of the Audi Q7 e-tron are, however, thus: a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6 good for 190kW/600Nm, and an electric motor boasting 94kW/350Nm, drawing power from a 17.3kWh lithium-ion battery pack.

All told, the combination of diesel and electric power equates to 275kW and 700Nm, with drive shuffled to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Hypothetically, the Audi Q7 e-tron can generate 56km worth of battery-only range and a total claimed range of nearly 1000km. The official fuel reading (undertaken in a laboratory) reads 1.9L/100km – not totally unachievable but highly dependent on electric charge.

Performance figures, on paper, are likewise impressive. Drawing on electric power for instant initial shove, the Q7 e-tron clips the 0-100km/h ticket in 6.2sec. This is despite the fact it weighs in at 2.5 tonnes.

In EV mode, the Q7 e-tron has a maximum speed of 135km/h. The batteries take around 10 hours to recharge fully when plugged into a normal 10amp wall socket, or approximately three hours using a 400-volt/16-amp fast-charge setup.

In a 1600km road test that encompassed city driving, a long-range trip to the snow and up to four passengers at one time, we averaged 6.6L/100km. For the sake of transparency, the electric usage averaged 6.6kWh/100km and the average pace was 69km/h.

But the car’s efficiency is purely academic. On a highway run to Sydney on a full complement of charge, for instance, the Q7 e-tron managed to produce 42.6km worth of electric range with no great effort – we ran the air-conditioning and seat warmers and simply made use of the drivetrain’s coasting mode (decoupling engine/electric motor and gearbox during coasting scenarios). On this same 100km journey, which coincided with peak hour traffic in the city, the Q7 e-tron managed 3.2L/100km at an average speed of 83km/h.

Wrapping the Audi Q7 e-ton’s clever drivetrain is an interior and exterior that feels relatively… unremarkable. And that’s just fine.

The Q7 e-tron foregoes the regular electric car treatment of futuristic and sometimes unnecessary embellishments for a package that is tastefully put together – in expected Audi fashion.

Outside Audi denotes the car’s status with a handful of subtle badges that flank the tailgate and lower door panels. The fitment of thick-walled, eco-friendly tyres wrapping 19-inch wheels are another pointer.

Inside, the e-tron blends the regular Teutonic yet practical flavour of the regular Q7 with its high-tech underpinnings.

The digital driver instrument cluster (marketed as Virtual Cockpit by Audi) projects all the necessary information clearly and concisely, including all the necessary green information. It’s a brilliant system, allowing the driver to concentrate on the road ahead.

Audi’s MMI interface, which uses a centrally-mounted rotary dial to navigate key functions on the car’s 8.3-inch colour screen, is not as streamlined in terms of navigating menus, but works well nonetheless.

There is adequate storage throughout the cabin, including deep, voluminous door pockets and a strong array of open and closed-spaced cubbies and compartments up front.

Space is also commendable across the first two rows of seating, offering excellent shoulder, leg and headroom and reflecting the car’s 5.05-metre length. The rear seat backs fold down to liberate up to 1835 litres worth of luggage space, along with a completely flat floor.

The car has a feeling of solidarity about it, with consistent shut lines and quality materials. The exception on our car was a driver’s door that seemed to constantly require a second, firm shut in order to close properly.

Where the e-tron begins to lose merit is in the boot. In order to accommodate the car’s batteries under the floor, Audi has ditched to sixth and seventh seats altogether – making the e-tron a five-seat proposition only.

Similarly, overall boot space has shrunk by 150 litres and the diesel tank measures 75 litres, 10 litres less than the donor car. And there is no spare tyre.

What the Q7 e-tron does get is plenty of kit. Standard equipment includes quattro all-wheel drive, adjustable air suspension, LED headlights with dynamic LED indicators at the rear, heated front seats, and a 180-Watt sound system.

Convenience technology includes an 8.3-inch high-mount infotainment screen running Google Earth mapping overlays (and Google search functionality) with live traffic flow, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, not to mention the virtual cockpit.

Audi Australia has specified the vehicle with all the usual safety goodies, from autonomous driving aids, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection at up to 85km/h, to adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist. The car has a blind spot detection system and will steer itself to maintain its position within a lane. It also has a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Things like parking proximity sensors and a rear-view camera make parking easier, and an exit warning system will alert occupants not to open the doors when vehicles or even cyclists are approaching from behind.

In EV mode, the Audi Q7 e-tron is almost silent in operation. But there are few other tell-tale traits that it is a hybrid; the brake response is strong and avoids the wooden feel of some rivalling units, and throttle pick-up is linear and predictable.

Despite the intervention of batteries and electric motors, the e-tron adheres to all the important dynamic principles of the regular Q7, offering a finessed and tractable power curve that will happily take on more urgency when the occasion calls.

The full-size luxury SUV has a number of fuel-saving tricks up its sleeve too, including an ability to heat the cabin by leeching the excess thermal energy generated by the electric motor. It has also got a ‘Predictive Efficiency Assistant’, which helps reduce fuel consumption by as much as 10 per cent by using navigation route data to alert the driver to oncoming situations in which it might be reasonable to slow up, such as roadworks.

Unlike the smaller A3 e-tron, which can use the engine to charge its batteries on the run, the Q7 e-tron relies on regenerative braking only. Even so, on one steep descent, it produced an additional 4km worth of range.

When the diesel engine inevitably chimes in, it only bolsters the experiencing, with a smooth and accessible power curve that will happily take on headier driving when you opt for Dynamic in the Drive select settings.

The rest of car will follow suit, too, albeit within the parameters of its weighty 2.5-tonne kerb mass. Indeed, hybrid Q7 feels its additional 385kg worth of batteries et al through faster corners, particularly during quick directional changes. But it is not a car that is easily flustered despite its size; well-weighted steering, admirable levels of body control and a clever all-wheel drive system put paid to that.

On the open road, the Q7 e-tron is a pure delight. It blends quiet cabin acoustics with a pillowy soft ride and air suspension that follows the contours of the road gracefully.

Our circa eight-hour round trip to the snowfields was one made in executive comfort and safety, with excellent outward vision and a surefootedness on slippery surfaces. Parked up in the snowfields for a day, the battery did not lose any charge, either.

Bottom line is the Audi Q7 e-tron is a convincing and proven alternative to the regular SUV set.

For what it compromises in seating capacity and additional cost outlay, it makes a hell of a statement as a functional, eco-friendly high-rider. Internal politicking and all…

2018 Audi Q7 e-tron pricing and specifications:
Price: $139,000 (plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre V6 turbo-diesel/electric motor
Output: 275kW/700Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 1.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 49g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: Five-star ANCAP