Hello! We have shortlisted the Audi Q7 as our new car. We are a family of 4 with 2 young kids. Car will be used for school runs, wknd trips to the mountains and regular trips to neighbouring countries ie long drives. We have driven on right hand wheel for 15 years and are taking some lessons to get to grips with left hand drive.

We def want a SUV as have will also have regular family visits and prefer a bigger car for travels. Wanted to know what ppl thought of the Audi Q7 and if ppl owned them and their experience.

I have found this forum very helpful so inputs will be much appreciated.

Rgds

I have a Q5 and it's very pleasant to drive. Plenty of safety options (parking camera, side assist, lane assist) have made me much more comfortable driving a large car.

However, I would be hesitant on going a size larger to the Q7. The Q5 is already a compact fit for many parking garages in Switzerland.

I say VW Touareg V10 but thats just because I am sold on it for life . Had many Audi's and although a solid machine there are always some issues with it (burning oil, leaks, turbo failures etc). If you can maintain it then go for it...It is the same platform as the VW Touareg...

A bit of history...Porsche's grand-son or grand-grand son designed the VW Touareg (the first model went way to early into production thats why it had so many issues in the first few years)..Well it went to early because the grandson went back to Porsche to design the Cayenne, then came the Audi Q7... In short it is all the same platform...

I found the Q7 really long - try parking it and see if it actually fits in your garage/parking space. I also didn't find the seat controls to get into the last row easy to use.

Us and other families of 4 we know have stayed with a smaller car and rent a 7 seater when family are over or rent a second car when family/friends visiting have more than 1 kid.

If you must go for a Chelsea tractor, then there is only one...

The biggest (only?) issue with the Q7 is width. With 198 cm it's exceptionally wide, even by SUV standards and many parking spaces here are rather narrow.

Whether you can live with that depends on your parking skills and usage pattern. Personally I would look for something not quite as wide such as a Q5.

My advice is to buy an Audi R8 and leave the kids at home.

Q5 is a better choice and better car. Do you need 7 seats?

we have a Q7. It is big, and parking spaces are small. Having said that, it is pretty manoeuvrable and ours has an excellent parking aid system with a little camera. I don't like to drive it too much in town, but my husband has no problems (make of that what you will)
It's a real workhorse of a car, with a very big boot when all the seats are down, with 7 seats up there's enough space for a couple of suitcases but not much more. 5 seats gives a good boot space, plenty for a family of 4. All seats are big enough for average sized adults to fit in and quite comfortable. For long distances it cruises along well enough and it is absolutely excellent in snowy mountains - I've managed to get through a meter of fresh snow in ours and it is very stable and non slippey when going over icey/slushy roads.
It is very ugly (I think), and probably looks like a bit of a brute when viewed through the rear view mirror of the car in front.
We took this car instead of a Merc, VW, Volvo because we needed full seats for all our kids and at the time the other options only had 'pop up' seats or were a bit narrow in the middle seat and this is uncomfortable on long journeys. We did consider a Landrover but thought that the maintenance cost might be more in the long run and the model at the time was even more ugly that the Q7.

If you need to have 7 seats, and 4WD, it's a good option. If I needed the extra seats just occasionally (for kids friends etc) then I think I would prefer something a little smaller and prettier.

Seriously? That's like taking lessons in sleeping on the other side of the bed.

It's not that tough. The Q7 only comes with an automatic transmission, so it's not even as though you'll be shifting with a different hand.

Been following with some trepidation as we have a Q7 on order. We have an A6 at the moment ( and were very happy with it) but we were offered a much better deal ( in addition to the Eurobonus ) l on the Q7 ( A6 is new model so was not ready to discount as much) . Certainly the parking thing is our main concern but as we do not drive into the city much we thought we would try a Chelsea Tractor for the first time.

It just isn't your parking skills that is a problem with wide cars. You park at the shops and someone parks too close next to you and you can't get into your car, let alone the kids, possibly a baby capsule and then the stroller around the car into the boot. I've had to put the baby capsule to the side of another car and tell my son to sit in his car seat unrestrained while I moved the car.

Most kids walk to school here. Are yours already at school? The kids may miss out socially and confidence wise, not so much practise in Swiss German, etc.

I like Audis generally, and have an S6. Even that is big, and I have a small car for town use and switch plates over. It is surprising how many places I park that the Audi just simply wouldn't fit. Perhaps you will need a little car as well?

Thanks everyone....I guess more to do with rules and concept of driving on the other side that we are taking lessons...

You're right and that's exactly why I mentioned the usage pattern as well. If I actually needed a Q7 due to the size of my family I would most certainly get a smaller second car for grocery runs and the like.

It's hardly likely to be their fault though, is it if you're driving such a brute of a vehicle?

Why not do what other 4x4 owners do and just park across two spaces?

The Q7 has the same platform as the old Touareg. The current Touareg is a new design (with worse offroad capabilities and lower weight/consumption).

Have you also taken the Mercedes GL or R into consideration?

We have a Q7 and I really don't like it - its really large but doesn't have that much room inside - we had a Discovery before and we could fit 3 car seats in the middle row and 2 adults in the back (if needed!) - that is impossible with the Q7 - you can fit 2 children in the back and there is no leg room so they have to be small ones (or else really flexible :-) ) You can't get 3 car seats in the middle seat either - not if you want to use the seat belts and still have use of your hands after trying to click them in

It is a pain to park in Zurich but the parking sensors help - but any large car is a pain - we had a defender (I do like the landies!!!) and it wouldn't go in to any garage as it was too tall (with the roof rack) - also had the turning circle of a tractor and wasn't good for long drives so while you can get loads in that wouldn't recommend that for town driving....

Anyway - Q7 is OK but I think the Disco is better for a 7 seater....

I just really wanted to say well done on this. A lot of people who do need a bit of help are too proud to admit that it IS a little different and that the rules can be very confusing when you just read them in theory.

As for the car - I'll twist Ockham a little and say that the best choice is "as big as necessary, as small as possible". Parking around here is built assuming that everyone drives a Golf or, if they have kids, an Audi A6. If you look up the norm for parking spaces, the ones you drive into at an angle do not need to be wider than 2.35, so if your car is already almost 2 metres wide, you are really going to struggle getting out, even if the next person has parked perfectly in the middle of their spot. Also, the bigger the car and the engine, the more you pay to run it because of the Abgasabgaben.

Go for the smaller one, my boss has one (he has two kids and they go skiing on the other side of the country almost every weekend, usually with the cat travelling along in her carrier), it's perfectly sufficient. Also - let your kids walk/cycle to school, it's how it's done here. Do the trip with them a few times to show them where they need to be particularly careful, insist the walk together with others - it'll be fine.

In Australia we had a Mazda CX9 - huge inside, proper good seven seats and beautiful to drive, as well as being nicer to look at than the Q7.. I see they are here in Siwtzerland as well. Might be an option for you to also consider? To solve the car size problem, we have the big 4X4 here for our family weekend mountain trips and I drive a Smart car during the week (which is also a good match to my parking skills) and never ever have any parking issues