Refreshed technology and styling for the latest version of Audi’s luxury SUV On sale March Price from £66,605
Stuart Milne stuart.milne@haymarket.com
AGE IS JUST a number. Despite the fact that the current Audi Q7 was launched nine years ago, it remains one of our favourite luxury SUVs – and one of the best seven-seaters you can buy.
Still, Audi is bringing out a few changes to help the Q7 stay fresh among luxury SUV rivals such as the BMW X5, Land Rover Discovery and Volvo XC90, and it’s the car’s tech that – quite literally – comes under the spotlight.
You see, laser lighting technology is set to come as standard on high-spec Q7 Vorsprung models. The high-power lighting activates when the car exceeds 43.5mph, and, according to Audi, significantly increases the headlights’ main-beam range. Drivers will even be able to select different light signatures to customise the night-time look of their car.
This tech is in addition to Audi’s more familiar Matrix LED headlights, which will be fitted as standard across the Q7 range. These use 24 LEDs and beam-shaping technology to illuminate the road ahead brightly without dazzling other road users.
The revised luxury SUV will trip the light fantastic at the rear, too, with a proximity detection feature that can activate all of the car’s LED rear lights when a vehicle approaches a stationary Q7.
It’s not just the beams that have been changed; the updated Q7’s headlights themselves have been repositioned, as part of a range of front-end changes. The grille design is new, and some of the more fussy detailing of today’s model has been done away with. The sporty S line trim now brings more of a resemblance to the Audi SQ7 sports SUV, with new air intakes in the bumper. The SQ7 itself has a redesigned front bumper, larger air intakes and black trim pieces.
New paint finishes, including Ascari Blue, Chilli Red and Sakhir Gold have been added, alongside new alloy wheel designs available in sizes of up to 22in.
While the interior has barely changed as part of the revisions, the Q7’s infotainment system will gain the ability to use third-party apps such as Spotify and Amazon Music directly, rather than via connectivity platforms such as Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. More apps are promised in due course. Meanwhile, the Virtual Cockpit digital instrument display has been tweaked to display lane change warning, junction assistance and traffic light information, all in HD resolution.
Three main
