Here it is… The long-awaited Audi Q7 review! So many people have asked for it and I finally got to test it with my family and put this luxury seven-seater SUV through our BabyDrive testing.
The Audi Q7 is a lovely looking seven-seater SUV and the model I tested was in this great colour, metallic galaxy blue, which showed it off at its best.
The interior is crisp and modern too which makes it a pleasure to be in and it's really enjoyable to drive because you are cocooned from the outside and it's a quiet and smooth drive. It does feel a little slow to accelerate from a start but once you are going it's quick and responsive and really grips the road.
When it comes to practicality for a family the Q7 it's a great start having top tether anchorages and ISOFix in all five rear seats! YIPPEEEE!!
This enables large families to fit child seats in all five rear seats or smaller families the flexibility of seating positions for child seats.
The second-row seats are three individual seats, which makes installing child seats easier and gives enough room for an adult to sit between two child seats in the second-row. The second-row seats fold flat and tumble forward individually so you only have to remove one child seat in order to access the third-row. If you don't need to have five child seats installed you can leave an outer second-row seat empty and use it as your access through to the third-row.
We could fit three child seats across the second-row seats. In the third-row I found it best to put booster seats as legroom is limited in the third-row, as is kick room for your feet. I found for me to sit back there the second-row need to be in it's furthest forward position and I'm only 162cm.
Storage throughout the Q7 is quite minimal. There are individual cup holders in the third-row and in the second-row the cupholders are in a fold down in the central seat back but they will only hold a 600ml bottle. I found a reusable and a disposable coffee cup wouldn't fit in them securely.
The door bins are more practical in both the front and rear doors and will hold a large refillable water bottle and an iPad fits too. If you remember such things, there are ashtrays in the rear doors. Old school! I remember them being in all car doors when I was a child but it's not often you still see them!
In the front the central console storage is minimal but the glove box is cavernous.
The boot is very practical, you can raise and lower its height with buttons on the inside of the boot, this is great for when you are lifting heavy prams or shopping in and out of the boot and for dogs jumping up and down too.
When you are only using five seats the boot of the Audi Q7 will hold seventeen shopping bags, that's comparable to the Land Rover Discovery and BMW X7 that will both hold 18 shopping bags. Double, tandem, twin and single prams all fit well in the boot underneath the roller blind with really good amounts of shopping too.
When you use all seven seats the boot space is impressive in the Audi Q7 and this is where it trumps some of its competitors by holding seven shopping bags.
With the third row in use, a single pram will even fit in the boot of the Audi Q7 alongside a couple of shopping bags or a small dog!
The interior of the Q7 is modern, with clean lines and the split media screen system, like in the Range Rover Velar, leaving a minimal dash because most of the buttons you would usually find on the dashboard are within the lower media screen. Like auto engine cut out and air conditioning controls for example.
The media system is nice and easy to navigate and use and it has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
You can control the rear air-conditioning from the media screen in the Audi Q7 which is really useful.
The reversing camera image is excellent quality, lovely crisp clear images and you have multiple views to choose from. You can mute the sensors on the screen too. There is also a rearview camera in the Audi Q7 that you can have on while driving, making rear visibility easier when you have five child seats in the back!
There's also a 3D camera option which allows you to view your car from the outside.
You can bring up your navigation in the whole screen in front of the steering wheel while driving which I found really handy when navigating to new places.
Unfortunately, the Audi Q7 doesn't have air vents in the third row and third-row access is a bit tricky especially as you have to remove a child seat in order to do so. Other than that it is a great seven-seater luxury SUV in terms of drive and functionality, with a great media and camera system.
I did find the doors of the Audi Q7 I tested rarely shut first time and you really had to slam them to get them to close, which did mean a lot of getting kids to open and shut their door multiple times to start a journey and of course this is baby-waking!
BabyDrive Indepth - Storage
How big is the boot of the Audi Q7?
The Audi Q7 has a big boot when using all seven seats and will hold seven shopping bags. That is the same as the BMW X7 and four more than the Land Rover Discovery which holds three.
If you remove a wheel then the Duet twin stroller fits in the boot even when using all seven seats with a couple of shopping bags.
A tandem pram fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when using all seven seats with one shopping bag behind it.
The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.
Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.
I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.
The single pram fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when using all seven seats if you remove one wheel, with two shopping bags beside it.
The Nano compact stroller fits, when using all seven seats, with six shopping bags beside it.
Or you could fit a small dog in there!
When using only five seats the boot is enormous and will fit seventeen shopping bags.
The Duet twin stroller fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when using five seats with nine shopping bags.
A tandem pram fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when only using five seats with nine shopping bags.
The single pram fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when using five seats with eleven shopping bags.
The Nano compact stroller fits in the boot of the Audi Q7 when using five seats with fifteen shopping bags.
The boot floor is flat and nicely carpeted all over which is good for an emergency nappy change and good for carrying dogs in the boot, a very large dog will fit in the boot of the Audi Q7 when you are only using five seats.
There is a netted storage area on one side of the boot and an indent on the other side, good for popping things in you don't want to roll around the boot.
You can raise and lower the height of the boot using the buttons on the left side of the boot. I love this feature! It makes it much easier to lift prams and heavy things in and out of the boot and makes it easier for dogs to jump up and down from the boot.
How good is storage inside the Audi Q7?
Storage in the cabin of the Audi Q7 is all quite minimal. There are two cup holders in the central console that will hold a re-usable or disposable coffee cup, with a 12V socket beside them too.
Behind them is a small central console storage box, it is felt-lined so nothing in there will rattle around and your sunglasses will not get scratched if you store them there. It has a wireless phone charging space and a place for your sunglasses because there is not a case in the ceiling.
There is no glasses case in the ceiling which was disappointing but there are lit vanity mirrors in both front visors.
The glove box is cavernous in the Audi Q7 and would easily hold my wallet and iPad with the manual.
There is a coin drawer by the driver's right knee too which I found great for leaving my phone or house keys in. The front door bins of the Audi Q7 will hold an iPad as well as a large refillable water bottle fitting easily.
The rear doors of the Audi Q7 have an old school ashtray in the arm and I had to explain to my daughter what they are for! The door bins in the rear doors are a practical size and will hold a large refillable water bottle.
There are net map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold but not conceal an iPad, tyre are two USB ports and a 12V socket in the back of the central console to allow rear passengers to charge devices.
There is a fold-down armrest in the central seat back with two very small cup holders. They will only hold a 600ml water bottle we found both a coffee cup or reusable water bottle wouldn't fit securely.
In the third-row seats of the Audi Q7, there are cup holders on both sides that are a good size to hold a reusable or disposable;e coffee cup and a large refillable water bottle fits in them too.
BabyDrive Indepth - Noise
How noisy is the Audi Q7?
The Audi Q7 is a lovely quiet BabyDrive, the drive is smooth and being a luxury SUV you are cocooned from a lot of the usual exterior noise and stimulation when driving.
The media system in the Audi Q7 is split across two screens, the same as in the Audi Q8 and Range Rover Velar. They contain the controls for most things that would usually be controlled by buttons and dials on the dashboard and central console, so I found the system quite simple and easy to navigate. The Q7 has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto too, which was great for easily connecting my phone.
The aircon, seat heating and cooling etc are all within the lower screen along with controls for the auto engine cut-out and lane departure warning etc. In most cars, you would normally find these as buttons on your dash so it does feel slicker and clutter-free.
The reversing camera image quality is excellent. It is crisp and clear and you can select between different camera angles as well as having a birds-eye view too. It is very easy to mute the parking sensors with a button on the bottom left of the screen.
The Audi Q7 has a 3D view camera so you can see the exterior of your car from all the way around. Good for controlling a big car in tight gaps!
In the central console of the Audi Q7, there is a camera button for turning the parking sensors on and off and for turning the camera on and off while you are driving. You can have the rearview camera display on the top screen whilst driving, which is great to give you better visibility when you have five child seats in the back.
The indicators are not too loud in the Audi Q7 and didn’t disturb my sleeping children.
The Sat-Nav is good in the Audi Q7 and is easily accessed in the main home screen…
…and then there is a fantastic clear image on the main media screen, as well as being able to bring up a visual in the screen in front of the driver which makes it so easy to follow while driving so you don't have to keep looking away from the road.
You can adjust the volume and mute the guidance voice with a button on the left-hand side on the main media screen map and within the media screen settings.
Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!
That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.
If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?
It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?
A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.
Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!
I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.
The windows of the Audi Q7 are nice and quiet to open and close however the doors of the Audi Q7 I tested did not seem to close properly. They are heavy and every time we closed them they wouldn't shut the first time and we'd have to open and close them at least once (sometimes more) to shut them properly and you have to make a loud slam to get them to shut. I longed for the soft close option from the Porsche Cayenne. Although I found I could come to a stop and get out with the engine running without sounding any baby-waking alarms the doors always failed me and the slamming woke the baby every time!
Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
So this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)
The Audi Q7 has a great BabyDrive feature for being able to lock the child locks on the rear doors independently. I love this because it meant when I travelled in the back I could just have the child lock on my daughter's side and I didn't have to wait to be let out of the car!! This gives you the flexibility if you have children of different ages in the back so teenagers are not locked in but little kids are for example.
The Audi Q7 is a really nice, quiet and smooth car to drive, you are cocooned from a lot of the exterior road and wind noise more than you are in most other cars, which makes it feel really luxurious in itself. The Audi Q7 grips the road so you feel secure on country roads and highways as well as around suburbia. As in most cars the sport mode was a harder ride and you can feel more of the bumps in the road but in comfort mode it was a smooth and cushioned experience more suitable for the little passengers.
There is a seatbelt removal visual and a red warning icon comes up in the screen in front of the steering wheel to let you know as seatbelt has been removed.
The driver display also clearly tells you your distance to empty which is another great BabyDrive feature.
The distance to empty display becomes extra important as a mum because getting fuel with a baby is a whole new world of difficult. If they are screaming in the car you definitely do not want your journey prolonged with a fuel stop! If they are asleep the turning off of the engine, doors opening and locking and unlocking, then re-opening the doors and closing, starting the engine again, beepers going off because you haven’t got your seatbelt on when you start the car or because you blink in the wrong direction, do you take them out of the car when you go in to pay? If you do will you get them back in the seat again or will they have a complete meltdown and you’ll be stuck on the fuel station forecourt with a screaming baby!! Hopefully you are starting to gather the anxiety that what was once a simple fuel stop can be for a mum!!!!
For this reason the distance to empty display can let you know if you have enough fuel to make it home with bub and then go out and get fuel another time when you will not have to take bub with you.
There is an SOS call button in the ceiling where a sunglasses case would usually be.
The cruise controls are on a stalk behind the steering wheel. I found them quite easy to use once I was used to there position and the cruise control was incredibly accurate at high speeds on motorways as well as at slower speeds on undulating roads.
BabyDrive Indepth - Car Seats
How many child seats fit in the Audi Q7?
There are top tether anchorages in the back of both the Audi Q7's third-row seats, they are clearly labelled and within plastic guides which makes them nice and easy to connect to.
And ISOFix points in both third-row seats too. YIPPEEEE! They are also within plastic guides and easy to connect to.
There are also ISOFix points and top tether anchorages in all three of the second-row seats too! The ISOFix points are clearly labelled on strips of seat cushioning that you remove and the ISOFix points are behind them.
The top tether anchorages are within clearly labelled plastic guides and easy to connect to.
So five child seats can be installed in the back of the Audi Q7, which is fantastic! Even if you don't have five children or need to install five child seats what it does give you is the flexibility of where you position the child seats you do need.
The second-row seats are all individual which allows you to distribute legroom and means there is enough space to fit three child seats across or enough room between two child seats for an adult to sit comfortably.
The third-row seats are also nice and wide enough to fit two child seats comfortably or an adult next to a child seat.
However, the legroom is a consideration back there and I found when testing child seats that booster seats worked best in the third-row because the bulkier child seats mean there simply isn't the room for the Childs's legs before hitting the second-row seatback.
Kick room and headroom are minimal in the third-row too and I found I could sit in the back (I'm 162cm) with just enough leg and headroom.
With a forward-facing booster seat in the third-row and a rear-facing child seat in the second-row, a 170cm driver could sit in front. Or with a booster seat in the third-row and a forward-facing child seat in the second-row a 182cm driver can sit in front. We found it best to switch the rear-facing seat over to the passenger side of the car and then a 182cm+ passenger can sit in either of the front seats.
I found posting bub into their rear-facing child seat nice and easy from outside the car in the Audi Q7. The ceiling is high enough that posting Bub into their seat from inside is easy too. There are handles above both the rear doors to hang a child's toy from.
Australia being a country of weather extremes; blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!
There is plenty of room to feed bub in the back if you only have one child seat installed.
If you need to install five child seats then accessing the third-row is a bit tricky as you do need to remove one in either of the outer second-row seats because of the way the second-row seats fold out of the way.
The seat folds flat and tumbles forward allowing you to step through to the third-row seats. I found I could do this if there were two child seats in the second-row. If you don't need to have five child seats in the back of the Audi Q7 then strategically leaving one of the outer second-row seats empty will allow you easy third-row access. For carrying five child seats regularly the BMW X7 has far superior third-row access in the luxury SUV market, otherwise, you are looking at a Mazda CX-9 or Kia Carnival.
BabyDrive Indepth - Drive & Comfort
How comfortable is the Audi Q7? And How good is the Audi Q7 to drive?
The front seats of the Audi Q7 are very comfortable and the headrests are adjustable which means you can wear a ponytail while driving.
I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!
The cream leather seats throughout the Q7 I tested made me a little nervous when travelling with children as it wouldn't be the easiest to keep clean.
For a mum travelling in the back with bub, the seats are very comfortable and the three individual seats mean you have your own space.
There is a hump in the central seat footwell that you have to straddle in the central seat position.
For the first year of my babies lives when we would go out as a family, if I wasn’t driving, I would travel in the back with them so it’s important to check the back seat comfort as you may be spending a lot of time in them! They were never something I gave any thought to before but I definitely notice a good or bad back seat now!
The steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down as well in the Audi Q7.
The air vents in the front of the Q7 appear to run across most of the width of the dash. Actually, there are still four vents, three within this panel and one the other side of the steering wheel.
The aircon for front and rear passengers is easily controlled within the media screen.
For the second-row passengers, there are vents in the side pillars which are great a BabyDrive feature compared with central console ones that can be a bit too low or ceiling ones that can upset rear-facing children by blowing onto their heads and faces.
The Q7 also has vents in the back of the central console box with digital dual controls underneath them to reduce arguments over who is too hot or too cold. There are no air vents in the third-row seats though.
The rear interior lights are located centrally in the ceiling behind the sunroof, too far back or me to reach them from the driver's seat while driving!
I have found my daughter does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.
Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a five-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!
It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.
Visibility in the Audi Q7 is quite good when only using a child seat in the two outer second-row seats out of the rear side windows, however with all five rear seats with child seats you can't really see out of the back. That's why the rearview camera is helpful.
One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread parking new cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Audi Q7 was easy to park using the cameras to help.
BabyDrive Indepth - Safety
How safe is the Audi Q7?
The Audi Q7 has a five-star ANCAP safety rating.
In testing it scored 87% for child occupancy protection (43 points out of 49), 92% for adult occupancy protection (35.2 out of 38), 71% for safety assist technology (9.3 out of 13) and 71% for vulnerable road user protection (34.3out of 48). The Audi Q7 scored 7.5 out of 8 for the frontal offset test, and 7.5 out of 8 for the side impact test, 7.31 out of 8 for the full-width crash test and 8 out of 8 for the pole test.
In the child occupancy crash testing the Audi Q7 scored 16/16 for the dynamic front test and 8/8 for the dynamic side crash test. ANCAP wrote:
In both the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection was GOOD for all critical body areas for both the 6 year and 10 year child dummies.
The Audi Q7 provides ISOfix anchorages (including top-tether anchorages) in all five rear seating positions, providing a wide range of options for fitment of child restraints.
Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showed that most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions. There were some exceptions, with limited space in the third row preventing installation of rearward facing child restraints, and incompatibility with one of the Type A/B convertible seats when used in the outboard seats of the second row. The Type A capsule could not be correctly installed in the centre rear (2nd row) position.
Six airbags come as standard in the Audi Q7; there are dual frontal airbags and front side airbags and side head curtain airbags for the front and both rear rows side passengers.
As standard, all models of the Audi Q7 come with active bonnet, active cruise control (ACC), adaptive headlights, autonomous emergency braking (AEB)city, inter urban and VRU, automatic emergency call (eCall), automatic headlights, automatic high beam, blind spot monitoring (BSM), daytime running lights (DRL), electronic brake force distribution (EBD), electronic data recorder (EDR), electronic stability control (ESC), emergency brake assist (EBA), emergency stop signal (ESS), fatigue reminder and fatigue detection, forward collision warning (FCW), hill launch assist,  lane departure warning (LDW), lane keep assist (LKA), rear cross-traffic alert (RCTA), secondary/multi-collision break and tyre pressure monitoring system (TPMS).
Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!
Super helpful – thanks!
When installing the 3 car seats in the 2nd row, did you use the ISOFix for all 3 seats?
Or did you have to use the seat belt for one of them?
It’s a bit easier with seat belts as you have more flexibility with where the seats are positioned on the cushion. Depends on the seats you use. Here’s a guide to the ones we use and dimensions: https://babydrive.com.au/articles/will-my-child-seats-fit-in-my-car/