Audi Q7 V12 | Spotted
In 2008, a 500hp 6.0-litre oil burner seemed ridiculous. But Audi was just ahead of the curve
It was off the back of its dominance with TDI prototypes at Le Mans that Audi justified producing the world’s first V12 diesel car. The oil burning mega-unit of the Q7 was not directly related to the motor of its unbeaten R10 racer , but like all of Audi’s diesel engines, it was certainly a benefiter of the philosophy. Not to mention a very fine way for Audi to flex its muscles in the field of spark plug-free combustion engines - which occupied an all-important place in the market at the time.
It seems quaint to talk about the Q7's performance more than a decade later, but the 6.0-litre V12 made for an eye-opening experience in 2008. Any way you cut it, 738lb ft of torque is a lot - especially when it's being summoned at 1,750rpm. Other SUVs have subsequently made cheek-troubling acceleration their trump card, but 5.5 seconds and 155mph in a car that weighed 2.7 tonnes tells you something of how pleasing adequate the car's straight-line speed really was.
As you’d expect for a car with more peak twist than a Urus, the Q7 was judiciously uprated for the task at hand. Audi tuned its air suspension to ride lower and more stiffly than siblings to keep the mass in check, although - this being a car of the noughties - there’s no active anti-roll tech to completely eliminate pitch. You'll notice that fact in 2020, but don't expect old Land Rover levels of lean; the Q7 is heavyset, not slovenly.
At any rate, it's not an RS model (though there was talk of badging it one) the power is meant to be effortless and hushed. You might find it a breath of fresh air (no DERV-related pun intended) compared to today’s deliberately brash motors, where synthesised intake noises and pops and crackles dominate the sound waves. In Audi’s twelve-cylinder SUV the tone is more mechanical - and generally nonchalant about its distant burr.
This echoes the car’s finish, which on the outside uses little more than big-bore exhausts to hint at its burliness. Inside, the cabin is trimmed to top spec, but it's fundamentally the same stuff as lower-ranking cars. Audi did show a higher-grade interior via a Q7 Coastline concept at the 2008 Geneva motor show, with a white leather interior and wood trim said to be inspired by the design of luxury yachts. But the prospect of that reaching market was capsized by the financial crisis of the same year.
In fact, it was that catastrophic economic event which pretty much sealed the V12 Q7’s fate, because while Audi had engineered the model for the US market, too, with NOx-trimming BlueTec set to be added, the market crash killed the idea. The Q7 V12’s profitability was mortally wounded. Remarkably, Audi still found sufficient demand to continue producing the car through the bad times, but from the 2012 update onwards, the motor was dropped from the line-up. The story of a V12 diesel road car was over just like that.
According to HowManyLeft, the number of Q7 V12s in Britain peaked in 2012 at 35 cars, and the number has slowly reduced to around 26 (that was at the last count in 2019). Keeping something as substantial as a top-end Mk1 Q7 alive in its second decade was always going to be a costly undertaking (particularly if it’s a carbon ceramic brake car), but increasing rarity may increasingly help to justify the expense. As far as Q7 V12s go, today’s Spotted looks like a relatively safe bet. With 64,000 on the odometer it’s got half the mileage of our Brave Pill from last year, for starters, and a full dealer service history and the apparent great condition suggests it’s been cherished. At £28k, it’s also less than a fifth of the original list price.
SPECIFICATION - AUDI Q7 V12
Engine: 5,934cc, turbocharged V12
Transmission: 6-speed tiptronic, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 500@3,750rpm
Torque (lb ft): 738@1,750-3,250rpm
MPG: 20.8 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 298g/km
First registered: 2011
Mileage: 64,000
Price new: £154,175
Price now: £27,995
The want would have to be strong!!!
Obviously why there are so few..PH Heroes - November 2017
PH Brave Pill - September 2019
PH Spotted - June 2020
PH Heroes - November 2017
PH Brave Pill - September 2019
PH Spotted - June 2020
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