Audi Q7 3.0 TDI - advice please

[6BMW]

I'm considering getting one of these for the Mrs very soon.

Can someone outline the main differences between a S-Line spec and SE spec? I've tried to look on the Audi website but it's really naff.

What are the must have options on this car? I love the RS4 style rims - are these 20"s or 21"s as some ads say they are 20 and others say they are 21!

What kind of MPG figures are you getting around town?

and finally what are the service and maintainence costs like on such a hige beast (we've had an X5 before so just wondering how it compares)..

Cheers!

[Dr G]

What's your email and what age of car are you looking at? I'll email you the brochure if you want the spec comparison in detail but S-Line got you:

20 x 9J ‘5-spoke’ design alloy wheels with 275/45 R20 Y tyres

Front Sports seats, electrically adjustable with adjustment for forwards/backwards position, seat height, seat and backrest angle and electric lumbar support

Pearl Nappa leather/Alcantara upholstery to seat facings, head restraints and front and rear armrests

3-spoke S line multi-function leather steering wheel

Black headlining

Inlays in Matt-brushed aluminium

S line scuff plates

Headlight washers

S line badge on side wings

S line body styling, fully body coloured

The double spoke alloys are a 21" wheel which you'll pay a premium for even on a used car as they're extremely popular.

Fuel economy around town will be high teens to twenty for a 3.0.

[6BMW]

Cheers mate..

Are there no other Q7 owners on here

[Deva Link]

I love it when people ask about vehicles like this, especially for their Mrs, and then ask about the MPG.

A colleague who currently drives a Touareg looked at Q7 but was put off by tales of tyres lasting 4K miles. If that's true, and you get 20" or 21" wheels then MPG will pale into insignificance.

[6BMW]

Tyres don't bother me much mate (tyre insurance ) but MPG does when my daily driver is a V8

MPG is important for most "wife's cars" because of all that stop start traffic on that bleedin school run and all those lunches in central london

[Lost soul]

6BMW said:

Tyres don't bother me much mate (tyre insurance )

How can you insure against your tyres wearing out ?

[6BMW]

Let's not go there

[Lost soul]

6BMW said:

Let's not go there

Lets, i am curious

[blueg33]

If someone is buyin a £40k plus car I am never sure why MPG is an issue unless they are doing a huge mileage. Depreciation and servicing far outweigh MPG.

If you are concerned about MPG dont buy a huge heavy goliath with a big engine.

To put it in perspective Mrs Blue has just swapped from a Seat Leon Cupra to a 3.0 Petrol Subaru Outback. On paper the the MPG is worse but only adds up to about £10 per week more ie £520 pa. The old Seat depreciated at about £600 pa whereas the Outback will probably be twice that at least.

So the depreciation is worth about twice the cost of the extra fuel.

Also I cant understand why someone would buy a V8 and then put a by a comment about the MPG. Surely it didnt come as a surprise?

[Deva Link]

6BMW said:

MPG is important for most "wife's cars" because of all that stop start traffic on that bleedin school run and all those lunches in central london

How about a Honda Jazz then?

[6BMW]

blueg33 said:

If someone is buyin a £40k plus car I am never sure why MPG is an issue unless they are doing a huge mileage. Depreciation and servicing far outweigh MPG.

These £40k plus cars are now in their mid 20's if they are 2 years old...and i didn't say i'm buying a new one.

If you have something productive to say with regards to my initial post then do otherwise I don't need people telling me what I should and shouldn't be asking on here...Why should asking about mpg be such a big deal irrelevent of wheter the car is £20k or £50k...don't worry I have sufficient funds to cover the use of my cars be it a V8 or 3 litre diesel..I'm just trying to figure out how much these cost to run over a period of time FFS

[6BMW]

Deva Link said:

6BMW said:

MPG is important for most "wife's cars" because of all that stop start traffic on that bleedin school run and all those lunches in central london

How about a Honda Jazz then?

Thanks for the suggestion but the kids wouldn't fit in that...

[Deva Link]

6BMW said:

blueg33 said:

If someone is buyin a £40k plus car I am never sure why MPG is an issue unless they are doing a huge mileage. Depreciation and servicing far outweigh MPG.

These £40k plus cars are now in their mid 20's if they are 2 years old...and i didn't say i'm buying a new one.

If you have something productive to say with regards to my initial post then do otherwise I don't need people telling me what I should and shouldn't be asking on here...Why should asking about mpg be such a big deal irrelevent of wheter the car is £20k or £50k...don't worry I have sufficient funds to cover the use of my cars be it a V8 or 3 litre diesel..I'm just trying to figure out how much these cost to run over a period of time FFS

So, assume it does 15MPG around town. I don't know, maybe it do 12, or 18, but lets's face it, it ain't going to be doing 30.

For running costs I always ring a couple of dealers and speak to service and ask them what the regime is and how much it costs. When I got my Merc I was so terrified by the answers I got that I nearly didn't buy it. I bought a servicing package for quite a lot of money and it's turned out the car hardly needs any servicing at all so I'm way out of pocket. I did read somewhere that it was worth buying the VAG maint package for a Q7 as the tyres alone more than soaked up the cost, however you seem to have that covered.

As others have suggested, depreciation is the big issue, but you've run expensive cars so you'll be aware of that.

[6BMW]

Cheers

For others who may be in the same boat as me I've found some useful "owner" reviews here:

http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/audi/q7-4x4/rea...

Seems as though the tyres are quite an issue then...hmmm maybe back to a new shape X5 then...

What did you think of the ML?

[blueg33]

6BMW said:

blueg33 said:

If someone is buyin a £40k plus car I am never sure why MPG is an issue unless they are doing a huge mileage. Depreciation and servicing far outweigh MPG.

These £40k plus cars are now in their mid 20's if they are 2 years old...and i didn't say i'm buying a new one.

If you have something productive to say with regards to my initial post then do otherwise I don't need people telling me what I should and shouldn't be asking on here...Why should asking about mpg be such a big deal irrelevent of wheter the car is £20k or £50k...don't worry I have sufficient funds to cover the use of my cars be it a V8 or 3 litre diesel..I'm just trying to figure out how much these cost to run over a period of time FFS

Of course you can ask what you like. I wasnt trying to piss anyone off, just to understand where you are coming from.

Even 2 years old depreciation will strill outweigh fuel costs unless the car is used for big mileages. My 20-30k miles a year 3.0 A6 TDI has depreciation almost the same level as fuel costs.

I ran a 3.0 tdi Q7 for a month and was surprised at the fuel consumption in comparison with the A6. It averaged 28mpg on mixed driving and was worse in town. The engine is the same as in the A6 and they are thirsty when cold. In the A6 on the school run which is a 12 miles round trip on fast B roads I only get 25mpg but the car's overall average is 36mpg although this includes quite a few longer mway drives.

Hope that was a bit more help

[6BMW]

Much better thanks thats useful info. How come you had a Q7 for a month?? Courtesy car or a short term badd experience??

[blueg33]

6BMW said:

Much better thanks thats useful info. How come you had a Q7 for a month?? Courtesy car or a short term badd experience??

My A6 broke down when it was 2 days old and it took a month to get it sorted. Audi let me have the Q7.

Personally I found tyhe Q7 too big, epecially in places like Cheltenham, it feels huge much bigger than the A6, and no one ever let me out of a junction or gave way. Otherwise it was comfy and smooth, but slow, well slower than the A6.

If you are buying an Audi with MMI, make sure it works properly and has had all of the software upgrades. My A6 has had £1400 of MMI parts under warranty every year so far.