SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Rare: 2021 Audi SQ7 4.0 TDI quattro

Just having fun

Pics by Motorpress
Posted: July 5, 2021

The numbers
Base price: R1 679 500
As tested: R1 901 140
Engine: 3956 cc, DOHC V8 diesel with dual turbochargers
Power: 310 kW between 3500 and 4800 rpm
Torque: 900 Nm between 1250 and 3250 rpm
0-100 km/h: 4.8 seconds
Top speed (governed): 250 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 10.5 l/100 km
Tank: 85 litres
Luggage: 705 (seven-seat option) – 803 – 1988 litres
Turning circle: 12.5 metres
Ground clearance: 164 mm (cruise) to 254 mm (off-road)
Towing capacity, unbraked/braked: 750/3500 kg
Standard tyre size: 285/40R21
Warranty: One year, unlimited km
Audi Freeway plan: Five years, 100 000 km

•    Limited edition
•    Audi’s most powerful diesel engine

Can’t work out why journalists were let loose in these because numbers are so limited they were mostly snapped up before you could read about them. Sales staff have been told that there aren’t any left, although I found a white one listed on the Audi SA website. But who knows whether that listing is up to date?

That leaves just the heavily optioned, Navarra Blue, example I recently finished driving and, possibly, one or two other press units. If you’re lucky.

And so would you be, because this thing is dynamite in full-size packaging. Four litres of twin-turbocharged diesel hustle out 310 kilowatts and 900 Newton-metres, enabling it to run with the big dogs where Jaguars, M-cars and AMGs rule the highways. One opinion is that SQ models should have been given more aggressive faces, as their competitors were. An interesting point but, with hindsight, hardly necessary.
 
Open road impressions: Big, effortless power and an eight-speed gearbox that set the benchmark for such things. A firm push, rather than vigorous kick-down, at legal highway speeds drops three or four ratios instantly, pressing your spine up against the Valcona leather and deep into Officer Aggro’s grin zone, scant seconds later.
 
Or, when you are reasonably satisfied that said official is frying bigger fish elsewhere, playing with Sport mode (with or without Dynamic setting) and manual override makes this SQ almost worth its huge price tag. Hustling along, just having fun, and briefly flicking your focus from well ahead to the HUD (optional at R23 100), reveals that you’ve seldom traversed that particular twisty zone quite as quickly.

Part of the reason for all that thrust is its torque delivery. All 900 Nm are delivered in a solid surge between 1250 and 3250 rpm, calling on only about 1400 revs in top gear at 120 km/h. Horsepower delivery is almost as impressive, running solidly with the abovementioned big doggies from 3500 to 4800 rpm. You do the math. I’m not pointing you toward temptation, just presenting facts.

A happy detail is that SQ lists “Adaptive air suspension sport” as standard equipment. Slightly different from “Adaptive air suspension” listed as optional on the regular Q7 I drove recently, it’s slightly firmer and lowers cruising height by 15 mm. Proof of pudding is that there was no sign of the floatiness, at highway speed, that I noticed with that car.

Other spec’ changes from Q- to SQ included 21-inch wheels, 48-Volt electrical system, Audi phone box, pre-sense basic, Bang and Olufsen Premium (3D) sound, larger fuel tank, black hood lining (what is it with Germans and all-black interiors?), lane departure warning with emergency assist, Matrix LED headlamps, panoramic glass sunroof, Park Assist with Parking Aid Plus, powered front sport seats with warmers and memory, the rear bench seat with individual backrest adjusters and lateral movement, rear side airbags and an advanced type of TPM.

I could go on describing other good stuff but I’ll leave you to discover that alone. If you can still find an SQ7 for sale…

Test unit from Audi SA press fleet
                   

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.