Awesome Audi
Damien O’Carroll.
Do we need another enormous SUV on the market? The queue of buyers for the triple-turbo, 900Nm $175k SQ7 say yes.
It does seem that, when it comes to top-spec highperformance European cars, too much is never enough for us here in New Zealand.
We constantly lead the world in sales of German hotrods on a percentage of sales-versus-thestandard-car basis. Cars with letters like M, AMG, S and RS on their bootlids all punch far above their weight for market share.
So it should come as no real surprise that the latest excessive German express to land on these shores managed to become a success before it even rolled off the boat.
The Audi SQ7 is proving remarkably popular locally, with more than 50 orders received already and Audi NZ boss Dean Sheed confidently predicting more than 100 sales of the uber-SUV in its first year on sale here.
To put this in perspective, most other SUVs in the SQ7’s $175,900 price range sell 20-30 units per year.
Yes, $175,900 is a lot of money for an SUV. But then you do get a lot of car with the SQ7.
The SQ7 is the second vehicle in Audi’s SUV range to get the S-treatment, with the SQ5 representing more than half of Q5 sales locally.
While the SQ5 gets a twin-turbo 3.0-litre diesel V6 that pumps out 230kW and 650Nm, the SQ7 has something far, far sillier under its bonnet: an all-new and totally belligerent 4.0-litre diesel V8 with three turbos, 320kW of power and a colossal 900Nm of torque.
Yes, you did read that right: the SQ7 has three turbos and one of them is unlike anything seen on a production car before.
That’s because the ‘first’ turbo in the SQ7’s sequential set up is an electrically powered one that eschews the traditional exhaust gas-propelled method of spoolingup in favour of an electric motor that is powered by the SQ7’s 48-volt electrical subsystem.
Yes, again, you read that right: the SQ7 effectively has two electrical systems. There’s a traditional 12-volt setup that does all the usual tasks, as well as an auxiliary 48-volt system that handles all the heavy lifting required by the turbo and the active roll stabilisation system (more on that later).
With this 48-volt power boost behind it, the electric turbo can spool up to an incredible 75,000rpm in 0.3sec, eliminating turbo lag and making the engine’s full 900Nm available from under 1000rpm.
The second turbo in the lineup is referred to by Audi as the ‘active’ turbo and is constantly spinning. This takes over after the electric turbo has moved things off the line and by 2200rpm the third turbo (or the ‘passive’ turbo) has woken up to provide additional power further up in the rev range.
What this means in real life is ridiculous performance from such a large vehicle. The SQ7 can leap to 100kmh from a standstill in 4.9 seconds and a quick play at the Meremere drag strip in the Waikato during the launch saw a not-very-serious attempt at the quarter mile knocked off in 13 seconds. By way of comparison, the Audi R8 V10 Plus does it in 10.6 seconds.
Oh, and by the way, the R8 weighs around 800kg less than the the 2330kg SQ7.
But that doesn’t mean the SQ7 is all ferocious acceleration, because the vehicle’s sheer size tends to mask the savage effect of the powerful engine. Progress feels impressive, but refined and controlled from behind the wheel. It’s not until you see just how rapidly the traffic in your mirrors is disappearing that you realise how fast the SQ7 really is.
Available as an option locally is another impressive part of the SQ7’s 48-volt arsenal, the active roll stabilisation system.
Basically a pair of active antiroll bars on the front and rear suspension, the system packs an electric motor on each sway bar that can produce an immense 1200Nm of torque to keep the SQ7 flatter through a corner than anything so tall has a right to be.
Because the monitors run on an AC system, they can also reverse their behaviour on a straight piece of road to feed electricity back into the 48-volt lithium-ion battery.
Again, the result here is deeply impressive, with the SQ7 feeling bizarrely flat through corners. As a result of this, the ‘comfort’ mode can be considerably softer, meaning that pure luxury and superb ride comfort are also on offer. The active system comes as part off the optional Performance Package that also adds four-wheel steering, a trick sports differential and red brake callipers to the SQ7 for $16,000.
A luxury package is also available for $10,000 that adds ventilated and massaging front seats, brown leather, a grey headlining, a panoramic sunroof, power assisted doors and a heated steering wheel. Performance car owners, be warned. And be prepared to get left behind at the traffic lights by a 2.3-tonne SUV.