Towing Experience
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Towing Experience
My brother bought a clean E39 540i 6sp. Since it was not registered yet and two states away from him, he could have called a transport but why not test out the Q7?
We rented an auto transport trailer from U-Haul and bought the tow kit (2" ball mount with ball rated for 7500 lbs, pin and clip) along with the 7-pin to 4-pin flat adapter. FYI, if you're going to rent a trailer from U-Haul, all their wiring is flat 4-pin so you'll need the adapter to power the trailer lights.
U-Haul's trailer weights just over 2200 lbs. Towing that up (80 mi one way) to the car wasn't bad. Yeah you notice the extra weight but not terrible at all. Adding the 540i, which is just under 3800 lbs, gets you pulling around 6000 lbs. The 3.0T did a great job at pulling that extra weight. As expected, acceleration takes a hit but she had no problems getting up to speed when merging, maintaining speed or climbing inclines. She was rock solid stable going 65-70 mph. On the way up I got 21 mpg. On the way back, by the time we got home it dropped down to just under 20 mpg. I was pretty surprised at the mileage. I kept it in Sport mode to avoid hunting gears in Drive. Sport kept the revs up just enough to keep it in the power band. It did not need to drop a gear when maintaining speed most of the time. And the brakes did just fine. I never felt like it didn't have enough brakes to slow down or stop.
Yeah, squat! I thought there'd be more... The ride didn't suffer enough to notice. It was still just as smooth going over road surfaces, bumps, etc.
We rented an auto transport trailer from U-Haul and bought the tow kit (2" ball mount with ball rated for 7500 lbs, pin and clip) along with the 7-pin to 4-pin flat adapter. FYI, if you're going to rent a trailer from U-Haul, all their wiring is flat 4-pin so you'll need the adapter to power the trailer lights.
U-Haul's trailer weights just over 2200 lbs. Towing that up (80 mi one way) to the car wasn't bad. Yeah you notice the extra weight but not terrible at all. Adding the 540i, which is just under 3800 lbs, gets you pulling around 6000 lbs. The 3.0T did a great job at pulling that extra weight. As expected, acceleration takes a hit but she had no problems getting up to speed when merging, maintaining speed or climbing inclines. She was rock solid stable going 65-70 mph. On the way up I got 21 mpg. On the way back, by the time we got home it dropped down to just under 20 mpg. I was pretty surprised at the mileage. I kept it in Sport mode to avoid hunting gears in Drive. Sport kept the revs up just enough to keep it in the power band. It did not need to drop a gear when maintaining speed most of the time. And the brakes did just fine. I never felt like it didn't have enough brakes to slow down or stop.
Yeah, squat! I thought there'd be more... The ride didn't suffer enough to notice. It was still just as smooth going over road surfaces, bumps, etc.
#2
Thanks for posting! Not much out there on towing with the Q7. I have a Polaris Ranger UTV that I usually pull with my F-150, but we ordered the Q7 with the towing package so it had the ability to pull it as well. Trailer and UTV weighs about 3500lb, so not as heavy as what you did here.
#6
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Nope, normal suspension. I honestly thought the ride was just fine, no issues. I do believe the air suspension has the self-leveling feature in the rear for when towing.
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#8
AudiWorld Senior Member
My brother bought a clean E39 540i 6sp. Since it was not registered yet and two states away from him, he could have called a transport but why not test out the Q7?
We rented an auto transport trailer from U-Haul and bought the tow kit (2" ball mount with ball rated for 7500 lbs, pin and clip) along with the 7-pin to 4-pin flat adapter. FYI, if you're going to rent a trailer from U-Haul, all their wiring is flat 4-pin so you'll need the adapter to power the trailer lights.
U-Haul's trailer weights just over 2200 lbs. Towing that up (80 mi one way) to the car wasn't bad. Yeah you notice the extra weight but not terrible at all. Adding the 540i, which is just under 3800 lbs, gets you pulling around 6000 lbs. The 3.0T did a great job at pulling that extra weight. As expected, acceleration takes a hit but she had no problems getting up to speed when merging, maintaining speed or climbing inclines. She was rock solid stable going 65-70 mph. On the way up I got 21 mpg. On the way back, by the time we got home it dropped down to just under 20 mpg. I was pretty surprised at the mileage. I kept it in Sport mode to avoid hunting gears in Drive. Sport kept the revs up just enough to keep it in the power band. It did not need to drop a gear when maintaining speed most of the time. And the brakes did just fine. I never felt like it didn't have enough brakes to slow down or stop.
Yeah, squat! I thought there'd be more... The ride didn't suffer enough to notice. It was still just as smooth going over road surfaces, bumps, etc.
We rented an auto transport trailer from U-Haul and bought the tow kit (2" ball mount with ball rated for 7500 lbs, pin and clip) along with the 7-pin to 4-pin flat adapter. FYI, if you're going to rent a trailer from U-Haul, all their wiring is flat 4-pin so you'll need the adapter to power the trailer lights.
U-Haul's trailer weights just over 2200 lbs. Towing that up (80 mi one way) to the car wasn't bad. Yeah you notice the extra weight but not terrible at all. Adding the 540i, which is just under 3800 lbs, gets you pulling around 6000 lbs. The 3.0T did a great job at pulling that extra weight. As expected, acceleration takes a hit but she had no problems getting up to speed when merging, maintaining speed or climbing inclines. She was rock solid stable going 65-70 mph. On the way up I got 21 mpg. On the way back, by the time we got home it dropped down to just under 20 mpg. I was pretty surprised at the mileage. I kept it in Sport mode to avoid hunting gears in Drive. Sport kept the revs up just enough to keep it in the power band. It did not need to drop a gear when maintaining speed most of the time. And the brakes did just fine. I never felt like it didn't have enough brakes to slow down or stop.
Yeah, squat! I thought there'd be more... The ride didn't suffer enough to notice. It was still just as smooth going over road surfaces, bumps, etc.
Last edited by Dasaint; 03-03-2017 at 07:11 AM.
#9
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
#10
AudiWorld Super User
Thanks for posting! Not much out there on towing with the Q7. I have a Polaris Ranger UTV that I usually pull with my F-150, but we ordered the Q7 with the towing package so it had the ability to pull it as well. Trailer and UTV weighs about 3500lb, so not as heavy as what you did here.