lapcats

I'm looking at buying a 2013 Q7 Prestige, and the salesman said it has an all aluminum body. That got me interested because if aluminum corrodes on the surface it hardens into a layer that protects against corrosion going deeper, at least I think that's how it works.

The only evidence I've found that the Q7 has an aluminum body are articles from before 2013 that say the Q7 is planned to use aluminum. Some 2013 Q7 spec PDFs I've found on Audi's website don't seem to mention what the body is made of.

So my questions are
1) Does the Q7 have an aluminum body?
2) Any problems with galvanic corrosion between aluminum / non-aluminum parts?
3) Are your early Q7s holding up well to the elements?

B490MTL

Only some body panels are aluminium, (hood, front fenders, tailgate).

As far as galvanic corrosion goes for the body it's ok. For other stuff, thats another thing, like the wiper arms out of aluminum and the pivot made in steel.

FrenchToast

That's how anodizing works, but that's not how aluminum corrodes naturally. Once aluminum corrodes it basically turns to dust.

968racer

It's rare to see any rust or corrosion on a Q7. I live in WI where we use tons of salt and highly corrosive calcium chloride & magnesium chloride. I am on my second Q7 & have no issues with any corrosion whatsoever on the body. Even the undercarriage doesn't corrode too bad like I have seen on Japanese and American car brands I have owned.

'10Q7TDI_Prestige'

Ummm, I agree these are better than most for corrosion resistance, but that's also relative to other factors. In example, our '15 is an East Coast (New Jersey) car originally, was well maintained, but also well driven. I've been under both our cars and scraped off any heavier corrosion prior to putting a coat of Rust-Oleum on them, where needed.(other car was Colorado car). The corrosion from salt spray ate the Crankshaft Pulley/harmonic balancer, so had to replace that, and you can see on front of engine how the road chemicals/salt has acted only on reactive metals, etc. The biggest headache under car was where the air compressor mounts up to the car, since ours has the extra mounting flanges for the running boards on it. I also had to work on the undersides of the running boards and repaint those.

The driver's seat, well, that I had to remove entirely and scrape/de-crustify it's mounting carriage, and also the front mounts in floor, etc., then repaint the seat base (in racing red, no less ), to give it a chance at living as long as we want it to. Some minor corrosion issues in rear seat underframe too, but not nearly as critical as drivers seat situation. This car had the all-weather Audi mats in it; they look nice, and are comfortable, but don't actually contain water/snow melt very well as it turns out, and the water can easily end up in and around the battery box area, such as on our car. Replaced Audi mats with Husky mats to prevent a recurrence; Husky is a much better design, IMHO...even better than the Weathertec design as better coverage is provided in front/rear seat areas. The price for Husky mats is better too...bonus.

I guess bottom-line is don't trust a car salesman; they are just after a commission. They can talk a good game, but that doesn't mean they actually know beans about a specific car model. If you want a Q7, research the car online so you understand what goes wrong with them, and approx when. Get a PPI done before you buy any used Audi, as the results will often be a bargaining chip with seller to reduce price/fix something, or may influence you to walk away from it.