NOFX

I'm a long time S5 owner and now that my daughter is older I feel the need for a second vehicle for hauling kids and stuff around so a used Q7 came to mind. Considering models from '13-'15 with either premium plus or prestige. I talked to my service guy at the dealership and he said these SUVs chew through brakes and get the occasional oil leak but other than that are pretty solid. In the past I read a lot of complaints about the high pressure fuel pump on TDI models grenading causing a costly repair. He mentioned that has been resolved through the recall. Is that statement true? I'm indifferent between gas or diesel just searching for the best deal. Also, has anyone had to repair the air suspension on the Prestige models? How much and how many miles before failure? Thanks for the help.

George

dreadlocks

HPFP is still a grenade waiting to happen, they have gotten better but the Bosch CP4 has been a plague among common rail diesels from all manufacturers, not just Audi.. but Audi made it worse by not including a water separator.. My suggestion is to replace it right before the #dieselgate warranty expires out of pocket, like you would a water pump to prevent head warping.. cheaper to pre-emptively replace before a catastrophic failure.. If you put quality fuel in it from high turn over diesel stations and never accidentally fill up with Gasoline the chance of failure is still very minimal.. but its not like failure has been completely cured.

Air Suspension seems to be pretty reliable, if I hear of any issues regarding that its typically due to a stuck check valve.. and those can be repaired fairly easily without replacing the entire strut.. seems to be leaps and bounds better than what the early AllRoads were constantly fighting.. They are like a 3rd or 4th Generation of revisions for the later MK1 Q7.. Touareg's and Cayenne's had a decade or so of Air Suspension development (since 2002) and most of the weak points have been identified and re-designed.

They do chew through brakes, but they chew through tires even quicker.. You can DIY a full OEM brake job for ~$600 and you'll likely get 20-30k out of em.. 20-21 in Tires will last you 15-20k and cost you ~$1000-1300, although if you let the dealer do the brakes I hear it'll run nearly $2000, which seems about right after they quoted me $6000 to put brakes on an RS6

Greystoke

Ceramic?

Grey

dreadlocks

was mostly the rotors.. over $2k in just rotors when I DIY'd it.. I dont think pads were ceramic, IIRC they were organics.. tons of bite.

NOFX

Thanks for the thorough write up! I greatly appreciate the tips!

Force-1

FWIW I just traded my 2014 Q7 in, 38K on odometer, still 4mm of brake pad left on original brakes. I had it for 4 years 7 months and only one issue - a cooling fan in front driver seat came loose, and they had to replace cushion.

Dealer is going to CPO it. It's in outstanding condition, and interior is like new. Hopefully buyer ends up here.