Q7 Buying Advice
03-14-2019, 08:39 AM
#21
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
I guess I hinted at it but didnt come out and say it, Diesels generate very little waste heat.. if it was not for emissions control equipment (cuz they pollute terribly when cold) you could idle your diesel all day long and it'd never reach operating temps without actually driving it.. this is generally the reason why they suck for short trips and all the issues that result from that.
For example, It gets cold here in the winter, when I scrape ice off the window and drive the 4cyl gas turbo to work and can hit WOT on the highway as I pull out of my neighborhood, by the time I catch up with traffic ~1mi away at the first light I can turn on the heat and warm my frozen *** up.. when I drive the Q7, I get to finally turn the blower motor on ~7-8mi into my 12mi commute.
For example, It gets cold here in the winter, when I scrape ice off the window and drive the 4cyl gas turbo to work and can hit WOT on the highway as I pull out of my neighborhood, by the time I catch up with traffic ~1mi away at the first light I can turn on the heat and warm my frozen *** up.. when I drive the Q7, I get to finally turn the blower motor on ~7-8mi into my 12mi commute.
I looked through that link you sent last night. It looks like all of the updates for the first gen Q7 were implemented by 2010 other than the 8 speed transmission in 2011 and the EU TDI engine in 2013. Have you driven the original 3.0 TDI vs the EU spec TDI? What are your thoughts?
03-14-2019, 08:53 AM
#22
AudiWorld Super User
the 2013+ engine is the Gen2 TDI, we got it here in US, it makes more power, has more potential and gets better fuel economy.. I've never driven a Gen1 3.0L TDI, but the differences are not that dramatic.. I think @J. Patterson had em both, he can probably speak to that better than me.
03-14-2019, 10:21 AM
#23
Yes, We had a 2011 with the Gen1 engine and now a 2015 with the Gen 2. I must admit that I can’t feel and difference in power. Maybe with a stopwatch. These things are strong. I never use all of the power. Our Gen 2 with the fix is getting almost identical fuel mileage over the past 18000 miles as did the Gen 1 without the fix. The biggest difference I have found is that the Gen2 uses a different oil filter and it is a bit more accessible. :-)
03-14-2019, 10:42 PM
#24
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Yes, We had a 2011 with the Gen1 engine and now a 2015 with the Gen 2. I must admit that I can’t feel and difference in power. Maybe with a stopwatch. These things are strong. I never use all of the power. Our Gen 2 with the fix is getting almost identical fuel mileage over the past 18000 miles as did the Gen 1 without the fix. The biggest difference I have found is that the Gen2 uses a different oil filter and it is a bit more accessible. :-)
Thank you all for the advice. I've learned a lot and feel better about driving one of these to high mileage, but the potential high cost of maintaining any German luxury car still has me nervous. If it weren't for the extended emissions warranty covering the engine, I doubt I would feel comfortable taking a chance on one. They do seem like a lot of car for the money, though.
03-16-2019, 02:44 AM
#25
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we have audi q7 and very surprised with the performance even we also tried towing car in Manhattan service with audi q7.
03-19-2019, 03:09 PM
#26
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
We found a Q7 we like and I'm pretty sure we're going to go through with it. We're just working out final numbers.
It's an emissions updated S-Line Prestige with 100k miles and the full 4 year/48k mile warranty. Tires and brakes are in great shape, it passed mechanical inspection with no issues, and it's in incredible cosmetic shape, which I'm hoping is an indication it was well cared for. Carfax shows a full maintenance history with only one or two warranty repairs. I'm hoping I can enjoy this car until 150k-200k miles relatively problem free by staying on top of maintenance. Any last thoughts I should consider or items I should check?
It's an emissions updated S-Line Prestige with 100k miles and the full 4 year/48k mile warranty. Tires and brakes are in great shape, it passed mechanical inspection with no issues, and it's in incredible cosmetic shape, which I'm hoping is an indication it was well cared for. Carfax shows a full maintenance history with only one or two warranty repairs. I'm hoping I can enjoy this car until 150k-200k miles relatively problem free by staying on top of maintenance. Any last thoughts I should consider or items I should check?
03-19-2019, 03:14 PM
#27
AudiWorld Super User
Change the Transmission fluid, Audi considers it a life time fluid.. as in your vehicle is not worth repairing by time its fails, I'm not waiting til 100k personally and will have it done by 75k.. Changing out the Diff's is likely a good idea too.
When warranty expires, Stage 1 or 2 tune it (Malone or Kerma, not APR), Delete DPF/EGR/AdBlue and pickup the DarkSide CP3 HPFP+2Micron kit and the drivetrain should be good for 400k+ if you keep up with the service intervals.. now the rest of the vehicle, shrug.. Q7 seems to hold up well enough.. Thats what I'm doing to mine (except not waiting for warranty) and I intend on keeping mine til can go no more, I'd like to get at least 300k out of it but who knows.
Also run some BG245 through it now, and every ~50k or so.. buy diesel from high volume stations your neighborhood station might take weeks/months to drain a diesel tank where as a truck stop will get fresh diesel every day with little chance of getting water contaminated, keep fuel receipts and log consumption so you can spot issues early, stay on top of filter changes and give it a good ole Italian tune up from time to time.
When warranty expires, Stage 1 or 2 tune it (Malone or Kerma, not APR), Delete DPF/EGR/AdBlue and pickup the DarkSide CP3 HPFP+2Micron kit and the drivetrain should be good for 400k+ if you keep up with the service intervals.. now the rest of the vehicle, shrug.. Q7 seems to hold up well enough.. Thats what I'm doing to mine (except not waiting for warranty) and I intend on keeping mine til can go no more, I'd like to get at least 300k out of it but who knows.
Also run some BG245 through it now, and every ~50k or so.. buy diesel from high volume stations your neighborhood station might take weeks/months to drain a diesel tank where as a truck stop will get fresh diesel every day with little chance of getting water contaminated, keep fuel receipts and log consumption so you can spot issues early, stay on top of filter changes and give it a good ole Italian tune up from time to time.
Last edited by dreadlocks; 03-19-2019 at 03:22 PM.
03-19-2019, 11:12 PM
#28
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Change the Transmission fluid, Audi considers it a life time fluid.. as in your vehicle is not worth repairing by time its fails, I'm not waiting til 100k personally and will have it done by 75k.. Changing out the Diff's is likely a good idea too.
When warranty expires, Stage 1 or 2 tune it (Malone or Kerma, not APR), Delete DPF/EGR/AdBlue and pickup the DarkSide CP3 HPFP+2Micron kit and the drivetrain should be good for 400k+ if you keep up with the service intervals.. now the rest of the vehicle, shrug.. Q7 seems to hold up well enough.. Thats what I'm doing to mine (except not waiting for warranty) and I intend on keeping mine til can go no more, I'd like to get at least 300k out of it but who knows.
Also run some BG245 through it now, and every ~50k or so.. buy diesel from high volume stations your neighborhood station might take weeks/months to drain a diesel tank where as a truck stop will get fresh diesel every day with little chance of getting water contaminated, keep fuel receipts and log consumption so you can spot issues early, stay on top of filter changes and give it a good ole Italian tune up from time to time.
When warranty expires, Stage 1 or 2 tune it (Malone or Kerma, not APR), Delete DPF/EGR/AdBlue and pickup the DarkSide CP3 HPFP+2Micron kit and the drivetrain should be good for 400k+ if you keep up with the service intervals.. now the rest of the vehicle, shrug.. Q7 seems to hold up well enough.. Thats what I'm doing to mine (except not waiting for warranty) and I intend on keeping mine til can go no more, I'd like to get at least 300k out of it but who knows.
Also run some BG245 through it now, and every ~50k or so.. buy diesel from high volume stations your neighborhood station might take weeks/months to drain a diesel tank where as a truck stop will get fresh diesel every day with little chance of getting water contaminated, keep fuel receipts and log consumption so you can spot issues early, stay on top of filter changes and give it a good ole Italian tune up from time to time.
Wouldn't removing EGR, DPF and AdBlue cause the car to fail future emissions tests?
Why do you recommend other tunes over APR? I had the APR stage I in my MkVI GTI and thought it was great.
03-20-2019, 07:50 AM
#29
AudiWorld Super User
Just pickup OEM fluids from the dealer, they are usually competitively priced because shipping hazardous liquids is rather expensive.. You need an oil evacuator if you DIY, dont think there is a drain plug so gotta suck it out the filler port and add back exactly as much as you took out.
I guess that depends on your location, here emissions tests are just opacity tests.. they plug nothing into the OBD2 port or even look under the vehicle.. so tuned is fine as long as its not rolling coal.. if you have more strict emissions than that then you might be boned.
APR is a garbage company IMO over hyped and over marketed liars (Google APR Fake RSC), and they dont know dick about Diesels.. Malone/Kerma/DarkSide are all diesel specialists, and the first two been doing em for over 20 years now and earned a reputation for making our TDI's even more reliable than OEM.. the last one is the king of performance, they make 400HP 2.0L TDI with big turbo upgrades and etc.
I guess that depends on your location, here emissions tests are just opacity tests.. they plug nothing into the OBD2 port or even look under the vehicle.. so tuned is fine as long as its not rolling coal.. if you have more strict emissions than that then you might be boned.
APR is a garbage company IMO over hyped and over marketed liars (Google APR Fake RSC), and they dont know dick about Diesels.. Malone/Kerma/DarkSide are all diesel specialists, and the first two been doing em for over 20 years now and earned a reputation for making our TDI's even more reliable than OEM.. the last one is the king of performance, they make 400HP 2.0L TDI with big turbo upgrades and etc.
Last edited by dreadlocks; 03-20-2019 at 07:53 AM.
03-20-2019, 10:36 PM
#30
AudiWorld Junior Member
Thread Starter
Just pickup OEM fluids from the dealer, they are usually competitively priced because shipping hazardous liquids is rather expensive.. You need an oil evacuator if you DIY, dont think there is a drain plug so gotta suck it out the filler port and add back exactly as much as you took out.
I guess that depends on your location, here emissions tests are just opacity tests.. they plug nothing into the OBD2 port or even look under the vehicle.. so tuned is fine as long as its not rolling coal.. if you have more strict emissions than that then you might be boned.
APR is a garbage company IMO over hyped and over marketed liars (Google APR Fake RSC), and they dont know dick about Diesels.. Malone/Kerma/DarkSide are all diesel specialists, and the first two been doing em for over 20 years now and earned a reputation for making our TDI's even more reliable than OEM.. the last one is the king of performance, they make 400HP 2.0L TDI with big turbo upgrades and etc.
I guess that depends on your location, here emissions tests are just opacity tests.. they plug nothing into the OBD2 port or even look under the vehicle.. so tuned is fine as long as its not rolling coal.. if you have more strict emissions than that then you might be boned.
APR is a garbage company IMO over hyped and over marketed liars (Google APR Fake RSC), and they dont know dick about Diesels.. Malone/Kerma/DarkSide are all diesel specialists, and the first two been doing em for over 20 years now and earned a reputation for making our TDI's even more reliable than OEM.. the last one is the king of performance, they make 400HP 2.0L TDI with big turbo upgrades and etc.
Do you have a link to data showing that some of the tunes make it more reliable? I'd be curious to read about what they do and how it helps. I'm more concerned about reliability than performance.
I think the emissions down here are more lax than Colorado. If you can get away with removing those parts and tuning, I probably can too.