scientifix

New here.
Thinking of upgrading our 2010 Acura MDX. Considering the Q7, X5 and the XC90. Test drove all of them. X5 was the most fun to drive, but the car is for my wife and she doesn't care much of the fun-to-drive part and if that was the primary concern I won't be considering an SUV to begin with. Other than that X5 was quite tight in terms of interior space plus the interior is starting to look dated. XC90 was extremely good in terms of fit and finish and seats were absolutely the best, features and space. But engine noise definitely confirmed every time I stepped on the gas that it's a 4-cylinder. Plus the Infotainment system screen in the XC90 was not at all impressive. It basically looked like a 8-bit color screen from the past. While I was swiping across the screen accidentally touched the headrest which whacked my son in his head Overall the infotainment is a good idea but I felt it needs a brighter and much more colorful screen.
The Premium Plus Audi Q7 3.0T engine was super refined, most refined of all - better than the X5 and clearly better than the XC90, and was the most muted in terms of noise. Comfort wise Q7 felt most comfortable, XC90 was very close. Blown away by the virtual cockpit and I feel it's a crime to buy the 17 Q7 without that option. Drove the 2.0T first, was adequate but once we drove the 3.0T it's very hard to consider the 2.0T!
Overall, leaning towards the Q7 so far - thought not in a hurry to buy.
The model we drove had regular suspension and was quite comfortable, given the cost of the air suspension, as of now not considering that option.
What about the driver assistance package - whoever owns it do you think it's useful and worth the cost? Does the blindspot monitoring come as part of the driver assistant package only?

SCarGuy

Driver Assist is awesome I find - but requires a Prestige or Premium Plus.

It gives you:

Audi adaptive cruise control with Traffic jam assist
High beam assistant
Audi active lane assist
Traffic sign recognition
Audi pre sense front

JT4

We recently picked up our Q7 and the vehicles we considered were the X5 and F Pace. The Jag is great looking but rather small and then considering the reliability, and reading what some people on the F Pace forums are going through with electronic issues we decided to move on from it.

We test drove the X5 and while it drove much better than I expected when comparing it to the Q7 IMO it was a no brainer, especially when it comes to the interior. I agree the X5 looks dated whereas the Q7's interior is, well need I explain...LOL

As for the Q7 like you we initially drove the 2.0 and I have to say I was very impressed by the power, I guess I went into the test drive expecting it to feel under powered and it didn't. And I purposely took my oldest son (23) with us on the test drive so we would have 4 people in it, and it had good pick up and I was seriously considering it.

A week later I drove the 3.0 and a 2.0 back to back I could immediately feel the refinement that the 3.0 had over the 2.0. The 2.0 felt like it was working hard compared to the 3.0 just going along without breaking a sweat. The 3.0 felt a little more "polished" it that makes sense.

BTW I am NOT knocking the 2.0 I think it is a great power plant and had I not driven the 3.0 I would have bought it. But I certainly wouldn't rule it out in the future.

I don't have the driver asst pkg so I can't comment on it, but I have the vision pkg and I once again agree with you in that it is a must have..

Good Luck with your decision..

u0106793

Once I spent some time on the Volvo board reading about reliability issues with the xc90 it made my decision easier. I still feel strange driving a BMW or Mercedes (not sure why) but the Q7 was only one left at a reasonable price.

F30guy

We needed a 3 row SUV. Looked at the MDX and the X5 briefly. The 3rd row on the X5 is just crap. Seems like an after thought they made to just fit the car. We have a 328 as well and we know BMW are fun to drive, but the X5 wasn't for us, and it was pricey.

The MDX was nice and had all the features we wanted, but the infotainment system seemed really dated.

We needed to get the Driver Assistance Plus pkg to get the blind spot detection as thats a safety feature we wanted. That also had the pre sense city and HUD. The HUD is pretty cool.

We also have the 360 camera as well. The packages in Canada are different, we got the Technik, the top of the line trim. No idea what the equivalent is for the US models

JT4

^ Yeah they must be, because I don't have the driver asst pkg but I have the blind spot detection in my Prem Plus.

Technik in Canada must be the equivalent to the Prestige here in the states.

SCarGuy

PreSense city and basic are both standard on a Q7 Premium in the US
Side Assist and rear PreSense are standard are stadnard on a Q7 Premium Plus in the US.

Driver Assist is optional on the Premium Plus and Prestige in the US

JT4

Got it, thanks.

scientifix

That is true. When we first drove the 2.0T it definitely performed better than the expectations. In fact if we hadn't driven the 3.0, we wouldn't have thought the 2.0 lacked power or oomph. BTW, though the 3.0 was much better and smoother and refined, the 5.8K difference between two makes the 2.0 quite attractive!

BuckarooBanzai

After having a fully-loaded 2.0T for 3 weeks now as a loaner, I can say without hesitation that I would not buy one instead of a 3.0. To be fair, it's pretty good once you're cruising highway speeds (without major hills) and for putting around town. The ride quality is fantastic regardless of the engine.

But, after nearly 1K miles of driving, it bugs me enough to stay away. They may say on paper that the 2.0T goes 0-60 quicker than the older-gen 3.0, but it sure doesn't feel like it in real-world scenarios. The lag is awful when you need to stomp on it to get into moving traffic - not to mention it sounds like it's under a LOT of stress to do it. Based on my experience, I know - for me - that heading into the mountains loaded up with a cargo box on top with that engine would probably frustrate me on a 64K vehicle.

It's one of those things where it definitely fills a need for some buyers... just not me.

It definitely has it's purpose and it's a massive cost savings. For my usage though, and after driving it as many miles as I have, it's 3.0 or bust when the time comes to get a second one in a couple years.