Category: Large 4x4s 
Price Range: £38,560 to £95,225
Epic performance, imposing looks, decent fuel range.
Frightening cost, mammoth dimensions, likes a drink.
New V12 diesel is mind-bendingly quick, but the rest of the car can't keep up.
One word sums up the Q7: epic. Audi's flagship 4x4 is already one of the biggest in its class and now it boasts an equally colossal engine: a 493bhp, 5.9-litre diesel.
Its performance is devastating, as you would expect. From the lights the 2.7-tonne Q7 launches into the horizon, passing the benchmark 62mph in just 5.5 seconds and slamming into its 155mph limiter in an alarmingly short space of time.
So this is the most powerful diesel passenger car ever, Audi's engineers say. They claim that the Q7's twin-turbo V12 has direct lineage to Audi's Le Mans-winning R10 race car - except here it is 'far more sophisticated'.
Pitched to lock horns with the searing Porsche Cayenne Turbo and Mercedes ML 63 AMG, this Q7 is just as fast but boasts 40% more torque than the petrol competition. It also consumes 25mpg on average - swallowing a third less fuel than its rivals. This also means the V12 Q7 has the lowest emissions, although we're not expecting any member of Greenpeace to celebrate its 300g/km carbon dioxide emissions.
But what's its like on the road? Does the V12 Q7 make for a high-performance 4x4 or is it a huge disappointment?
Latest Readers' Drives About the Audi Q7
wrote on 05 07 2007