Audi Q7

The Audi Q7 is a 5-door SUV from Audi, built from 2005, in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Under the bonnet: Petrol engine. Satoshi Wada (concept design: 2002; production: 2003) drew it.

Where it came from

The Audi Q7 is a 2- and 3-row E-segment SUV made by the German manufacturer Audi, unveiled in September 2005 at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Production of the Q7 began in November 2005 at the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant in Bratislava, Slovakia. The Q7 was the first SUV sold by Audi and went on sale in 2006. Later, Audi's second SUV, the Q5, was unveiled as a 2009 model. Audi has since unveiled a third SUV model, the Q3, which went on sale in the third quarter of 2011, and a fourth SUV model, the Q2, which went on sale in November 2016.

The Q7 shares a Volkswagen Group MLB platform and chassis with the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne, and the Volkswagen Touareg. The Q7 is the second largest vehicle from Audi, being surpassed by the Q6 since 2022. While the Q7 has been the flagship SUV in Audi's product portfolio, a top-of-the-line model with a lower roof, called the Q8, was released in 2018. As 2026, the Audi Q9 takes the largest Audi flagship SUV. It was one of the vehicles involved in the Volkswagen emissions scandal, with the company ordered to buy back some of the affected cars manufactured between 2009 and 2012. The first-generation Q7 was also subject to hundreds of NTSB complaints with many relating to potentially catastrophic engine failure issues, and a class-action lawsuit related to squealing brakes.

Under the skin

Power comes from Petrol engine; other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. It weighs 2205 -. It shifts through a 6-speed manual / 6-speed Aisin/VW TR-60SN/09D automatic / 8-speed TL-80SN/TR-82SD automatic. The layout matters: drive goes to all four wheels, which is what lets the power be used on a wet road. The wheelbase is 3002 mm. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.

In context

Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Bratislava. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Bugatti Veyron, the Kia Sportage, the Aston Martin Vantage — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the Audi catalogue sit the Audi 200 and the Audi 225.

What it costs now

The money question first: $13,300–$65,000 is the typical asking range today, and running it — fuel and maintenance at its age — costs about $4,150–$7,534 a year. Insurance sits around $1,490–$3,420 a year. The figures are class-level estimates from the federal record, with the formula on the methodology page; the model-year pages carry complaints, recalls and repair costs year by year.