Audi Q7 ownership

AHarvey

AHarvey

AHarvey

Soldato
Joined
6 Mar 2008
Posts
10,092
Location
Stoke area
Hi all,

Wife is due with our 3rd in Dec and we're looking at a new run around.

Wife mainly does the school run, country roads which can suffer snow and flooding, and pops to work so 10 miles a day usually.

She'll have 2 kids under 8 and a baby seat, plus kids friends etc and we've been looking at various larger cars that'll handle the country roads and be decent on holiday/days out.

Q7 meets her style requirements, and seating requirements however, due to her mileage a diesel just doesn't seem practical so looking at Q7 petrol, and older ones due to the school roads.

Found a nice looking 56 plate one with lots of options on Autotrader for £8k, plus trade-in on a 06 A4 it's affordable to buy. It's got the auto box in it.

I know the tax is £570 a year, insurance isn't an issue but what are general running costs like? Basic things I can do myself but is there anything to look out for or be concerned about?

EDIT: Quick note, the off-road capability isn't the issue, it's for the several times a year when the single width country roads are flooded or full of snowdrifts. Clearance is more important but always being able to get the kids to and from school is.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if the running costs were at least double that of your A4 - when new a Q7 was a £60k car, so repairs/servicing are going to be proportionally more expensive.
Even things like tyres and brakes are going to cost considerably more, just through them being larger, and it being a heavy car will likely get through them more frequently.

A 13 year old premium "SUV" is going to be a money pit.

Not sure what the answer is, but likely it means relaxing one or more of your requirements (style/off road capability/no of seats) or extending your budget.


Edit:
Just to put it into perspective, you could get a 61 plate Ford Galaxy Titanium X for £7500
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201909202454851

Yes it won't meet the off road requirements, and may not meet the style requirements, but has plenty of space, sensible running costs, and being a Titanium X will have almost as much equipment as a Q7 anyway.
 
Armageus said:
I wouldn't be surprised if the running costs were at least double that of your A4 - when new a Q7 was a £60k car, so repairs/servicing are going to be proportionally more expensive.
Even things like tyres and brakes are going to cost considerably more, just through them being larger, and it being a heavy car will likely get through them more frequently.

A 13 year old premium "SUV" is going to be a money pit.

Not sure what the answer is, but likely it means relaxing one or more of your requirements (style/off road capability/no of seats) or extending your budget.


Edit:
Just to put it into perspective, you could get a 61 plate Ford Galaxy Titanium X for £7500
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201909202454851

Yes it won't meet the off road requirements, and may not meet the style requirements, but has plenty of space, sensible running costs, and being a Titanium X will have almost as much equipment as a Q7 anyway.
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Yeah, we're looking at 6k miles a year and from what I've read 20" tyres will need replacing every 6-8k.

Q7 isn't really that great off road really, if it was me I'd be happy with an older 4x4, a Jeep or Land Rover of some sort. It's mainly that the roads, as in this weekend can flood and snow can build up so the extra clearance will help.

It is a real issue as there are a few 7 seaters, Mitsubishi Outlanders for instance that I quite like, but it's finding something that everyone is equally happy with is a nightmare.
 
Most cars with some winter tyres will do fine on snow. These SUVs arent really off-road cars, they are mostly fashion items.
 
Nasher said:
Most cars with some winter tyres will do fine on snow. These SUVs arent really off-road cars, they are mostly fashion items.
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It's more to do with clearance than grip, my gti does ok but as they are narrow roads the snow/water soon builds up and my lowered car would die :D

grudas said:
won't be cheap to run at all..

I'd be looking at something else, a volvo XC90 for e.g.
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The volvo is also on the list to look at, just the q7 is winning on everything but costs.
 
Bounce said:
Why do you need off road capability, as 99% of the time it wont be needed.
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200sols said:
School run in a Q7, yep.

Affordable to buy, maybe. Affordable to fix? Not really.
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It's not about off road, it is more clearance as I posted above. My lowered gti struggles, and so do the normal saloons when it gets really bad. We've had the local farmer down there clearing roads or towing people out of ditches as they've missed them in the snow.

This isn't your normal school run in a town/city, it's country roads, single lane, grass growing in the middle etc.
 
AHarvey said:
The volvo is also on the list to look at, just the q7 is winning on everything but costs.
Click to expand...

and with a budget of 8k after trade in i'd say that is a very important thing.. essentially end of day it is a 60k car to run, fix etc.

you need to be in a place to have 2k in the bank ready to fix it in and to be honest, if a car you require and depend on is often broken or requires expensive repairs you will soon be looking at something else.

the novelty of a "big premium badge suv" will soon wear off..
 
AHarvey said:
It's not about off road, it is more clearance as I posted above. My lowered gti struggles, and so do the normal saloons when it gets really bad. We've had the local farmer down there clearing roads or towing people out of ditches as they've missed them in the snow.

This isn't your normal school run in a town/city, it's country roads, single lane, grass growing in the middle etc.
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I drive my gt86 in snow in the UK using winter tyres. If it gets much deeper than a few inches on the road they will be blocked or closed anyway and nothing will get through.

A scoobie on winters will do better than most things on snow though :P
 
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AHarvey said:
It's not about off road, it is more clearance as I posted above. My lowered gti struggles, and so do the normal saloons when it gets really bad. We've had the local farmer down there clearing roads or towing people out of ditches as they've missed them in the snow.

This isn't your normal school run in a town/city, it's country roads, single lane, grass growing in the middle etc.
Click to expand...

Surely a newer SUV will be fine.
 
A lot of it depends on your tolerance for potential hassle really. Personally, I'd have a Q7 any day over a Galaxy / Touran, but I'd keep a few k in the bank for potential repairs, and would be willing to investigate potential problems myself, spend time researching aftermarket parts to fix issues etc. I also have another car to fall back on if the other breaks down. If you're not in that situation, you should probably steer clear.

I've had 5 premium / supposedly expensive to run cars: 1 was a money pit, the other 4 were great; never let me down and cost me very little in repairs. I was also able to sell them for the same or more than I paid, despite putting a lot of miles on them. For me, it's worth it, for others, probably not.
 
Nasher said:
I drive my gt86 in snow in the UK using winter tyres. If it gets much deeper than a few inches on the road they will be blocked or closed anyway and nothing will get through.

A scoobie on winters will do better than most things on snow though :p
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Talking scoobie, forester would be a good call from the Ops perspective

Even on summer rubber my old scoob was awesome in the snow, until it came to stopping going downhill then it was pretty much as bad as anything else
 
There must be more suitable choices other than a Q7, an old one will be a huge money pit without particularly great off road capabilities compared to its more established competitors.

If you do though, bankrupt yourself in style, get the V12 TDi a truly bonkers engine but quite an event to drive one imo, epic torque:D

Tbh the V12 diesel the only thing I like about the Q7 and that anybody would think a V12 diesel a good idea itself should have been laughed out of the proposal for manufacturer meeting in the first place! :p
 
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