2021 Audi SQ7

The 2021 Audi SQ7 comes in two trim levels. While both the trim levels are pretty loaded in terms of equipment, it's the Prestige trim that gets some extra safety features.The offering of only two trims makes it easier to choose and makes the decision faster. The breakup of features is listed in the table below

Trim	Premium Plus 4.0 TFSI Quattro	Prestige 4.0 TFSI Quattro
MSRP (AWD)	$85,000	$91,200
Key Features	All-wheel steering	Adds/Upgrades to Premium Plus trim features
	Adaptive air suspension	Leather door trim
	16-speaker Bang and Olufsen 3D surround sound system	Heads-up display
	LED Interior lighting plus package	Color-adjustable footwell lights
	21-inch 5-spoke-star design gray/polished-finish wheels	Heated rear seats
	Matrix-design LED headlights	Audi Side Assist with Audi Pre-Sense
	Valcona leather S sport seats with contrast diamond stitching	Power soft-closing doors
	Driver Assistance package	Acoustic laminated glass

Which trim should you buy?

We will recommend the Premium Plus trim which is priced at $85,000. The Premium Plus trim comes with a 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen 3D surround system, leather S sport seats with contrast diamond stitching, S-tuned adaptive air suspension, etc. Also, the optional Executive package now adds a leather-trimmed

This is a very thirsty motor. Big V8s have never been very kind to the fuel and so is the case with the SQ7. With an average MPG of 15, 21, and 17 in city, highway, and combined driving scenarios, the SQ7 is the least efficient of the bunch and burns fuel like anything. This is a little bit of a problem as Audi has no shortage of rivals and unfortunately for the SQ7 the competitors are offering better fuel economy than it.

Models	2021 Audi SQ7	2021 BMW X5 M50i	2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 53	2021 Porsche Cayenne S
MPG (City)	15	16	18	18
MPG (Highway)	21	22	22	22
MPG (Combined)	17	18	19	20
Fuel Tank Capacity (Gallons)	22.5	21.9	22.5	23.7
Range (City/Highway/Combined; Miles)	338/473/405	285/394/339	338/428/383	427/521/474

Given that the additional weight also makes things worse. With a fuel tank capacity of 22.5 gallons, it doesn’t have the best range as well.The Porsche seems to shine in the efficiency game offering a mileage of 18 mpg in the city and 22 mpg on the highway and this is shared by the Merc as well but the Porsche offers a combined mileage of 20mpg and the GLE only does 19.While these two keep contending BMW sits in its sweet spot taking the middle ground between the two most efficient cars and the least efficient car.

Inside the things are exactly similar to that of the normal Q7. Now, the Q7 already has a very premium and well-built cabin as Audi is really famous for building some of the nicest cabins in the market. There is a beautiful piano black price of trim running across the dashboard which also houses one of the twin-display which we will talk about just in a while. Above that, the huge AC vent also running across the width of the dashboard is very unique to the modern-day Audi’s and is something you won’t find anywhere else. 

The quality of materials used inside the 2021 Audi SQ7 is just excellent and the whole dash is wrapped in leather while you can’t find a single piece of trim done in hard or cheap plastic. The decorative inlays come as high gloss Gray Oakwood as standard while the carbon fiber is a $750 optional extra. The steering wheel is a big chunky one and really very nice to touch. It is wrapped in leather and gets heated functionality as standard. There are buttons to control the digital driver’s display which in this car here has S-specific race dials. 

The front seats are S sports seats which are just lovely to sit on. They are very comfortable and come with an array of adjustments for the driver and the co-passenger to be comfortable. The seats come in three color options and have diamond quilting on them which looks very premium.

At the back as well, just like the normal Q7, you have loads and loads of knee room and ample headroom as well. The seats can be slid forward and backward depending on how much room you want for yourself. The seats can also be reclined by a huge degree which makes them even more comfortable to occupy. The side seats in the second row are also sports ones so people sitting on them will be really lucky and comfortable.

This is a 7 seater car on paper and what you get in the third row is just normal seats as there are no sports seats here. Also, these seats are utterly useless as there is barely any knee room and headroom is also super tight. It is best suited for kids but that too just for smaller journeys as longer ones will be a nightmare here. You sit in a very knee-high position and that makes it really very uncomfortable.

Models	2021 Audi SQ7	2021 BMW X5 M50i	2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 53	2021 Porsche Cayenne S
Seating Capacity	7	5	5	5
Front Row (Headroom/Shoulder Room/Legroom; inches)	39.9/59.5/41.7	40.7/60.0/39.8	42.3/59.3/40.3	N/A
Second Row (Headroom/Shoulder Room/Legroom; inches)	38.8/58.5/38.8	38.7/58.1/37.4	40.4/58.4/38.4	N/A
Third Row (Headroom/Shoulder Room/Legroom; inches)	35.9/49.4/29.2	N/A	N/A	N/A
Cargo Capacity (cubic feet)	14.2	33.9	33.3	27.2

This is the only seven-seater of the bunch which means the standard boot volume will be the smallest. It has just 14.2 cubic feet of space at the trunk with all the seats up, but with the third-row seats down, you can fairly increase that space. 

Also for the first and second row, it might just not be the most spacious as the GLE 53 AMG offers most space in those rows. But the added practicality of having two more seats makes the SQ7 the winner here.

What’s there to keep you entertained?

The center of attraction of the 2021 Audi SQ7’s cabin is the three high-definition screens that control pretty much everything about the car. The most important one is a 10.1-inch infotainment screen which comes with Audi’s latest generation of MMI interface. 

This is a very intuitive system and we particularly love the way Audi has changed the small icons and logos to match the exact spec of the car you are driving. The display is super crisp and readability is very good even under direct sunlight. Below that is an 8.6-inch touchscreen for all your vehicle settings like the climate control, driving settings, temperature gauges, and other stuff. 

This two display layout has completely made the cabin clutter-free and though it looks quite good sometimes the feel of physically pressing a button is certainly missed. The screens have haptic feedback to them which also can be changed depending on how hard you press, to reassure you that you are pressing the right buttons.

The infotainment system can be paired to a 23 speakers Bang and Olufsen surround sound system which amplifies the whole experience to multiple levels.

Some of the highlights of the infotainment system are as follows:

• 10.1-inch & 8.6-inch touchscreen displays
• Optional 23-speaker Bang & Olufsen 3D surround sound system
• Audi MMI interface
• Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Wireless charging

The most distinguishing design cue here is the rear bumper which has a massive rear diffuser that is black in color and has huge quad exhaust pipes. Also, there is a roof spoiler now and SQ7 badging at the back to tell you where all your extra money went. Other than that everything is similar to the normal Q7 at the back as the taillights are the all-LED slim units just like the ones in the Q7.

On the side, the car has body-colored moldings on the sills rather than black plastic cladding on the Q7. Also, the rearview mirror housing is done in black though you can choose it to be satin silver or carbon fiber in the finish. The rear windows are also black-tinted. There are 21-inch alloy wheels as standard and have two styling options. What we don’t get here in the states though is the Vorsprung or black edition trim which comes with 22-inch rims and this is really a thing to grieve about. One thing we really liked though is the S itching on the brake calipers which look sporty and kind of cool.

At the front itself, the car gets a bigger and bolder bumper which gets a front splitter, and bigger and deeper air intakes to feel air to the radiators. The optional black optics package makes the whole grille black in color which makes the car look even more aggressive and sporty to look at. Other than that it is pretty much similar to that of the normal Q7 which honestly looks more like an estate rather than an SUV. All SQ7 models get matrix LED headlights as standard which are really very good.

As standard, the car comes in 8 paint job options among which the Navarra Blue Metallic is our favorite which is a $595 optional extra. Though if you really want to make your car stand out then you can choose a color from the endless list of Audi special color palette which is a whopping $3,900 worth of optional extra.

Models	2021 Audi SQ7	2021 BMW X5 M50i	2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 53	2021 Porsche Cayenne S
Curb Weight (lbs)	5,291	5,260	5,203	4,740
Length (inches)	199.6	194.3	194.4	193.7
Width (inches)	77.6	78.9	79.3	78.1
Height (inches)	68.5	68.7	70.2	66.8
Ground Clearance (inches)	8.1	8.3	7.5	7.4
Wheelbase (inches)	117.9	117.1	117.9	114.0

The Audi SQ7 is the heaviest among the competition, that is primarily because it is a bit bigger car as well. It is the longest one in the bunch by a huge margin. Though it is the least wide among all, the height is somewhere in the middle of the group.

The 2021 Audi SQ7 is a very safe car and just like all other Audis, it also comes with a long list of safety features as standard to keep all the occupants safe. Because this is a fairly new car in the market so it hasn’t yet been tested by either the NHTSA or the IIHS but we are expecting the ratings will come soon and the car is expected to ace all the tests. 

Till then you can satisfy your inner geek by looking at the long safety equipment list of the car.

Some of the standout safety features are as follows:

• Blind-spot monitoring system
• Front and rear cross-traffic alert
• Automatic emergency braking
• 360-degree surround-view camera
• Lane departure warning system
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Pedestrian detection
• Adaptive cruise control with Stop & Go
• Lane-keeping assist
• Traffic sign recognition
• Hill descent control

2021 Audi SQ7 vs 2021 BMW X5 M50i

Engine capacity wise, BMW X5 might be the only true competitor for the Audi Q7. While the BMW is no competition for Audi’s additional practicality of seven seats but keeping that to the side, X5 M50i is better than the SQ7 in all other respects. 

It is a more comfortable car than the Audi for five people, it is more powerful, is more efficient, and cheaper as well. While the Q7 also has its fair share of cards to play which includes overall practicality and technological features. Both are really good-looking SUVs and though looks are very subjective, we do feel the X5 looks better than the SQ7.

2021 Audi SQ7 vs 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE 53

While the Mercedes AMG GLE 53 is the cheapest among the competitors of the SQ7, it is essentially not a worthy opponent if we look at the figures. It is $12,650 cheaper than the SQ7 but also quite considerably less powerful than the SQ7, to be precise it is 71 bhp lesser than the SQ7. 

Also, while SQ7 is a seven-seater, the GLE is a 5 seater just like the X5. The GLE is a very good car on its own but when we compare it to the SQ7, it is not as good as the latter.

2021 Audi SQ7 vs 2021 Porsche Cayenne S

This is yet again the case of sibling rivalry. The Cayenne is the most expensive one here, thanks to the Porsche name it comes with. It is also the most advanced drivetrain of the bunch. 

But no matter what we just can’t justify its premium in front of others and honestly we cannot find any reason compelling enough to make us pick the Cayenne over the SQ7.

There are two thighs that we need to talk about here. If you want a powerful seven-seater SUV and you are very critical about the seven-seater factor and are strictly on a budget, then you should get yourself the 2021 Audi SQ7 because the other seven-seater performance SUVs like the X7 and the GLS are very expensive. 

But if you can go with the five-seater option, then we would strongly recommend getting the BMW X5 M50i as that makes more sense.