Audi Q7 – My Adventure in Luxury

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit my new friends at Audi Tampa at Reeves with my fellow bloggers of Tampa Bay Bloggers to learn all about the new 2017 Audi Q7.  After a great day of lunch and learning about the features of this hot SUV I was surprised with the news that I would be one of lucky ones to leave my car behind and take the Audi Q7 home with me for the night!  I was super excited because this would be a new adventure in luxury for me.   Before this experience, I hadn’t ever driven an Audi or even rode in an Audi so this was all new territory for me.

First Impressions

My first impression was that it is a beautiful, sleek, truck. When you pull up in this, it screams ” I like nice things.” It just does. From purely an aesthetics standpoint it won me over immediately from the outside in.  It won over the teenager too. I didn’t warn him that I would be bringing home the Audi Q7 so when I pulled up to pick him up after football workouts he was shocked and really sad that he couldn’t drive it! We were both double excited that our trip to see the Lion King musical that night would be extra jazzy because our chariot for the night would be this beautiful luxury vehicle.

Technology

Don’t be fooled; this truck is not just another pretty face. She has brains too — literally.  Audi has put some of the smartest available technology on the market today into this luxury SUV.  Some of my favorite technical features were:

1.The pop up media panel that rises out of the dashboard when you start your engine

2. The virtual cockpit feature which displays the car’s CPU, Navigation, and Music info in a driver’s eye view right in front of you. I’ve never seen anything like it.  There are multiple view modes to customize to the driver’s preferences.  Not only does it look cool, but it so much safer because your eyes never have to travel away from the road.  Everything is in your line of sight.  It’s a dynamic view too, so if you are using the navi the real time turn by turn visuals pop up and animate on the screen.

3. The Audi Q7 has cameras on fleek! This is a pretty big truck and I was a little concerned about getting used to the parking. With so many different camera views I was parking and even backing in like I had been driving this truck for years! There’s the standard rear camera of course, but you can also toggle easily between a front camera view, camera’s on both front corners and………………..a bird’s eye view from the top. Yassssss!!! The top view is everythaaang.  This was actually my favorite piece of technology in the truck and it made parking with confidence super easy.

4. The Q7 also has the capability to become a hotspot! This is a blogger’s dream come true.

5. There is a scratch pad where you can write commands! I’ve never seen this in a vehicle before.  I tested it out on the address book and navigation menus.  The only issue was that it didn’t recognize my ‘S’.  LOL  It kept thinking it was a ‘5’. My guess is that perhaps there is a stylus that you should use that will work better than just your finger.

Family Friendly

The Audi Q7 is definitely a vehicle that’s great for families. It’s spacious in both the front and rear seats and passed my long legged tests with flying the colors. There is optional 3rd row seating that can be easily activated with the touch of a button. However, the 3rd row is definitely great for kids but there’s no way my teens and his friends could fit comfortably in the 3rd row. It has nice to have the option though. There’s also 4 zone climate control which allows both sides of the rear seats to control their own temperatures. The littles will love the extended panoramic moon roof so they can look up and see the sky even from their view.  There are also built in UV screens that pull up from inside of the door frame.

Other Features

There are several other great features worth noting.

• 19 Bose speaker sound system; with an upgrade to 21 speaker Bang & Olfsen in the top tier model
• 21 MPG  with a 22 1/2 gallon tank; pretty efficient for a large SUV
• Blind spot alert
• All wheel steering
• Turn assistance
• Traffic jam assist

I was most impressed with the Q7.  If I had to give you the cons I really only have one. I like compartments and hiding my junk away. True to German minimalism, you just aren’t going to get an abundance of nooks and crannies for “stuff”. Totally not a deal breaker but that was really the only thing. If you are in the market for a large SUV it should definitely be on your list for consideration. Don’t just take my word for it! Go see my friends at Audi Tampa at Reeves or your local Audi dealer and test drive a Q7 and see for yourself. Miss Ann will greet you with a smile and the Audi Tampa team will take good care of you!

Watch my Facebook live video walk-around to see some of these cool features in action!

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Audi Tampa provided this opportunity to test drive the vehicle as a result of my awesome relationship with Tampa Bay Bloggers. Of course as always my opinions are all my own. Full disclosure.