Audi’s Sober Styling Hides The 2027 Q7 And SQ7’s Secret Weapon

Audi has revealed the looks and specifications for the latest iteration of the six (or optionally seven) seater SUV, the third generation Q7 and hopped-up SQ7. Inside and outside, it has all you can expect from a big new Audi including a new set of powertrains and a litany of customization and aesthetic options.

Getting the big German pachyderm out of the way, you might immediately notice that Audi has played its conservative when it came to styling the newest Q7 and SQ7, at least when compared to more left-field super-SUVs like the SQ8 coupe. It definitely doesn’t seem to be borrowing any of the styling language from the brand’s big new flagship supercar, the nearly 1,000 horsepower Nuvolari.

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The design is more likely to have mass appeal, or course, perhaps stealing customers who might have been interested in other more sober-styled options from Volvo, Genesis, or non-AMG Mercedes models.

On the inside, it’s what you could expect from a luxury SUV. In the six-seater configuration, the second and third row are sets of captain’s chairs, like the bridge of your own little Starship Enterprise. The seven-seater has a three-spot bench for the middle row. On the storage end, Audi notes that with all the seats folded down, it will have a full capacity of 78.1 cubic feet, making it a notable step up from the previous generation Q7’s 68.1 cubic-feet.

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The amenities definitely don’t betray the four rings on the grille. You get a big panoramic roof with adjustable opaqueness, and of course a monstrous optional 22-speaker Bang and Olufsen sound system that’s rated at 1,360 watts. Audi notes that the motors in the seats are tuned to synchronize with the music, allowing for what it calls a more immersive listening experience. Whether or not you’ll notice those adjustments while going down the highway at 70 miles per hour, who can say, but you can’t accuse Audi of not at least putting the effort into making the sound system stick out.

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For towing, both the Q7 and SQ7 enjoy a pretty beefy rating of 7,700 pounds, thanks to the primarily rear-wheel drive bias Quattro all-wheel drive system, eight-speed automatic transmission, and rear-differential lock.

Here’s the Chekhov’s Gun of the 2027 Audi Q7 and SQ7. It’s quite powerful, not matter how you spec it out. The “base” model (let’s face it, a Q7 isn’t a “base model” in any universe) features a 2.9-liter turbocharged V6 (up from the previous generation’s four-banger) that throws down 429 horsepower, a full 168 more angry horses than the old Q7.

The 2027 SQ7 gets a full-bore bi-turbo 4.0-liter V8 that gives out 591 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Not that 0-60 times matter all that much in family-SUVs, but if you feel so inclined, this big beast made in Bratislava can sprint to highway speed in 3.7 seconds. The old SQ7 topped out at “only” 4 seconds even with its 500 horsepower.

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By way of comparison, Audi’s RS 7 Performance liftback sedan and the RS 6 Avant super-wagon also feature a 4.0-liter bi-turbo V8, albeit tuned up in those cases to 621 horsepower.

Pardoning the contrived metaphor, the Q7 and SQ7 are like wolves in German Shepherd’s clothing. You know it’s going to be a big, nicely, equipped, and reasonably powerful because it has a sizable Audi badge (and of course the as-yet-unannounced price tag). So it’s not exactly fooling anyone that it’s not just another grocery getter, next to every other Honda Pilot or Toyota Grand Highlander in the parking lot.

The fact that the SQ7 has nearly 600 horsepower and shares the same acceleration time as a Ford Mustang GT is a bit of a surprise to people who overlook the SQ badging. Still a luxury barge, certainly, but a remarkably fast one.

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Most important, though, it’s a long-overdue revamp: the previous-generation Q7 is now more than a decade old. When the new Q7 and SQ7 launch in the U.S. towards the end of this year, they will surely find worthy competition with the likes of other big (and notably more ostentatiously designed) German monsters like the BMW M-line of SUVs and whatever Mercedes-AMG is cooking up.