2025 Audi Q7 50 TDI quattro S line review

Audi let the first-generation Q7 SUV run a long 10-year life cycle, whereas six or seven-year model spans were more typical. History repeats with the 2025 Audi Q7 range, which was updated late last year to see it through a few more years on sale.

The changes aren’t massive either. Audi likes to evolve the look of its vehicles, so the grille insert and head- and tail-lights are the most obvious changes with minor updates to trims, colours, and equipment.

With a range of four variants, spread across petrol and diesel engines, before stepping up to the high-performance SQ7, the 2025 Audi Q7 undercuts key rivals and offers pricing that almost dips into the territory of cars in the luxury-spec medium SUV class.

The Audi Q7 range starts from $108,815 plus on-road costs for the entry-level petrol-powered Q7 45 TFSI model with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine. The range then climbs through a low-output 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel, and tops out with top-tier diesel and petrol variants.

The high-output Q7 50 TDI drive here starts from $136,815 with a 210kW/600Nm 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6. As an alternative, the 55 TFSI version comes with a 250kW/500Nm 3.0-litre turbo petrol V6 with the same starting price.

Standard equipment for the 50 TDI over lower grades includes features like an S line styling package, 21-inch alloy wheels, a powered sunroof, four-zone climate control, front sports seats, sports steering wheel with electric adjustment, stainless steel pedals, and a 17-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system.

That’s on top of features found in lower grades like matrix LED headlights, keyless entry with push-button start, a powered tailgate, leather seat trim, front seat heating, 10.1-inch infotainment and 12.3-inch instrument displays, adaptive cruise control, and more.

The car shown here had additional packages added, like the Luxury Seat Package that adds sports seats with integrated headrests, embossed S logos, front seat ventilation, and rear seat heating. A $4200 upgrade.

The Premium Plus Package adds 22-inch wheels, four-wheel steering, adaptive air suspension, a gloss black exterior package, and soft-close doors. It adds a still-reasonable $5500 to the price. 

Pricing for six-cylinder diesel rivals starts at a comparable $138,600 for the BMW X5 xDrive30d, or $154,900 for a Mercedes-Benz GLE450d, the latter being slightly more powerful with 270kW and 750Nm.

Korean rival, Genesis, has dropped its GV80 diesel range and instead offers only a turbo petrol V6 priced from $129,114 – all before on-road costs and options.

At the time of writing, Audi was running a promotional offer on the Q7 with discounts equal to the luxury car tax that would otherwise be payable at full price. The offer applies to MY24 and MY25 Q7 models, but is set to expire at the end of July 2025.

Drive Marketplace has a wide range of new and used Audi Q7s for sale, so whether you’re looking for your own brand-new example, or a quality used car, you’ll find plenty to choose from.

The Q7 makes great use of its five-metre overall length, providing a spacious and comfortable interior.

The first and second rows in particular are true luxury-car spec, with lots of room in every direction, and comfortable, supportive seating. The interior design is largely unchanged from updates introduced in 2020 that saw the Q7 adopt the multi-screen dash from the then-new Q8.

Front seat occupants face a wide horizontal dash with an upper panel that looks like a full-width vent, and a lower section in gloss black to create an uninterrupted band with the infotainment integrated in.

The centre console sits high, but apart from lidded cupholders and a shallow console under the armrest (including the wireless charge pad), the in-cabin storage isn’t fantastic.

The interior finish, with lots of pleasant metallic finishes, soft contact points, and tight, accurate panel gaps feels restrained but incredibly high quality.

Rear seat space is excellent, with a near-flat floor across the second row and plenty of room in every direction. The seats are comfortably sculpted for two outboard occupants, with a firmer and higher centre seat.

The second-row seats are manually adjustable, with tilt and slide movement, plus the rear seat occupants get plenty of air vents, their own left and right climate zones and rear seat heating (as part of the Luxury Seat Package).

Access to the third row is a little narrow with the second row tilted forward, and space in the rearmost seats is compact, in stark contrast to the rest of the car. They’re useful for kids or early teens' transport, but won't handle regular use from full-sized adults.

The third row offers power folding too, making them easy to stow, but if the second row is all the way back, or slightly reclined, it can interrupt the power-folding sequence. You’ll often find yourself needing to run forward, move the manual second row, and finish folding the third row, which is a bit of a hindrance.

Boot space is wide and long (front to back), even with the third row up, but not especially deep. Tie-downs, bag hooks, and buttons for the third row are all included. The Q7 also comes with a cargo blind that automatically raises with the tailgate, which is a handy touch.

Boot space measures in at 295 litres with the third row up, or 780L to the second row – which is bigger than the 650L BMW X5 and 630L capacity of the Mercedes GLE. With all seats folded, there’s an incredibly generous 1908L available.

As the in-car tech game moves forward, Audi’s infotainment interface is starting to look left behind. Audi’s own smaller but newer Q4 e-tron and Q6 e-tron models offer much larger infotainment displays, with newer and snappier software.

The Q7 retains a main 10.1-inch primary infotainment display, plus a second 8.6-inch display used for climate control and supporting settings.

The system includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, satellite navigation, FM and digital radio, and is the gateway to all of the vehicle settings.

While load times aren’t laggy, there are more responsive touch displays. The biggest problem I encountered was with smartphone mirroring. Each time I’d get in the car after pairing wirelessly, the Audi infotainment system would fail to load CarPlay and bring up a Bluetooth error message, while streaming music via Bluetooth.

After numerous attempts to delete and re-pair the phone, the system refused to boot CarPlay again. After switching to a cabled connection, things were slightly better, but there were still a few days where the system simply refused to display phone data.

Audi’s own media interface can cover most of the same functions, but not all, and struggles a bit when it comes to simplicity and ease of use.

A head-up display for the driver and a configurable 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster provide great detail at a glance.

The Q7 also comes with access to Audi Connect Plus, which includes in-vehicle online services, and a smartphone app that can give you info on your vehicle’s location, remotely lock and unlock the car, and provide SOS assistance. Access is free for the first three years, then moves to a subscription plan.

According to local crash test authority, ANCAP, the Audi Q7 carries a five-star safety rating awarded in 2019. With ANCAP constantly evolving its criteria, older ratings may not be directly comparable with more recent results, and a December 2025 expiry has been attached to the current rating.

At the time of testing, the Audi Q7 was awarded a 92 per cent adult occupant protection score, 87 per cent for child occupant protection, and 71 per cent for both vulnerable road user protection and safety assist systems.

The list of standard safety equipment in the 2025 Audi Q7 is comprehensive, with features like autonomous emergency braking including pedestrian detection, rear collision detection with pre-sense cabin preparation, lane-keep assist with lane centring, all-speed adaptive cruise control with auto restart, rear cross-traffic alert, safe exit assist, 360-degree cameras, driver attention monitoring, and much more.

Audi’s experience in tuning these systems shows, with a natural feel to the way the adaptive cruise control speeds and slows, gentle and fluent lane assistance, and no false positives or needless alerts.

The only issue I encountered was in busy multi-lane traffic. The Q7 would normally behave itself, but every so often would lock into a slower vehicle in an adjacent lane and refuse to pass. 

A small prod on the accelerator was all it took to fix, but the system feels like it could be smarter.

The traffic sign recognition included in the Q7 was good in terms of accuracy. It did pick up some side road signs or the 80km/h signs on the back of local-route buses (an area where other systems struggle too), but picked up the right speeds on gazetted roads.

Audi offers the option of prepaid service packages that cover five years or 75,000km of maintenance.

A five-year service plan costs $3820 and includes all scheduled maintenance as described in the service handbook. Audi also includes a five-year unlimited-kilometre warranty and five years' access to roadside assistance.

Rivals vary from free servicing on the GV80 for the first five years, up to a shocking $8055 for five years' maintenance on a Mercedes-Benz GLE.

Comprehensive insurance for the Audi Q7 50 TDI S line came to $4732 per year using the details for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Running the same numbers for a BMW X5 xDrive30d M Sport came to $3397, while a Mercedes-Benz GLE450d was quoted at $3518 annually.

Audi lists claimed fuel consumption for the Q7 50 TDI at 7.1 litres per 100 kilometres on the combined driving cycle (a mix of town and highway driving).

The Q7 proved itself to be a fairly efficient vehicle, especially given its size, recording an indicated 8.5L/100km during my time with it.

Around town, in purely start-stop driving, that figure pushed as high as 10.2L/100km, and on the freeway with passengers on board and climate control running I saw consistent 6.5L/100km consumption.

The Q7’s 85-litre fuel tank is big enough for a neat 1000km of driving range at the as-tested consumption. That’s enough for most families to go two or three weeks between fill-ups.

With the high-output 3.0-litre turbo diesel V6 under the bonnet, the Audi Q7 50 TDI is swift. Audi states an official 6.1-second 0–100km/h time, making the big SUV as quick as a noble hot hatch from a few years ago.

The big, soft Q7 isn't really about speed, though. It’s built for strength, and rather than racing the clock, you’re far better off letting the stump-pulling mid-range do all the work, with 600Nm of torque providing effortless acceleration whether fully loaded or with just the driver aboard.

There’s a gruff but muted bark from start-up, but otherwise the telltale diesel signs are absent in this engine. It’s smooth and very quiet, even when being pushed hard.

The eight-speed automatic changes gears with syrupy smoothness too, providing gentle steps between ratios, rather than shuffling off razor-sharp changes. It’s all very comfort-oriented and suits the Q7 well.

On the 22-inch wheels of our test car, the ride was still forgiving, but it has a slightly sporty feel to it. You’ll feel the tension on rough roads and over corrugated surfaces, but the air suspension still manages to blot out any harsh reactions.

Steering is comfortably light to use around town, and the four-wheel steering that comes with the optional Premium Plus Package (which also includes 22-inch wheels and adaptive sport suspension) makes the big car feel much smaller.

With the all-wheel steering fitted, the turning circle drops from 12.5m normally to just 11.4m. That means the Q7 needs less space to turn around than the much smaller Q3!

On the highway, that agility settles into steady and stable comfort. The steering is well isolated, so the driver isn't being tugged and jolted through the wheel, and at motorway speeds the Q7 feels nice and calm.

Open-road touring really suits the big Audi too, thanks to hushed road and wind noise, a comfortable ride, and driver assist tech that feels best suited to country highways. 

The Q7 is a good fit for towing, with six-cylinder models rated to a maximum braked towing capacity of 3500kg or 750kg unbraked.

The 50 TDI tested here has a payload of 585kg, which is a little towards the lighter end if you intend to load the interior with a full suite of passengers and all the gear for their weekend pursuits. With four or five occupants, plus luggage, it should be up to the job.

The 2.4-tonne tare mass for the vehicle isn't small, and the overall gross combination mass (GCM, weight of the car plus trailer and payload) is 6500kg for this variant, meaning you could technically run a full payload and a fully-laden trailer without exceeding the legal maximum for the Q7.

That’s handy where some vehicles need you to compromise on one of the other thanks to a lower GCM.

Although towing wasn't a part of the test this time around, the effortless and grunty powertrain should make short work of just about anything you plan to tow.

The Audi Q7 doesn't sit at the cutting edge of the luxury car segment, and the infotainment technology shows a yawning gap where Audi needs to catch up compared to rivals.

For many buyers, the Q7’s step behind may be comforting. The steep learning curve of newer technologies is missing.

Anyone rolling their lease from one Q7 to the next will get a familiar, and immediately intuitive, experience. The connectivity issues we experienced are a bigger cause for concern.

Aside from that, the Q7 is sophisticated, comfortable, quiet, and strong. All hallmarks of a proper luxury vehicle.

Go in understanding that you’re not getting the most advanced vehicle available, but enjoy the lounge-like serenity as the Q7’s mark of luxury, and it’s hard to be disappointed by what’s offered here.

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

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