Audi Q7 4.2 FSI Quattro 2006 review

The chief rivals from Munich, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg have a massive head start which in some cases can be measured by the length of an entire model life.

And that's good and bad.

Good in that Audi should have capitalised on any of the shortcomings of BMW's X5, Mercedes's ML-Class and the Volkswagen Touareg.

Explore the 2006 Audi Q7 range

• Audi Q7 2006 review
• Audi Q7 4.2 FSI Quattro 2006 review

And bad in that if you are a died-in-the-wool Audi worshipper, in terms of the waiting game, it's been a bit like a seven-year itch.

Seven years! That's how long the ML-Class has been out and about.

So Audi is off and running with the Q7, a big wagon that was the centre of a big launch in September. It was a big deal running a fleet of 15 Q7s the breadth of Australia from east to west — a trans-continental crossing of monumental proportions.

This adventure was loaded to the brim with bravado by Audi having faith in the product stacking up to Australia's harsh Outback.

But you don't need a Rhodes Scholar to tell you the most dust many Q7's will collect will be sawdust from the next door neighbour who is renovating their palatial suburban abode.

So we put our first Q7 road test car, a TDi, through its paces in the real world — out and about in Brisbane and down the coast for the cafe cruise.

The turbo diesel we acquired was loaded with kit and the third row option and you could feel every bit of its bulk. It is a little unwilling off the line but once it gathers pace, it runs hard and strong.

This is quite a competent truck, good all-round vision and the reversing camera to keep you from backing over something you cannot see in the rear vision mirror.

Downtown the diesel was running into the 13-14litres/100km range, although it was closer to 10litres on freer runs on the highway.

There are little touches here and there that separate the Q7 from the crowd and a highly functional cabin that hits the ergonomic button where others have tended to miss the mark.

It handles quite well for something which stretches the tape further than a LandCruiser in length and width but not height.

But where the Q7 really shines is ride quality. It spoils occupants with the sweetest ride among the premium soft-road brigade.

No surprise then that the 4.2-litre V8 version offers a lot more urge down low, the mumbo you would expect from an eight-pot howler.

It is the business, the V8, and it also demonstrates the engineering prowess of the Q7 chassis that copes with all of this energy as if it were a regular sedan.

The V8 was chewing through about 13litres/100km on this test with strict adherence to signposted speed limits but running the revs up from a standstill every now and then.

Given that we deliberately did not take the Q7 on the gravel we didn't have to worry about testing the integrity of how the twin intercoolers in the TDi stood up to punishment from stones.

They are vulnerably placed behind the vents either side of the front spoiler.

If we were to give one piece of advice it would be to install mesh to these vents to prevent anything spearing the intercoolers if you plan to go on the gravel let alone on a trans-continental expedition.

Not that any were reported to have been pierced on the east-west crossing launch run but it is better to be safe than sorry.

A lot of people, colleagues included, have questioned the existence of such an animal as the Q7.

But here's the rub.

One of the many reasons why it has been built is to tap a market where Audi traditionally has not been in the game — the United States.

And Australians are warming to the interlocking rings brand with a vengeance.

So it is better that the Q7 is here now, late, than not at all.