Audi Q7 facelift (2009): first official photos

By Tim Pollard

First Official Pictures

14 April 2009 23:01

It’s definitely mid-life facelift time of year. In the past few days we’ve brought you the revised Land Rover Discovery, Range Rover, Range Sport and Merc S-class – today it’s the turn of the latest Audi Q7, finessed and fettled for the 2010 model year.

Audi’s lumbering SUV has been out for three years now, so it’s time for Ingolstadt’s facelifters to work their makeover magic. Not that you’ll easily spot the changes wrought on the new Q7, so subtle are the revisions...

Err, we’ll have to consult the press blurb here. That enormous single-frame grille sports new vertical chrome bars to contrast with the black, high-gloss finish. And those bumpers are radically different (only joking, we couldn’t really tell at a glance, either) while the door mouldings have been subtly updated. We could go on.

Of more significance is the range of tweaked engines on the latest Audi Q7. Each gobbles less fuel, and the big-selling 3.0 TDI now averages 31mpg. The full engine line-up is:

• 3.6 FSI V6, 280bhp, 266lb ft, 22.2mpg
• 3.0 TDI V6, 240bhp, 405lb ft, 31mpg
• 4.2 TDI V8, 340bhp, 561lb ft, 28.5mpg
• 6.0 TDI V12, 500bhp, 737lb ft, 25mpg

Quite. The facelifted Q7 gains a new adaptive headlamp system, C-shaped LED day-running lights framing the headlamps, ceramic brake options on eight-cylinder models (with a total of 24 pistons to drag this leviathan to a halt!) and something called Modular Efficiency Platform, designed to capture energy during coasting and braking to top up the battery – saving up to 5g/km of CO2. A neat touch.

Other Q7 qualities remain. It’s a seven-seater, but not quite as practical as the Discovery in the third row. Drop the sixth and seventh seats, and there’s a vast 775 litres of luggage space.

By Tim Pollard