Audi Q7 3.0 TDI quattro 218PS S line tiptronic

• List price now: £53,555
• 2017 BIK/CO2: 32% / 150g/km
• Power/transmission 215PS 3.0 TDI/8-speed auto
• 0-62mph/top speed: 7.3secs/134mph
• Economy official/ours: 48.7mpg/35.8mpg

 

IF you want one of the front seats at Ronnie Scott’s Soho Jazz Bar, then step inside the Audi Q7.

The attack on the sax, the clarity of the piano note – seriously, it’s just like being there.

And, of course, you’re sitting in a commanding seat position on comfortable leather clad chairs and the V6 diesel is smoothly doing all the grunt work for you.

‘Nice.’

The quality of the sound in the Audi Q7 is thanks to the opportunity to upspec your Q7 with two 3D sounds sytems, either Bang & Olufsen or the Bose system fitted to my car.

With the Audi Bose 3D sound system you get two additional speakers in the windscreen pillars which helps create the impression of a greater spatial sound stage and that brilliant feeling of ‘being there’ thanks to the ‘height’ it creates for the music.

This is all created by an intelligent computer program that calculates third dimension information from conventional stereo and then feeds it to the A-pillar speakers thanks to a 558-watt 15‑channel amplifier which drives the 3D sound system. Bose calls this Advanced Staging Technology, which you won’t usually experience in Bose SoundTouch speaker, Bose Solo 5 soundbar, or any of their other home products. This engineering masterpiece was custom-engineered for amazing audio experience in your vehicle.

Look under the boot floor and you’ll see the masterpiece that powers this brilliant sound technology.

Apparently, for those who want to know the technicalities of how this 3D stage is created, a Bose algorithm analyses the components of a piece of music and then positions them optimally on the virtual sound stage, which involves driving 19 speakers.

In other words, the Advanced Staging Technology directs vocals and instruments to their ideal locations on the sound stage, so you experience the music as if you were there.

Frankly, I’m constantly transported.

Not only by the music quality but the simply effortless power from the V6 turbo diesel engine, situated north-south in front of you under the bonnet.

You can shift the auto box into sport mode, but I feel this makes it a little too eager. Stay in normal drive and the V6 takes off smoothly from standstill and builds on all that torque.

• Audi Q7 company car tax – find out how much company car tax

   

Get any opportunity on a motorway or A-road to experience all that torque – a hefty 500Nm all the way from 1250-3000 rpm – and the Audi Q7 turns on the horizon-reducing hyperdrive.

It is a highly pleasurable experience.

But then settle back to a wafting along the motorway pace and enjoy that stage side seat at Ronnie Scott’s. All delivered at 70mph.