2009 Audi Q7 V12 TDI quattro
September 9, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
There is a continuing heated argument at the Car Advice office, whether a diesel sports car is an oxymoron. Most of us agree that indeed, given the advancements in diesel technology, diesel cars are justified and worthy of being called a sports car, but just when the power and torque figures blow us away? Now.
Volkswagen owned luxury maker Audi, arguably the king of diesel sports cars, with such worthy creations as the Audi R8 V12 diesel has today announced specifications for the new Q7 V12 TDI quattro, the world’s most powerful diesel-engined SUV.
Audi engineers have completely redesigned the common rail injection system, allowing the six-litre twelve-cylinder engine to punch out an enormous 368 kW and 1,000 Nm (yes one-thousand) of torque.
To put that into perspective, the 6.2-litre LS3 petrol engine found in the HSV range manages 317kW and 550Nm of torque. Plus it uses 14.7L of fuel per 100km.
The twelve-cylinder diesel, on the other hand, provides somewhat unbelievable fuel efficiency. Audi says the car has achieved combined highway/city figures of 11.3 litres of fuel per 100 km.
The news comes just a day after BMW announced their 300kW (600Nm of torque) twin-turbo V8 for the X6 xDrive50i. Audi has won this round on terms of power, but the X6 (which is much lighter car) does the 0-100km/h run in 5.4 seconds, compared to the Q7 V12 TDI’s 5.5 seconds. The Audi’s top speed is electronically ‘limited’ to 250 km/h.
Interested? We thought so. But don’t hold you breath, the world’s most powerful diesel-engined SUV will first embark on a European crusade later this year before arriving in Australia in 2009.
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When you really, really need to get the kids to soccer on time. This is the car for you. Im not saying it is not impressive but why so much power in a wagon, what demographic are they going for here?
what’s the point?!!!
……………I’d like um…a big slab of American with 450Kw power and 600Nm of torque please. Certainly but this week we’re offering special super size portions of torque. For just an extra euro you can get a massive Q7 with 1000Nm. ……Cool.
Is’nt it great how car manufacturers today are catering to the needs of a modern ‘growing’ family.
Hope it comes with an optional semi-trailer coupling, then you can hook up your AB triple and drag it to Darwin…
At least you can save money on buying a caravan. Just tow your house.
I still don’t like what they have done with the nose on Audi’s sorta like a Guppy Shark sucking on plankton….thought it would grow on me
And the point being… ?
Yeah, the nose is an unhappy place – don’t like it at all.
But engineers have been playing with V12s for nearly 100 years en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V12#V12_road_cars so they probably will find it very hard to stop now :)
There are plenty of examples of large engines dotted throughout history – you could perhaps argue that today’s engineers are being restrained by sticking to 12 pots.
The power and economy is staggering, compared to say the V12 E-type of 30 years ago. In 30 years time there may be a V12 producing 2000nm and using 5l/100…..
I cant believe Im saying this but… I WANT ONE! I think its epicly ugly but I dont care. I had a 3.0 TDI Q7 for a while last year and it was a great car but because of the way I drive, it always felt a bit breathless on the motorway so I got rid of it and never got around to ordering a 4.2 TDI so now im just gonna wait for one of these. Ive driven a Touareg V10 Diesel and loved the endless power so I can only imagine what this ones like. Then again, the looks juts might put me off. At least footballers wont buy it, its a diesel you see.
Ooohhhh, Alex – are you ducking from the onslaught of the tree-hugging lettuce eaters :)
They don’t understand why, they just pointlessly ask why, always believing their opinion somehow matters more than yours.
If you get a dark colour, the front won’t stand out so much, and anyway – when you’re enjoying one of the finest things in life you won’t even be able to see it.
I’d back you up Alex, I’m not really into big 4WD’s, but if I had the money, this would be the one to get. The engineer/child in me can’t help but admire the 1000Nm. To the people asking why, ask yourself why not, there are plenty of more useless/irrelevent things out there in the world that cost a lot more money.
Would -love- to see what happens if you put your foot to the floor from stand still in this car..
Quattro would go “ACK, TORQUES!” and then you’re sitting there, waiting breathlessly until its all sorted and BOOM! You find yourself on the moon.
That or the engine would just go thunk and fly out of the car, because if you see how the Touareg R50 launches from standstill (the front near enough points to the moon), I’m betting this will probably lift its front two tires off the ground =P
Any idea if all that torque is limited initially in the first couple gears?
Good gracious, the front looks almost like a bulldozer, but man does the engine churn out some serious torque!
U G L Y…
Has NOT improved with time, plain simole YUK!
Cheers
F-0
Wow – this has got me thinking that oil-burners may be the way to go. Finally something with some serious ball-tearing grunt that doesn’t sound like a piece of farm equipment. Ok the front end won’t win any beauty pageants but mount a bull-bar and a half a dozen spotties and this thing would kick arse.
I like the front. Give it some ears and it’d look like a character from “Lilo and Stitch”. They are soooooo enormous though – where could you park one? And how could you stop it under heavy acceleration? Whatever was in front of it would be paste!
1,000 Nm of torque? That’s 4/5 the torque of Veyron!
I like:
The fact it has more power than a 3rd world country
I dislike:
Cost of Diesel compared to Petrol, even at 11.3 l/100Km
I don’t see it as ugly at all
What sort of demographic?
Try me!
Still young enough to want a car that goes but too many kids.
Me neither ihatemycardotcomdotau. It’s cool.