Remember high school? When things were in or out , people were cool or uncool , and nothing mattered more than how much others liked you? Imagine if you’d carried that desperate need to be liked well into adulthood, until it clawed your very sense of self away and turned you into someone who exists only for others. Think about the person you’d grow up to be. You’d hold doors for everyone, no matter how many.
You’d learn to be good at karaoke, but not so good that people don’t want to go with you. You’d have flash and sparkle, tricks to draw all eyes to you, without a single shred of meaning beneath to make those people want to stay. You’d end up a people pleaser, much like the Audi Q7.
Full Disclosure: Audi shipped me out to Utah to drive four crossovers (and ride one mountain bike) all at once. The Q7, SQ7, Q8, and SQ8 have all been lightly updated, and between the smaller changes and shorter drives these reviews likely won’t be the 1,600-word epics you’ve come to expect from my byline. Audi paid for my transportation, lodging, and food.
The Audi Q7 desperately wants to be all things to all people. It wants to offer the space of an X7, the driving dynamics of an X5, and the comfort of a GLE — all for less cost than any of them, with a starting MSRP of $60,500. It’s an admirable goal, and one that stands a good chance of making the ultimate parent car.
All the room in the world, with none of the drawbacks. In its people-pleasing, however, the Q7 doesn’.