Considering a Q7 - buying tips & advice?

[The Doctor]

Hi guys,

I am considering purchasing a Q7 as a family car. We have 3 young kids and often need a lot of room to transport all manner of stuff around with us (bikes, camping gear, etc). We currently have a 7-seat MPV (Citroen Grand Picasso) and use the 3rd row seats fairly regularly for taking their friends to parties, taking parents with us for days out etc etc.

I am looking for a replacement 7-seat car which has sufficient room for the family & assorted "stuff", is comfortable, safe, reliable and with good power delivery. Having run a 2003 S3 for 5 years, I have become an Audi convert and so am considering a Q7. We don't do mega-miles (approx 8k/yr) so running costs are not a massive concern.

Can you give me some advice / tips please?
Reliability / things to look out for?
3.0 vs 4.2? (I'm leaning towards 3.0)
Tyre wear? I have heard stories of rapid tyre wear on these cars.
Preferred options?
Model year to aim for? (realistically I'm looking at something around 2008-9 I expect)

Cheers.

 

[desertstorm]

One of the guys where I work has just bought a 14 plate Q7 3.O TDI and has been quite shocked with the fuel economy. He was expecting something like 30+ mpg looking at the figures but is seeing more like 19-20 mpg, predominantly driven around town. I suspect he has probabaly been hoofing it around as he does drive quite quickly.
They are a big lumps of metal though and considering it is essentially the same engine as my A4, but is carrying 5-600Kg extra and has the aero qualities of a brick I can't imagine how it would do the quoted mpg.
If they suffer from rapid tyre wear than could work out expensive with the 275 / 45 /20 tyres that are on the one that my colleague bought.
A remapped 3.0 TDI would probably be not far behind a 4.2 and better off in terms of fuel economy. If you get rid of the DPF and remap the engine the 3.0 goes to around 310 bhp with 700Nm plus of torque.

Karl.

 

[beemerboy9]

Taking into account what Desertstorm has said about fuel consumption - the later 3.0 litre diesels are more economical than the earlier ones thanks to a major diesel injection system upgrade.

I notice that East Kent Audi have a "later" September 2011 car going for the same price as a lot of 2008/9 models and with less than 20,000 miles. It's cheap because the spec is unusual - I think it's missing a SatNav.
But since the SatNav on the older models 2008/9 will not do a full postcode search, they are not so useful anyway - you would be much better off fitting an after market up-grade (I have a 2011 A5 and had a 5- to 7- digit postcode upgrade done by a retro-fitter).