Audi Q7: Comparison against the Mercedes ML500

The guys over at "Speed TV" have done a comparison of the Audi Q7 with the Mercedes ML500.
The winner? Thanks for asking!

With the big, bluff nose of a locomotive and more than 16 feet of bodywork, the new Audi Q7 is not an easy car to miss. It’s tall, too, this new 4x4, and comes with three rows of seats, air suspension, a quattro drivetrain and an impressive array of technology.

It certainly dwarfs the Merc ML, which looks almost delicate against the gargantuan Audi. Yet despite the differences of scale these are competitors, both costing a shade around $50k, both providing road-biased luxury four-wheel-drive motoring for families; potentially quite big families in the case of the Q7, which comes as standard with a fold-away third row, allowing it to seat up to seven. The ML has only five seats, although is hardly short of space.

But the reason we found ourselves pushing the ML to such a foolish degree was the Q7. Audi is quietly proud of its achievements with this car, and after a while you begin to see why. At first, you’re reluctant to throw a car this vast around. Dare to drive it with zeal and your reservations melt. The Audi has slightly more precise, more car-like steering than the ML, and pours itself into corners with more conviction. The differences are small at first, but build the speed and you’ll find that it rolls a little less, that you’re forced harder into the seat’s side bolsters and that it maintains your trajectory with unflustered composure.

The ML’s cabin is generally a pleasant place to be too, not least because it is of a vastly better quality than the old car’s plasticky cabin. There’s more style and truly ample space front and rear and a decent amount of storage.

Yet the Audi has the edge here, too. Of course it ought to provide more room, given its significant extra length, but it also feels wider and has a classier dashboard, cabin plastics of superior texture, an MMI infotainment system that’s easier to use and more generous instrumentation. Up to a point it’s also more versatile. The third row of seats is tolerable for adults but really intended for kids, and though it folds away easily enough the result is a relatively shallow, if wide, loadspace. The ML’s is deeper, and the Mercedes’ second row of seats folds to form a bulkhead, whereas the Audi backrest simply drops forward. But if you need a seven-seater, then the Audi is your car.

But the Benz is less complete in the end, being less versatile, less satisfying to drive and less original in its cabin design. If you can live with its scale, the Q7 is the car.

Related news: GermanCarBlog, Audi Q7

Source: Speed TV via Fourtitude

Audi Q7: Comparison against the Mercedes ML500

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