Autocar – Audi SQ7 Review – Video

 

Audi’s flagship SUV. With 429bhp it’s extremely fast, at £70,970 it’s extremely expensive, and with a radical new 48v electrical system making it more responsive and handle better, it’s extremely interesting.

The SQ7’s 4.0-liter diesel V-8 makes 435 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque between 1000 and 3250 rpm by employing two turbochargers as well as, for the first time ever in a production car, an electric supercharger. Audi demonstrated this setup on an RS5 TDI prototype we drove in 2014, and the long-awaited promise of turbocharged engines with zero lag may finally be here. Unlike a conventional supercharger, which is powered via a pulley attached to the crankshaft, Audi’s electric unit is spooled by a 7-kW DC motor essentially taking the place of a turbocharger’s turbine. The motor is connected to the compressor via a shaft, and it’s neither exhaust-driven like a turbocharger nor crank-driven like a supercharger. It can spin up to 70,000 rpm in less than a quarter of a second. This kind of power draw would be too taxing to a traditional 12-volt system, so the SQ7 TDI also is fitted with a 48-volt lithium-ion battery under the cargo floor that can output up to 13 kilowatts of electrical power at a moment’s notice.