Audi Q7 practicality and boot space

• Massive amounts of room and seating for seven
• Vast boot and flexible seating boost practicality
• Five-star safety rating and masses of useful tech

In the UK, practicality is bolstered by the standard-fit seven-seat option which – along with Isofix mounting points across all passenger chairs – allows a driver to carry up to six children in safety and comfort. Of course the rearmost seats are more suited for children than adults, especially on long journeys, but those of a six-foot tall disposition will still physically fit.

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It’s when sitting in rows one or two that you’ll enjoy the most space though, headroom and shoulder beating that of the equivalent BMW X5 or Mercedes-Benz GLE. Sliding the middle seats fore and aft can alter this to tip the balance in the favour of those in the rearmost pair if needs be – each seat moves individually to configure it how you’d like. The rear row can be electrically-lowered from buttons placed in the boot.

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There’s also plenty of useful storage areas throughout, with large door bins in the front, a pair of cupholders between the seats and a tray area beneath the central armrest.

Will my luggage fit?

Loading large items into the boot is made easier by a sill that’s quite low for a high-riding car. Use all the seats available and boot space suffers accordingly, but dropping the third row means there is 770 litres of space on offer. The plug-in hybrid TFSI e and it's additional hardware means it has slightly less space available.

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Fold all seats flat into the floor and load the Q7 up to the roof and that already impressive number climbs to 1,955 litres, which makes the Audi Q7 something of a well-trimmed van in carrying capacity terms.

Will it fit in my garage?

The Audi Q7 is a big car but shouldn’t prove as difficult to park as you might expect. Front and rear parking sensors are standard, as is a crisp reversing camera - but due to the blunt shape of the Q7's rear end, the tailgate and camera gets covered in dirt very quickly.

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Besides, the car’s square body, large windows and high driving position affords the driver good visibility all-round. A more advanced parking system is available for automatic parking, and can display a 360-degree image of the car in its surroundings. Plus, when space is tight, higher-spec Vorsprung models come with doors that automatically latch closed when they haven't been shut properly.

Safety

• Six Isofix points
• Five-star Euro NCAP
• Lots of safety kit

The Q7 scores the maximum five stars at Euro NCAP crash testing, which should automatically give you some peace of mind. Lane-departure warning, traffic sign recognition and Audi Pre-Sense comes as standard, the latter of which monitors the road in front for potential collisions.

A pair of option packs are available to boost the safety credentials, though. First, the Driver Assistance – Tour Pack comes with adaptive cruise assist, predictive efficiency assistant, lane-departure warning with emergency assist, collision avoidance assist and turn assist.

As well as this, buyers can option the City Assist Pack, which comes with Side Assist (blindspot monitoring), Pre-Sense Rear, Cross-Traffic alert for the front and back of the car, and an exit warning function that scans for oncoming traffic at blind junctions.

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Each Q7 comes with adaptive LED headlights, eight airbags and Attention Assist, which monitors the driver’s alertness levels and suggests a break in driving if it believes its required. On top of that there’s hold assist to stop you rolling back down a hill when setting off, cruise control – with an adjustable speed limiter – a rear parking system and both Audi Pre-sense Basic and Audi Pre-sense City.

The latter works at speeds up to 52mph and uses a camera to monitor events up to 100m ahead; if it expects a collision with another vehicle, object or human it sends an audible warning into the cabin, then momentarily applies the brakes to jolt the driver to alert them and eventually will fully apply the brakes to minimise the impact. At speeds under 25mph it will avoid an impact entirely.

As you’d expect from the brand, Quattro is standard on this SUV, and that means there’s a good degree of reassurance when it comes to slippery surfaces – so Audi Q7 safety promises to be impressive, proven by the list of standard systems included with every car.

Audi Q7 Euro NCAP crash test video