Audi’s gargantuan motor goes 'green'

Audi has turned its gargantuan Q7 SUV into a plug-in hybrid it runs on a 94kW electric motor, with back-up from a 3.0-litre V6 diesel when you need it for extra distance or welly. The result is a claimed 166 miles-per-gallon fuel efficiency. But if you're in the market for a four-wheel-drive motor and just want to save on the fuel bills, then this probably isn't the natural starting point, says Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph.

The Q7 weighs 2.5 tonnes, is more than 16-feet long, seats just five, and costs £65,000. A Fiat Panda 4X4, on the other hand, will cost just under £17,000, barely covers a postage stamp and yet also seats five. And in the real world, it'll be a great deal more fuel efficient too giving you something like 50mpg in real-world driving (the Telegraph only managed just over 37 with the Q7, Top Gear 77).

Still, if that's not the kind of thing that bothers you, then the new Q7 is "a likeable thing", says English: comfortable, fast andwith some extraordinary engineering. A low-energy heat pump uses the waste heat from the electrical components to heat and cool the car's interior, for example, and the Predictive Efficiency Assistant links into the satnav and gives advice on how to drive to save fuel and ensures the battery is fully depleted when you arrive to make full use of the electric motor.

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The performance is none too shabby either, says Stephen Dobie in Top Gear, although the car is at its best when it's not hustled. The car "cocoons the occupants wonderfully", making it a paragon of peace and quiet for long journeys. It's not a car for driving enthusiasts, says Hilton Holloway in Autocar, but it might just be "the upmarket family car of the future". The Predictive Assistance feature, in particular, looks like "the future of day-to-day motoring".