<ul><li><a href="http://www.audiworld.com/news/06/010406/">http://www.audiworld.com/news/06/010406/</a</li></ul>

We've been searching for a car with seating for 7. Minivan: no way. Wagon: mercedes wagons are just laughably expensive. Suv: all the 7-seater SUV's out there are either pigs (eg LR3: nice but a pig-13mpg-with horrible driving dynamics) or just flat-out uninspiring (eg MDX and Pilot: great freaking package, good mpg, fairly good driving, but at the end of the day lacking soul...personal opinion...of course I may eat my words because these cars do win the bang-for-buck race).

The Q7 appears to have hit the magic balance. Mind you, I haven't driven it yet. But it has ample seating (a must for us in this case), powerful yet efficient engine (anyone know the mpg yet? I'm guessing/hoping 18/19 combined), and that 'certain something' which audi does so well (superior interiors, great driving dynamics, great style, etc...).

So in a way it has no competition when you look at those features, plus all the modern touches (adaptive cruise, etc), therefore maybe it's not 'impossible' but it certainly is a fairly new and clever packaging.

Let's see how it drives! I know it won't compete with the A6 wagon, but I'd expect it to cream the Toureg and compete with the Cayenne on that front.

Seems like the 4.2 comes pretty loaded. Add the Nav and cold weather and still in low 50's. This is comparable with a fully loaded ML 350 or BMW X5 3.0, which are 6's, or a loaded xc-90 V8.

And when will the q7 v6 be available?

have looked at the SUV market lately. Especially the $50k-$70K SUV market lately?
It is a 'me-to' entry and it's way to late.
DOA.