I am trying to decide between a 2007 Silver 3.6 Premium that has back up camera.

or

A 2007 3.6 Premium Phantom Black with Espresso Cricket Leather? No Back up Camera.

What would I miss more the Espresso Cricket Leather or the back up camera? Which is worth more?

Any advice?

just looks nicer, and one might not be worth more then the other. If you want it to look nice, get the espresso, but the "normal" Q7 leather is pretty good also. very durable.

... as it also has guidelines, size indicators for the space your trying to get into (tells you if the Q fits) and also has parallel parking guides that tell you when to turn full lock. Best tech feature imho.

I have black verano leather, it looks great - especially with the walnut wood panels and black roof fabric.

and still wish I got it. I had a 4.2 TDI for a few days for test drive and was really impressed with the quality and usefulness of this item even in the dark.
There are a couple of blind spots that you discover the hard way without it. The parking sensors are fine ...for parking but they dont see kerbs or stupid pedestrians.
One guy here used to open his tailgate to back into his garage until he hit it off the roof not realising service had reset his stop level. If only he had the camera! It probably cost as much to fix anyway.
2 cents up...Please deposit another 2 cents.

Isn't leather standard on all q7's? I did not know that there we upholstered versions, or do they have a vw-tex version?

to answer your question, If you are debating between cloth or leather, go for the leather instead of the backup camera. If you are debating between the color of the leather, and the camera, get the leather with the camera.

If it is VW tex, Its debatable. If you live somewhere with very tropical weather, stay away from the vW-tex. If you live in nontropical region, Vw-tex is very good because its alot easier to maintain.

I hope that helps.

This is my first car with a back up camera and it's really, really good. I'm so used to it know it feels weird reversing in my second car that doesn't have it.

The Q7 is the first car I've had with it and now every time I get into my 535i I look at the screen expecting to see the rear view image and I'm always disappointed that it's not there!

In my opinion I didn't see a big enough difference in standard and cricket leather to justify the price difference. The espresso color is nice but not enough to outweigh the usefulness of the camera which you'll use constantly. I love how the lines change as you turn the wheel showing you exactly where the car will go.

As for the exterior color Black and Silver are my two favorites and I would have been happy to have either one. I ended up with black because there wasn't an S-line in silver with the options I wanted anywhere in California. The downside to black is the constant maintenance and it's more likely to show swirl marks and looks dirty within 2 days of washing it.

Either way, you'll be very happy.

the first couple months of ownership i scuffed my ear bumper up at least 3 or 4 times because i couldn't judge it... i was only used to driving my TT before that so you can imagine the adjustment period.

I love crcket leather and their colors however I would still go for camera.

drivers concentrate on the viewer without looking backward. As the driver backs up, a car flying down the street slams into your car. If you are not looking back and seeing the entire field, you are handicapped. Be careful!

that couldn't be seen by looking out the back or in mirrors.

Besides, who would rely on a camera if they're backing out into a street with oncoming traffic? People have been getting hit while backing out into oncoming traffic long before backup cameras came around so to blame the camera for that is nuts. The good far outweighs the bad.

I have no problem parallell parking without a camera. I have eyes, mirrors and sensors back and front and the combination makes it oh-so-simple.
As someone said, the camera can give a false sence of security. There is no substitute for eyes and spatial awareness.

But if you had the choice why wouldn't you want something that makes it easier and much safer for you, pedestrians, pets, other vehicles, etc. Not to mention the fact that your mirrors distort distances and both of these technologies can help to prevent injuries as well as vehicle body damage. No one really HAS to have it but if the option is available it should be a no-brainer (as indicated by the votes below from people who have found them extremely useful).

The standard Audi sensors are very good with a graphical representaion of the car and there is really no need for the camera with these fitted. This is in marked contrast to the Mercedes sensors which only have a series of lights and the buzzer for the driver. Mind you, I do like the positioning of the lights in the back roof so that the rear ones can be seen through the interior mirror. This is with the GL class.

Of all the camera type parking aids I have used there has been the drawback of dirt building up on the lens and some are fairly ineffective in the dark. Also it is so easy to just look forward at the dash display and miss that car heading towards you out of the dispaly angle. Somebody else mentioned this I think and it can be a real problem. Camera type parking aids are quite common in Europe and most models of Niissan Primera, for instance, have had it for a number of years now.

Seriously, if the camera is a must have, then what's wrong with the situation? Get the espresso leather and be done with it!