Survival of the Biggest-Audi Q7,BMW X5….

Is the revamped Audi Q7 ruffled by the presence of the BMW X5 and Mercedes ML?
Story Bunny Punia
Photography Sanjay Raikar

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I was part of the three SUV convoy as we battled hard against Pune’s rush hour traffic, negotiating our way slowly towards the highway. In a city that’s gasping for breath when it comes to the ever diminishing road space, driving three king sized sports utility vehicles can get on your nerves. At the same time, driving one of these can make you feel like a king. Of course those suicidal two-wheeler riders and maniac auto-rickshaw walas are hard to keep at bay, but all it takes is a touch of the loud horn and sometimes revving the engine hard to keep them at a distance. After a good half hour of annoying slow speed driving, we reached the open highway. It was almost pedal to metal once we got onto the expressway and the sight of three majestic vehicles cruising down the multi-lane highway at crazy speeds must have surely sent shivers down most other drivers’ spines. All it took were a couple of flashes of the headlamps to make way for us. Once past the first toll plaza, it was time to regroup and plan our shoot location. Every single vehicle that passed us slowed down and had the occupants glancing at the German marques before continuing their journey. What we have here are three of the best premium oil burner SUVs in the country ready for a battle of the supreme. This is not only a SUV slugfest but also a fist fight between three archrivals from the same land – the refreshed Audi Q7, the BMW X5 and the Mercedes-Benz ML. May the biggest and the mightiest survive.

The current generation BMW X5 is the oldest of the trio here and the fact is quite evident from the way it looks. You get a la BMW family face up front with the characteristic twin kidney shaped grilles and the flowing headlamps with the ‘bangle ring’ effect. The fog lamps are relatively smaller and the idea of having a matte black effect for the lower part of the whole body is nice. This runs across the entire side line as well as under the wheel arches giving a slightly raw and robust look. Additionally, the running floor board with dotted rubber looks good and the five spoke 18-inch alloy wheels are sporty. At the rear, the design lines are rather boring and look slightly dated. Overall, in the company of the other two vehicles, the X5 has to try hard to grab attention on the road.

The interiors carry over the same design lines – typical BMW. They would have been great in say 2006, but with the competition pushing the game ahead, the insides really don’t stand out in terms of design. Mind you, the quality remains top notch. At night, the illumination of the console leaves a lot to be desired. However getting in is very easy, in fact, the easiest of the lot here. There is ample leg space up front for a tall driver and you don’t have to push the seat all the way back to be comfortable. The foot well area too is generous and there are six decent sized air-con vents for the front passengers. At the rear, tall passengers won’t have a reason to complain. You also get four air-con vents, controls for the audio system and seats that recline back. Although there are two small seats at the back, it is best to fold them down and utilize the generous boot space which also comes with a twin boot gate concept.

The BMW is powered by a 2993cc in-line six-cylinder engine that churns out 221PS of power with 480Nm of torque. Now these figures are not class leading but the overall low weight of the vehicle along with a responsive ‘box means that the Beemer is the quickest off the block. In fact, it even manages to whisk past the Q7 in the 0-100km/h acceleration, but the difference is very marginal. Driving the X5 is a revelation and enthusiasts will love the performance that the engine has to offer. On the flipside, the motor is quite noisy, both at idling as well as while pushing it hard. But I am not complaining for the X5 is always eager in responding to throttle dabs, no matter what speeds it is doing. The heavy steering wheel isn’t what you would like for city driving though. The gear changes are very evident and can be irritating in regular city driving.

Being a BMW, one would assume the suspension to be on the stiffer side. It is, but doesn’t translate into an uncomfortable ride. At slow speeds, big bumps and potholes do shake up the occupants but as speeds rise, there is no way other vehicles can feel the way the X5 does. Driving it back after the shoot on the expressway reconfirmed the fact that it does complete justice to the blue and white logo on the hood and is an enthusiast’s car, err, SUV. The high speed dynamics of this SUV is something its rivals still cannot match up too. Even while cruising over the rather bumpy cement blocks on the expressway, it felt the most reassuring as well as the calmest among the trio.

The X5 retails for Rs 54.4 lakh for the normal variant and Rs 61.2 lakh for the highline version (ex-showroom prices). Now, that makes buying the xDrive30d a very good option given the fact that it is a technological masterpiece. It has all the integrated driving systems you’d expect from a high end performance BMW vehicle and then some. This BMW SAV (as they call it Sports Activity Vehicle) was once the performance king of premium SUVs in India but the game has moved forward in the last year.

While I was in the backup vehicle following the three SUVs on the expressway, the ML clearly stood out, at least when viewed from the back. The spare wheel is where it should always be, in my opinion, and it gives the Merc’s rear a rather purposeful chunky look. The ML looks quite fresh from the front. In fact, it looks the freshest of the lot. The three striking horizontal grilles with the big three-pointed star and two air intake grilles on the hood give it a mean look. The wheel arches are a little pronounced but the alloy wheels are rather simple. As compared to the use of black on the BMW, you get to see a lot of chrome on the Merc – the roof rails, the window beadings, the chrome stripping running across the side of the doors and even the floor board. The ML too gets twin exhausts at the rear but the execution here seems much better. The vehicle is the slimmest yet the tallest of the lot here yet it doesn’t look absurd from any angle.

The fresh exterior lines are carried over to the inside as well. The moment you step into the Merc after the BMW, you are in for a pleasant surprise. The beige and brown interiors shout quality and again the use of chrome is abundant at places like the steering wheel and the circumference of the air vents to name a few. The seats are supportive but have to be pushed all the way back to make a tall driver comfortable. But there is no dead pedal and no electronic adjustment for the steering wheel– the problem here is that almost every feature is on the options list. Look closely and the black plastic surrounding the audio system too seems out of place. With the absence of a gear lever, there is a lot of room for knick knacks and the cup holders are surrounded by rich wood. At the rear you get ample legroom and the deep knee recesses at the back of the front seats are a nice touch. The ML is a five-seater but that helps liberate a very generous flat boot.

The Merc, like the other two SUVs, is also powered by a 3.0-litre engine. It is smooth in operation and the maximum power of 227PS is developed at the lowest in class 3800rpm. The maximum torque rating stands at 510Nm, again at a low 1600rpm all the way to 2800rpm. Though this should have made the ML the most responsive on paper, the fact is that it isn’t. The gearbox is really not very eager to respond quickly to throttle inputs in my opinion. Outright acceleration sees the big Merc flying past the ton mark in 9.3 seconds, the slowest here, though by a fraction of a second. As speeds build up, the strong engine
retains its thrust and you never really feel short on power. The seven speed ‘box can also be controlled manually via the paddle shifts on the steering wheel.

The Merc drives exceedingly well in city traffic. The engine is pretty smooth and silent and goes about does it duty without making itself very evident. In fact the SUV drives like a typical Mercedes – sober, calm and uninviting (for the enthusiasts).The full size spare wheel blocks your view in the RVM and the small exterior mirrors don’t let you see the vehicles behind until they are quite close to the SUV. The steering wheel isn’t too heavy and responds well to the driver’s inputs and the suspension feels comfortably soft when left in the comfort mode. However, hit a bad patch and the ride becomes bouncy. A shift to the sport mode does improve things and once cruising on the highway, road joints or cement slabs are taken care of easily. It comes with the Airmatic suspension and a feature to raise the ride height for serious off-roading as well. The ML320 starts at Rs 54 lakh (ex-showroom) but it loses out on lot of standard equipments and doesn’t have a user interface on the console like the other two. It looks fresh, has rich interiors and drives pretty decently. There is nothing really that goes against the ML except maybe the suspension which is either too soft (in the comfort mode) or harsh (in the sport mode) for my liking. Will this downside prove to be a big hindrance when compared to the freshly updated king of the jungle, the meatier Audi Q7?

At 5.1 meters in length and 1.98 meters in width, the Q7 is the epitome of presence on four wheels. It is THE vehicle to have for stealing the limelight at the most happening places in town where you have other luxury brands fighting for attention. Its mammoth size gives other so called big vehicles a complex when it comes to sheer road presence. Bow down to the revamped Q7. Its attraction grabbing style quotient is courtesy the addition of LED lights all around. With a big grille running all the way down into the bumper and relatively slim headlamps on either side of the beefy bonnet, it looks like a sleeping giant from up front. There are daytime running LEDs incorporated into the lamps and even the indicators get the same treatment. The wheel arches are pronounced, the rear looks huge with those big tail lamps and the twin exhausts mean business. Pictures really don’t do justice to the way the Q7 can make your everyday SUV look small. See a fast one approaching in your rear view mirror and your jaw drops. Audi has managed to make the vehicle’s latest iteration look so much better even with minor styling updates. It retains the same brutish and small car eating looks though in a much softer and fresh way now.

Insides are typical Audi but the quality of leather, wood and chrome used is of the highest order. The steering feels great to hold, you are utterly comfortable in the supportive seat and everything seems to fall in your hands perfectly. As my colleague Sarmad put it, the insides can easily fool you into believing that you are cocooned inside a luxury sedan and not a SUV. In fact, few automakers can make the interiors as sumptuous as Audi does. The Q7 sits on the longest wheelbase and this has liberated oodles of room on the inside. Even with a wide transmission tunnel, you never feel any lack of space. The MMI (Multi Media Interface) looks and works well and I especially like the ease with which the suspension settings can be changed while on the move. It’s actually involving and can compel you to do it over and over again. The Bang & Olufsen 14-speaker system sounds too good to be true but comes at a price mind you. Good touches on the inside include a button actuated glovebox, multiple cup holders (including the cleverly designed bottle holder in the door), a parking assist camera and a keyless start/stop function to name a few. There is a lot less clutter on the inside and the interiors seem to have been put together in a much better, posh and inviting manner than the other two. Our test car came with individual bucket seats for the middle row with a huge fridge nestled in between. The seats are utterly comfortable and you can recline them as well as adjust them longitudinally. You can also opt for a DVD player with screens which should be the perfect way for back benchers to enjoy the drive. However, the panoramic sunroof gets a fabric cover which means the interiors can really get hot in the summers.

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Clockwise from top left: The Beemer’s mill is noisy but performs well. Its interiors are functional though the design needs an update now. The Merc’s engine is silky smooth and mated to a seven-speed ‘box. The interiors feel airy due to the use of light coloured materials

Although all the three SUVs sport a 3.0-litre V6 engine, it’s the one with the four oval rings that has the punchiest mill here. 240PS of power is churned out between 4000 and 4400 revs but the talking point here is the humungous 550Nm of torque gushing out between 2000 and 2250rpm. Even though the Audi is a heavyweight, beating the others hands down when it comes to tipping the scales, all that power means it’s hard for the BMW and Merc to keep up once you hit the open roads. The Audi takes its time building up speeds – it’s neck to neck with the X5 till the ton mark, but once past 150km/h, there is no way the X5 can keep up, losing the battle by more than half a second by the time both cars fly past the kilometer mark. Most importantly, it is the way the Audi behaves in city traffic. Oodles of torque to play around with and the fact that the gearbox changes gears seamlessly and without any abruptions means that even though it is the largest and heaviest of the lot, negotiating through traffic is quite manageable. The NVH levels inside the cabin are superb and the suspension sound while going over broken roads is greatly subdued. However, even with all the electronic gadgetry working overtime, you are well aware of the Q7’s porky weight and huge dimensions. It may not handle as well as the X5 over a set of twisties but outperforms the other two on city roads, undulations as well as during highway driving. The Audi easily tackles broken roads and simply glides over highway joints or cement slabs at high speeds thanks to higher profile 18-inch wheels. At speeds of over 160km/h, the suspension lowers itself by 35mm. Brilliant! The Q7 gets Audi’s all-wheel drive Quattro system for those who like to indulge in mud splashing on weekends. The biggest and the most spacious SUV here also comes with the roomiest boot with an electric tail gate, a feature absent on the other two. At the touch of a button, you can lower the loading sill by 71mm!

At the time of going into print, the latest Audi Q7’s official pricing wasn’t disclosed. However, we do expect the company to charge a slight premium for the new and improved vehicle. The previous Q7 has always been a fantastic package, outselling both the BMW X5 and the Mercedes ML in India easily. Things it seems can only get better for Audi with the new model and worse for others. It is flamboyant yet flashy and of the three, there isn’t a sinister way to announce your arrival than the Q7. The gargantuan SUV has been CAR India’s best premium SUV in India three times in a row and seems all set to repeat the act next year as well. And that, ladies and gentlemen, more than sums up my conclusion.