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AUTO REVIEW
2017 Audi Q7
By Steve Schutz, MD
The new 2017 Audi Q7 has been com- and I’m unaware of any vehicle that sold fic Jam Assist, which drives the Q7 mostly
pletely redone, and in this case, that descrip- that much better after so many years on the autonomously at low speeds, an F-150-ish
tion is not hyperbole. The Q7 uses a market (typically sales decline slowly until trailering assistant that will back up and steer
clean-sheet-of-paper platform that will soon a new model debuts). a trailer, lane-departure warning and assist,
underpin the next-gen Porsche Cayenne and blind-spot monitoring, and automatic brak-
Bentley Bentayga, uses high-tech materials The new Q7 is as high tech and contem- ing. And if that’s not enough for you, Audi
to cut hundreds of pounds of weight, and porary as any vehicle on the market. In fact, promises even more advanced autonomous
introduces many high tech features that will the tech is so cutting edge it’s almost like liv- driving before too long.
soon trickle down to lesser Audis. ing in the future — with some glitches I’ll
mention below that I hope are solved soon Wow. In case you’re totally excited and
Pretty cool, right? So why do I keep — and it serves as a reminder that German can’t wait for self-driving cars that take you
thinking, “If you’re so new, how come you luxury brands own cool automotive tech to work while you nap or update your In-
look so old?” Umm, good question. The these days. stagram, let me provide a little bit of a cold
last Q7 had a ground breaking design that shower. While using the 15-seconds-only
was so avant garde it looked contemporary What tech are we talking about? Bluetooth self driving feature of the Q7 on the high-
even in 2015, a full 9 years after its debut. phone/audio, Google earth satnav, in-car way, it missed two construction cones and
And not only did it look new, it sold like it wifi, and smart cruise control — that’s all a jog to the right requiring me to quickly
was new. In 2006, its first full year on sale nice and kind of expected. But as our smart- grab the wheel and turn us back into our
in the U.S, 10,003 Q7’s sold. In 2015 that phones get smarter, it makes sense that our (altered) lane. Based on that experience as
number had increased to 18,995, a 90 per- cars would get smarter too. And they have. well as 53 years of life, I’m going to predict
cent increase. I follow the market closely, that fully autonomous commuting is many
The smart tech available on the new Q7
includes brake-based torque vectoring, Traf-
44 San Antonio Medicine • December 2016
