Audi SQ7 review: £85k SQ7 has a monster engine with a staggering 507hp

IF you really want to get into the spirit of COP26 then you’re gonna need a bigger engine.

Yes, you read that right.

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I’m talking about a BMW 7 series, a Mercedes GLE or maybe even a blast-proof 5-litre Cadillac nicknamed The Beast.

You see, these are the cars clogging the roads of Glasgow as world leaders and dignitaries attend the climate change summit.

If optics are everything these days then the message is as surprising as it is clear: Let’s not ban the “gas guzzlers” just yet.

The Audi SQ7 has a big engine. Make that a monster engine.

A 4-litre V8 with a staggering 507hp.

It catapults from 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds and its top speed is 155.3 mph (you can really feel that 0.3).

It also operates as an alarm clock for your neighbours when you switch it on in the morning.

It growls like a grizzly who hasn’t eaten for a month.

And it drives like a dream.

With adaptive air suspension and four-wheel steering there is no sharp corner you can’t comfortably handle.

Meanwhile, the 770Nm of torque will ensure there is almost no vehicle you cannot confidently overtake – even if you have stuffed the massive boot to capacity.

In Sport mode, it simply takes your breath away.

The interior, which boasts seven seats, is spacious, luxurious and also simple, like one of Succession patriarch Logan Roy’s private jets.

It is packed with all the top-end tech you need (and can afford – as usual, some of the best gear is optional) from wireless charging point to a solid parking assist.

If you have ever driven a standard Q7 – because you’re taking kids/dogs on camping trips, say – when you really wanted to be thundering about in a sporty S5, this is the Audi you have been looking for.

But all this muscle comes with a chunky running cost – and not just the £85,635 you need to buy the thing.

On the tin it says it will do 23.3mpg (that 0.3 again!) but I only ever managed that doing 60-70mph on the M6.

The day I spent buzzing around the Black Mountains in Wales burned off half a tank.

When you’re paying £120-plus to fill up, that stings . . . even if you run a small country.

And with 276g/km of CO2 emissions the road tax is in the “If You Need To Ask You Can’t Afford It” bracket.

But what price tailgating Joe Biden’s 20-vehicle motorcade on the M8?

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