# My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI



## wabisabi (Jul 13, 2004)

What can I say...it's fantastic. Handles well, drives well, fits the family, comfortable on long drives, and it's very quiet.
My first highway trip returned 27.3 mpg at an average speed of 68 mph. In town, I've been getting 20 to 22 mpg. All of you Golf, Jetta and B4 Passat TDI owners are thinking that's pretty low but anyone with a full sized SUV, or even a mid-sized sedan for that matter, knows that mpg numbers like that are not typically associated with a 5000 lb seven passenger vehicle.
I have been researching and reading about this vehicle for a long time and so am not surprised about anything except for one thing. When I filled up yesterday after 500 miles of driving, the tail pipes where spotless. My wife's A3 with the 2.0t gasser certainly wasn't that clean.











_Modified by wabisabi at 2:21 PM 6/17/2009_


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## GRNMACHINE (Feb 17, 2009)

Beautiful Ride! I am jealous as I am getting around 14mpg on Premium. Love the S-Line front end.


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## veedubmac (Sep 24, 2007)

Looks great! Another Quartz Grey, do you love it?


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## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

*Re: (veedubmac)*

VERY NICE! Welcome to the site.


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## ajz9415 (Feb 7, 2005)

*Re: ([email protected])*

Very nice http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## wabisabi (Jul 13, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

Thanks for the feedback.
Here is a 1,100-mile update. The good news is, I still like it. The bad news is...I can't be in it all the time. We need beer? I'll go. Oh no, were out of milk. Guess I'll have to take a trip to the store. Reminds me of when I first got my drivers license. I like it that much. 

I really like the color combination too. Condor Gray, metallic\Cardamom Beige really look good together. The 19" wheels that came on the car look good too.
When driving around I know it's a diesel...a very, very quiet diesel. It just sounds different from a gas engine. It isn't any louder than the 3.6 or the 4.2 gas engines though.
Although an Audi buyer doesn’t necessarily buy with a deep commitment to frugality, I would like to impress upon you the absolute genius found under the hood of this thing. Last highway trip rewarded us with a 28 MPG average from Minneapolis to Brainerd, MN and a return average of 29 MPG. Hypermiling? No. Tailgating? No. Slow starts? No. Did I drive 55? Only if the posted limit was 7 less. Drove on major roads where most limits were 65 mph. 
I love this thing!


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## TigerinColorado (Jul 16, 2007)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

Tanks for posting your experience!







http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif


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## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*


_Quote, originally posted by *wabisabi* »_Thanks for the feedback.
Here is a 1,100-mile update. The good news is, I still like it. The bad news is...I can't be in it all the time. We need beer? I'll go. Oh no, were out of milk. Guess I'll have to take a trip to the store. Reminds me of when I first got my drivers license. I like it that much. 

I really like the color combination too. Condor Gray, metallic\Cardamom Beige really look good together. The 19" wheels that came on the car look good too.
When driving around I know it's a diesel...a very, very quiet diesel. It just sounds different from a gas engine. It isn't any louder than the 3.6 or the 4.2 gas engines though.
Although an Audi buyer doesn’t necessarily buy with a deep commitment to frugality, I would like to impress upon you the absolute genius found under the hood of this thing. Last highway trip rewarded us with a 28 MPG average from Minneapolis to Brainerd, MN and a return average of 29 MPG. Hypermiling? No. Tailgating? No. Slow starts? No. Did I drive 55? Only if the posted limit was 7 less. Drove on major roads where most limits were 65 mph. 
I love this thing!

Wow. Impressive mileage. I drove the 3.0 TDI on the Audi Mileage Marathon and we got similar MPG in our best leg, but we were trying hard to hyper mile. You must have more skills.


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## wabisabi (Jul 13, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI ([email protected])*

Maybe so George. What leg of the Mileage Marathon did you run? Some of the participants where popping it into neutral downhill. Better results with it in gear as there is no need for fuel to keep the engine idling.
I haven’t recorded any mileage long distance for a bit but I will be on another trip in two weeks and I’ll try a hand calculation. So far, I have only bothered to use the trip computer.
When driving to work this week, I remembered to take pics of the results. Without knowing the roads here it wouldn’t make much sense to show start and stop locations but I drive from NE Minneapolis to St. Paul every day for work.
Here are some numbers from the end of July









I removed the other photos as they were taking up too much room vertically.


_Modified by wabisabi at 4:49 PM 10/6/2009_


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## QUATTR0 (Dec 1, 2005)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

Wow, 29.4 mpg... very impressive! http://****************.com/smile/emthup.gif
The best I've managed with the 3.6 is 24 mpg over 40 miles with a 1000 ft. elevation drop.
Also noticed that Audi changed the gauge fonts on the TDIs.


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## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

I was the guy popping it in neutral and, yes, it's more efficient to not do that.


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## wabisabi (Jul 13, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

I have noticed as the temperatures have gotten down to around 30 deg f in the mornings that the accessories are hitting mpg number pretty hard. I think the fuel stations started blending for winter as well. With the heated seats on, auxiliary heat on auto, and the heated steering wheel on, I'm seeing mpg numbers around 18 to 20 for city mixed driving and 24 to 26 for highway mixed driving. Long trips are around 26 to 28 mpg. Still not bad though.
The Q7 is running perfectly. I think I have around 8000 miles on it now.


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## Trixie21 (Dec 10, 2008)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (wabisabi)*

I seem to be averaging very well.
I have a Q7 3.0 TDI which averages between 28-29 Mpg. Oddly enough it seems to be easier to attain at 75 - 80 mph. I suspect this is due to the added inertia. 
80Mph 90843 Ns vs 65Mph 71830 Ns. Maintaining speed over slight inclines is aided much by this added momentum. In addition, the engine revs are slightly higher, though I would think that would be less of an issue as the maximum torque is already produced at lower RPMs.
Do you notice this same phenomena? In any case, I find it amazing that this 2.5 ton vehicle can attain gas mileage just as good if not better than my A4 1.8T.


_Modified by Trixie21 at 2:19 PM 10-26-2009_


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## wabisabi (Jul 13, 2004)

*Re: My new 2009 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (Trixie21)*

I haven't seen mileage above 26 mpg when traveling at 80 or 90 mph. My best mileage has been when traveling below 70 mph. I know what you mean about the mileage compared to smaller vehicles. This was the replacement for a '01 V70 T5 and the mileage is better with the Q. It's even pretty close to our A3 2.0 t!


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