read the road.\u00a0<\/em>As I steered, Q7 approached a hairpin \u2014 waaaay too fast, I thought \u2014 then suddenly assisted me in braking for the curve. Nail the exit and the system smoothly accelerated again before backing off the throttle as I headed down a steep downhill sweeper. Whoa.<\/p>\nMy mind flooded with thoughts: Is this the glorious future of self-driving cars? Or an Orwellian dystopia where government uses GPS to enforce strict speed limits? And . . . if this nimble Q7 is so @#!!** high-tech, how come it couldn\u2019t detect that cop\u2019s radar a few miles back?!<\/p>\n
Q also automatically brakes for pedestrians, has lane-keep assist, and automatic high beams and Apple Car Play and Android Auto and . . . .<\/p>\n
And so does the 2016 North American SUV of the Year nominee Honda Pilot. At $20 grand less.<\/p>\n
Oh.<\/p>\n
The truth is that digital technology is no longer the slam dunk for luxury brands that it once was. Smart phone tech is cheap and flooding mainstream vehicle consoles. Sure the new Q7 boasts WOW! features that save you from turning in front of an oncoming car, but they will surely be in mainstream utes in a couple of years.<\/p>\n
Nor do engines and trannies separate first-class from coach anymore. Witness the Ford Explorer\u2019s twin-turbo V6 with 365 ponies that goes toe-to-toe with the Q7\u2019s 330-horsepower V-6 unit. Or the Pilot\u2019s 9-speed, fuel-sipping tranny versus the Audi\u2019s 8-speed box.<\/p>\n
Nor are luxury interiors exclusive penthouses anymore. The $47,300 Pilot Elite in my driveway recently matches the $72,750 Audi with heated-leather steering wheel, heated-and-cooled leather seats, full moon roof. Indeed, the Honda\u2019s more ergonomically-friendly console will have Audi soccer moms\u2019 teeth gnashing with envy. Where Audi over-engineers the console with a laborious rotary dial and redundant touch pad to access the screen, the Pilot efficiently offers a touchscreen, more storage space and an ingenious, sliding console door where the ladies can keep a handbag for easy access.<\/p>\n
The Pilot\u2019s one-button third-row seat access shames Q\u2019s difficult, two-step process. And Audi\u2019s rear versatility is positively pedestrian compared to the Ford Explorer\u2019s kick-me-to-open, configurable rear hatch.<\/p>\n
No, the big investment in luxury nowadays is in chassis and style.<\/p>\n
You crave the Audi\u2019s hatchback-like handling even if it gets you through 5 p.m. Oakland County traffic in the same time as the common, perfectly-adequate, AWD Pilot. Dude, the Q7 has rear-wheel steering and goes zero-60 in 5.7! And that 3D virtual cockpit is so Star Wars! The Honda\u2019s exterior is elegant, but the Audi looks like it was sculpted by Rodin himself \u2014 its creased corners echoing that Audi TT you crave if you didn\u2019t have three rows of rugrats to get to soccer practice.<\/p>\n
The Q7 is Bond\u2019s SUV. The Honda Pilot is a family ute. Rolex vs. Timex. Image matters. You don\u2019t know why a Q7 should handle like a Q3, but you admire it for trying.<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t wait until Audi makes a pickup truck . . . and invites us out on Route 1 to push its limits.<\/p>\n
\u201917 Audi Q7<\/p>\n
Vehicle type:\u00a0Front-engine, all-wheel drive, seven-passenger SUV<\/p>\n
Price:\u00a0$55,750 ($72,750 as tested)<\/p>\n
Power plant:\u00a03.0-liter, supercharged V-6<\/p>\n
Power:\u00a0333 horsepower, 325 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n
Transmission:\u00a08-speed automatic<\/p>\n
Performance:\u00a00-60 mph, 5.7 seconds (manufacturer); 130 mph top speed; 7,700 pound towing capacity<\/p>\n
Weight:\u00a04,938 pounds<\/p>\n
Fuel economy:\u00a0EPA fuel economy 19 city\/25 highway\/21 combined<\/p>\n
Report card<\/p>\n
Highs:\u00a0Sculpted good looks; Driver-centric virtual cockpit<\/p>\n
Lows:\u00a0Cluttered console; Balky third-row seat entry<\/p>\n
Overall:\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am once again barreling down Route 1 north of San Francisco. Dive bombing hairpins. Rotating the chassis with throttle. Aggressively straight-lining S-curves. The manufacturers of performance cars like Alfa\u2019s 4C or VW\u2019s GTI love to test here because it highlights handling under extreme conditions. Except this feels weird. This is no car. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17699,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17697\/revisions\/17699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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