Silver Q7 sline

I was in the same position last year .the reason I went with the 3.0 super charged gas engine is because at a 80 to100k miles or so The diesel engine will require a very expensive timing set rebuild And when you weigh-in how much more diesel cost than gas you haven't saved anything in fuel economy I have driven both and the super charged gas has more power And less maintenance issues . The diesel engine seemed sluggish when when passing where where as the gas supercharged 3.0
has really good passing power

JLCampbell

Got to do a once over on the car today. Creating a check list:

Found some slightly upsetting things, like the 165K service was not done, or at least the service reminder was not reset.

The hood struts and the hatch struts are both worn out and barely hold the respective parts up.

Both front seat backs are held on with two sided tape. Is this a known issue? Several of the cars I test drove has the same issue.

The clips holding the two halves of the air filter box together are missing.

A good 1/3 of the interior lights are burnt out. No blown fuses.

A short list, I will add ad things revile themselves.

I bought a Ross-Tech HEXV2, which arrived today.
I also bought lowering links for the air suspension, which arrived yesterday.
I went to ECS Euro and bought a standard service kit for the car. Oil, filter, magnetized oil plug and cabin filter are in the kit. Also bought new struts, front and rear. Plan to so the service at a local rent a bay shop called Stew's self-service garage in Kirkland when the kit arrives. I'll take the time to get under the car and do a more in depth inspection of things.

I transferred all my tools and work stuff into the cargo area as well. It all fits with the middle row up and the 3rd row down. It will be different having a car that is "wagon shaped" and also had a fully usable second row, most of the time. It is registered in the state, but since I do not have the title in hand yet, I have 60-day pass papers. It is now the daily driver.

'10Q7TDI_Prestige'

[QUOTE=JLCampbell;25671910]Got to do a once over on the car today. Creating a check list:

Found some slightly upsetting things, like the 165K service was not done, or at least the service reminder was not reset.

The hood struts and the hatch struts are both worn out and barely hold the respective parts up.

Both front seat backs are held on with two sided tape. Is this a known issue? Several of the cars I test drove has the same issue.

The clips holding the two halves of the air filter box together are missing.

A good 1/3 of the interior lights are burnt out. No blown fuses.

A short list, I will add ad things revile themselves.

I bought a Ross-Tech HEXV2, which arrived today.
I also bought lowering links for the air suspension, which arrived yesterday.
I went to ECS Euro and bought a standard service kit for the car. Oil, filter, magnetized oil plug and cabin filter are in the kit. Also bought new struts, front and rear.

Do pay attention to mounting bushings and urethane bumpers when replacing the struts/shocks...you really do want to replace those on an older car to get things back up to snuff and prevent future ride harshness issues from failed mounts or fatigued/degraded bumpers.
The seat back trim piece adhesive eventually fails on all of them...no biggie. A bit surprised on the bulbs, but i did just go replace all my (very dim, but still working) cargo area bulbs with brighter LED type, as well as the dome light/reading lights in second row, which are same size; much, much better mid-to-back of car lighting now. Those liftgate / hood/ e-brake release gas lifts go bad eventually, so at least you will have fresh ones on it soon, and buy those for the last time if you buy them right (FCP Euro lifetime warranty).

'10Q7TDI_Prestige'

I disagree with your logic and statements presented as-fact above, having researched both gas and TDI costs of ownership extensively prior to buying one myself. There's nothing wrong with buying either gas or TDI powertrains...both are quite satisfying to drive. The HO 3.0 engine in the Prestige S-line is certainly a nice upgrade from the base engine's output; more power=more grins. The main downside is it wants to gulp super-unleaded fuel, as do all high-performance, forced induction engines, and gets rather dismal fuel economy in return. Diesel fuel costs do vary widely (and wildly) across the country, but should be on par with the price of regular unleaded or less, since it is the lowest refined and actually a by-product (waste product) collected when refining higher grade fuels. It will never cost as much as premium unleaded, unless you are in a remote location with no other refueling options and didn't think to plan ahead to avoid getting scalped at the pumps.

Fun fact: Diesel fuel is 33% more energy dense than pure gasoline, meaning you can go a lot further (mpg) on the same amount of diesel, and it makes a great power on less fuel. Unfortunately, in the USA, gasoline is now ethanol-blended, even further reducing gasoline's energy density, as well as mpg derived from it by roughly 10% vs old-school, straight gasoline. So, to achieve any level of parity in a gas Q7 with the TDI 3.0 V6, you would actually pay a whole lot more than what diesel fuel costs you, in order to get the same net-net end number. That's exactly why the TDI engine was/is the top-of-the-food-chain on the powertrain options list for the Q7. You can have your cake, and eat it too, with sprinkles...yup.

The TDI's V6 3.0 engine is also a Wards 10 Best Engines Award Winner, and actually has gobs of torque (good bit more than gas engine) for effortless passing, even going up a mountain grade, and that's actually one of its' better known, stand-out qualities...massive torque. I think it's more likely you didn't assess the 'dieselgate' detune issue and how that impacted the drivability feel of the TDI car negatively by giving it a 'laggy feeling go-pedal' in D-mode...very easily corrected, btw, and not an issue in S-mode or manual shifting...not an issue in the '13-'15 model year cars at all. The timing chain issues you refer to at 80-100k miles are non-existent. It'smore like 200k miles is their life expectancy, when car is properly maintained, on either fuel type.

Again, if the gas engine suites your needs and operational cost structures, then it's a excellent match for you. Just don't confuse that with what the TDI engine brings to the table, along with the generally longer life expectancy of an overbuilt TDI engine vs a gas engine, in general. And then there was this teency, little thing called the TDI extended warranty through 10yr/120k miles (and 4yr/48k from emission 'fix') that you don't have on a gas Q7, lol, which takes care of the big $$ issues, and reduces operating/maintenance costs significantly...significantly.

To each their own as to engine/fuel type; just get the facts straight.

JLCampbell

Performance and personal choices aside from the petrol vs diesel debate, I would add that diesel exhaust is one of the worst carcinogens you can inhale. Even modern exhaust systems cannot defeat all of carcinogens completely. Certainly not lower them to compare with petrol exhaust. That fact alone will keep me from personally buying a diesel again (I have owned two Mercedes-Benz Diesels in the past, well before I heard that information).

Now, not to be a curmudgeon, but get your diesel talk off my lawn, er... out of my thread.

JLCampbell

I just read in the manual that the supported file formats for SD Cards and MP3 and Windows media. Why would I convert my FLAC files to such low quality formats to hear them on B&O speakers? lol
I haven't checked the MMI system for need of current updates, but if there is an update, does it expand the supported file formats to something that isn't worthless?
Off to research...

Blackfunk

You're better off get a legacy iPod and putting your music on it. Messing around with SD cards is not the way lol. Or bluetooth - welcome to the 21st century LOL.

And I love the diesel guys on here but that too is yesterdays technology. LOL.

'10Q7TDI_Prestige'

That's probably why those who commit vehicular suicide overwhelmingly either close their garage door, or run a hose from tailpipe into the cabin of their petrol-powered vehicles...have a nice dirt-nap, but i'm sure it doesn't give them cancer, just a nice, sleepy, gentle death, otherwise known as carbon-monoxide poisoning, lol.

On a brighter, related note: Both Mann and Corteco now offer extended protection cabin filters for the Q7 to filter out all sorts of problem particulates and odiferous happenings...reasonably priced & highly recommended. I used the Mann Frecious + filter last time, and am currently rocking this one:

Audi Porsche VW Cabin Air Filter - Corteco 49408539

JLCampbell

Yeah, I have no plans to use the SD Cards, I just found it funny. It would be great if an MMI update would add more format compatibility, but it's time has passed as well.

I did, however, get an email from SiriusXM congratulating me on my new purchase (!), and that they have reactivated the radio for a 30-day trial. I do have an account with them that is app only. So, I though I'd give the radio a chance to sway me to it. Turns out, it has done the opposite. After just three days of using the SiriusXM radio, I know that I will not be paying to activate it. Two simple reasons: The SiriusXM radio drops out constantly. Just driving around, every time I go in the shadow of a building or in heavy cloud cover, or through a tunnel. Second, I can't pause and play the feed. It is received just like AM or FM. (Which, in my opinion, are both antiquated technologies). The app service does not drop out when I drive about, and can be paused and started right where I left off. I can even rewind the show a hour to hear more of a certain DJ if I want. So, No, SiriusXM, I will not pay $20 a month to activate the radio in my car. I'll stay with the $5 app streaming service. I loose the metadata streaming the app via Bluetooth; but like I need to see what station I am on in the center stack... and the interface on the display isn't worth it either.

The Bluetooth is not that great either, but it is better than the AM, FM or SiriusXM radios built in. I might see if the B&O system is compatible with an Android Auto capable head unit replacement, as the OE Navi system is great for its day, but it's day was 10 years ago.

Hmm, maybe I do have to upgrade the Audio system after all...

'10Q7TDI_Prestige'

Lots to cover:
MMI firmware updates do improve satellite holding ability, and address numerous other known issues encountered over the years with the MMI, and it doesn't cost very much to DIY upgrade the firmware; same is true for the NAV system...pretty cheap to do both at the same time so everything in car is up-to-date, but definitely do the MMI update. My maps were so old as to be nearly useless, so I updated those too and now I get real-time traffic and rerouting via Car's NAV system, and the look and features are much, much better than my original NAV screens were. I want and need my car's built-in tech to work...cell phones break, get lost, get stolen, and sometimes they just don't work because there's no cell coverage where you are, or the cell towers networks are down after a storm or natural disaster. We had two hurricanes last Spring with no power for about a month, and a two-week major power outage across Texas prior to that from 'ice-mageddon' deep freeze of a winter storm (IN TEXAS!!!)...don't think something like that can't happen to you too. No power is the great equalizer; nothing works for long w/o power.

I pay $6/month for Sirius sub for car (do the trial and don't continue it; then Sirius will make you an offer to get you signed on), and get the streaming app to phone included with that, so I simply stream music to the car via Carplay interface, which gives me total control over my music and rewind/skip/back an hour, etc., and the Carplay allows me to enjoy all the latest tech innovations in my 2010 Q7, such as reading text messages and voicemail to me, and allowing me to respond via car, handsfree. Sounds great, and still shows what I'm listening to in driver's info readout when connected via aftermarket Carplay interface, which again, works with either Android or iOS phones.