By: Brandon Turkus – Motor1
An eight-cylinder engine makes a triumphant return to Audi’s largest SUV.
Back in the blissful days before turbocharging, supercharging, and all other replacements for displacement, Audi introduced its first SUV. The three-row Q7 arrived in the US in 2007 armed with one of Volkswagen’s famed VR6 engines, a 3.6-liter, or a variant of the near-legendary 4.2-liter V8, which had already distinguished itself in the S4, RS4, and R8. As powertrain lineups went, this was a good one.
And like all good things, it didn’t last. 2011 marked the end of the 4.2-liter’s run in the Q7, and since then, this crossover has been predominantly a six-cylinder affair, first with supercharged V6s and then turbocharged engines (a four-cylinder turbo is also available, but we don’t recommend tasking a 248-horsepower engine with managing 4,800 pounds).
