- Delivered across Sydney
- Bond and fees shown before you pay
- Never swapped to a lesser car
The Q7 is the car we recommend most often and write about least, because being sensible is a hard thing to make sound exciting. Seven seats, proper all-wheel drive, genuine prestige and the lowest price in the tier. The one figure it does not win on is power, and that is worth addressing directly.
Check Q7 availability
Tell us how many people and your dates. We confirm the full price before you pay.
Specifications
| Model | Audi Q7 Quattro |
|---|---|
| Year | 2021 |
| Power | 170kW |
| 0-100km/h | 7.3 seconds |
| Drivetrain | Quattro all-wheel drive |
| Seats | 7 |
| Tier | Luxury |
170kW is the lowest output in the luxury tier and the table is not hiding it. What that figure
means in practice is the first thing worth dealing with.
The Power Question, Dealt With Honestly
This is a large seven-seat SUV with a modest engine, and there is no version of that sentence
which sounds impressive. So here is what it actually means when you drive it.
In normal use - suburban roads, motorway cruising, a full car on a flat run - it is entirely
adequate and you will not think about it. 7.3 seconds to 100 is unremarkable rather than slow.
Where you will notice is fully loaded on a long uphill stretch, or overtaking on a country road
with seven people aboard, where it works harder than the more powerful cars in the tier would.
If that scenario describes your trip, the Range Rover Sport or the BMW X6 have meaningfully more
in reserve. If it does not, the power figure is the least important number on the page and the
price difference is real money you can keep.
What It Is Actually Like in Sydney
It is the most sensible car in the fleet, which is a compliment
Seven seats, all-wheel drive, genuine prestige badging, a comfortable and well-made interior, and
the lowest price in the tier. There is no single spectacular thing about it, and that is precisely
why it suits so many bookings - a family that needs the seats, a corporate booking that needs to
look right without being flashy, a group heading away for a weekend.
It is the car we suggest most often when someone describes what they actually need rather than
what they had pictured.
Quattro earns its keep in the wet
Audi's permanent all-wheel drive is genuinely good on a wet road, which is where an Australian
buyer of this sort of car will actually use it. On a maintained gravel driveway it is unbothered.
Beyond that it is road-biased and does not pretend otherwise.
It is quiet and easy over distance
Long trips are where this car makes its case. It is well insulated, the ride is settled, and
seven people can travel for hours without it becoming an ordeal. The absence of drama is the
feature.
Things You Should Know
Third row and boot are the usual trade
Seven seats, and with all of them up the luggage space becomes limited - normal for the class,
and worth planning around rather than discovering. The third row suits children and teenagers on a
long trip and adults on a short one.
If you need adults comfortable in the back row for hours, the GLS is the better car. If you need
eight seats and a real boot, the Kia Carnival is the honest answer and costs less.
Permitted use, same as the tier
Sealed roads and formed dirt roads, covering most rural driveways and national park access. No
genuine off-roading, beach driving, water crossings or rock work. The Defender is the car for
anything past that.
It is large, but manageable
Big enough to notice in a multi-storey car park, with good visibility and the usual complement of
cameras and sensors. Height limits are the constraint worth checking, as with everything in this
part of the fleet.
When This Is the Right Booking
Book the Q7 when you need seven seats and prestige without paying flagship money, when the trip
is a family or group weekend, when a corporate booking needs to look appropriate rather than
attention-seeking, or when the weather is likely to be poor and all-wheel drive genuinely matters.
Book something else when you want pace, when adults will occupy the third row for hours, or when
the car needs to be the statement at an event. The Q7 is deliberately not that car, and it is
better value for being honest about it.
Who Books It, and Why They Come Back
The Q7 has the highest repeat rate of anything in the luxury tier, and the reason is worth
spelling out because it is not flattering to the fleet's more glamorous cars.
People book a flagship SUV for a first prestige hire because it is the one they had pictured.
They enjoy it. Then, the second time, they think about what the trip actually required - seats,
weather, a boot, something that looks appropriate outside a client's office - and they book the Q7,
because it does all of that for less money and none of it worse.
The bookings it collects are consistently the practical ones: family weekends, corporate hires
where the car should look competent rather than expensive, groups heading somewhere with luggage,
and anyone who has done the maths on how often they actually need seven seats. It is not the car
people daydream about. It is the car people choose once they have stopped daydreaming.
The Weather Argument
An underrated reason to take this specifically, and the one that most often turns out to matter.
Quattro is a genuinely good all-wheel-drive system and this is a heavy, planted car. A wet
motorway in the middle of a Sydney winter with seven people and a full boot is exactly the
situation where that combination stops being a specification and starts being the reason the trip
was uneventful.
Small cars get moved around by crosswinds and standing water in a way this simply does not. If
your trip is in the colder half of the year, involves distance, and involves a full car, the
argument for the Q7 over something cheaper and smaller is not the badge - it is that the drive will
be less tiring and less eventful, and both of those are worth real money on a long day.
Booking Ahead
The Q7 is in demand for exactly the reason it is good value, which means it books out earlier
than its price suggests.
School holidays, long weekends and the run-up to Christmas are when seven-seat demand peaks
across the whole fleet, and this is the first of the seven-seaters to go because it is the most
affordable. If your dates fall in any of those windows, book as soon as they are fixed rather than
when the plans firm up.
If it has gone, the honest alternatives are the GLS - larger, better third row, more money - or
the eight-seat Carnival, which costs less and carries more but does not look the part. We will tell
you plainly what is actually free rather than confirming a booking and substituting on the day.
Booking It
Tell us how many people, how much luggage and your dates. The bond, kilometre allowance and any
delivery cost are shown with the hire price before you pay. Every driver who will take a turn needs
naming on the booking, and the minimum age on this tier is 20 with a full unrestricted licence.
And if the Q7 is already taken on your dates, ask anyway. Cancellations happen, and we would
rather tell you honestly what has opened up than leave you assuming the answer is still no.
If the Audi Q7 Quattro is booked
We never move you down a tier. If your dates are taken, these are the luxury cars we will offer instead, and we will tell you plainly if none of them is free rather than substituting something lesser on the day.
Range Rover Sport
- Up to 294kW
- AWD
- 5 or 7 seats
- Air suspension
Three of them in the fleet, which means it is the prestige car most likely to actually be free on your dates.
Kia Carnival GT-Line
- 8 seats
- Hybrid
- Sliding doors
- Huge boot
The only honest answer when there are more than seven of you. Nobody books it for glamour and everybody books it again.
Need more space again?
The Kia Carnival seats eight with a much larger boot. Tell us the headcount and the luggage and we will tell you which one works.
Guide rates, weekday winter pricing. Longer hires taper; the exact total for your dates is shown before you pay.
The bond held on your card equals the excess of the cover you choose. It is a pre-authorisation, released after return.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is 170kW enough for a car this size?
For normal driving, yes, and we would rather be straight about it than oversell. It is the lowest output in the luxury tier and the car is large, so it is adequate rather than brisk - 7.3 seconds to 100. Fully loaded on a long climb you will notice. If pace matters, a Range Rover Sport or the X6 are the quicker choices.
Do seven adults fit?
Seven fit. The third row is comfortable for children and teenagers over a long trip and for adults over a shorter one, which is the normal state of affairs for a seven-seater this size. The GLS is the one in the tier where adults are genuinely comfortable in the back row.
What is quattro actually doing?
Audi's permanent all-wheel drive, which gives it genuinely good traction on wet roads and on gravel. It is road-biased rather than an off-roader, and permitted use is sealed and formed dirt roads only.
Why is it the cheapest in the tier?
Partly the power figure, partly market positioning. It is not a lesser car in the ways that usually matter for a hire - it is well built, genuinely prestige and comfortable. It is simply the sensible option rather than the aspirational one, and it is priced accordingly. For a lot of bookings that is the better trade, and it is why this is the car we suggest most often once someone has described what the trip actually needs.
Where do I collect it?
Mascot or Parramatta, or we deliver across the Sydney metro. Delivery is priced by distance and shown with the hire and bond before you pay.
What licence and age do I need?
A full unrestricted licence, checked in person at handover. Minimum age on the Luxury tier is 20, with Young Driver Cover at +25% of the daily hire for any named driver under 25.
Can several people share the driving?
Yes, provided everyone is named on the booking and independently meets the requirements. On a long family trip this matters, because that is exactly the situation where someone unnamed ends up taking a turn.
Is there boot space with the third row up?
Some, but not much - which is normal for the class rather than a fault of this car. Seven people and seven people's luggage needs a conversation before you book. Tell us both numbers and we will be honest about whether it fits, and say so plainly when the Carnival is the better answer for what you are carrying.
Is there a security bond?
Yes, stated on the booking before you pay, held as a pre-authorisation against the named driver's card rather than charged, and released once the car comes back as it left. The damage excess is stated on the same booking and caps your exposure rather than being a figure to expect.