2027 Audi Q9 Is A Longer, Thicker Q7 Taking On The Established Big Boys

The Audi Q7 has always been a bit of a strange size. It's a little too big to compete head-to-head with crossovers like the Mercedes-Benz GLE and BMW X5, but it's definitely too small to compare to true full-size three-row offerings like the GLS and X7. While just about every other automaker has had crossovers running in both mid- and full-size segments, Audi has been content with just the Q7 inbetweener. But with the introduction of Audi's largest vehicle ever, the 2027 Q9, that all changes.

While it may look like a new-generation Q7 that took half a Viagra from the outside, really, the Q9 is something much more, both physically and in what it represents for the automaker. Inside, Audi's material choices, techy gadgets and other luxuries have been taken up a notch. There are also more standard features, a split tailgate out back, trick lighting and, of course, a lot more space than the Q7. In terms of Audi the brand, the Q9 also represents a new pinnacle in the lineup. The A8 is dead, so if you don't count the ultra-limited Nuvolari, the Q9 is the German automaker's new standard-bearer flagship.

To hold that sort of place in the company and compete against the likes of the GLS and X7, and American-made beasts like the Cadillac Escalade, the Q9 has gotta be up to snuff. It brings a lot to the table, including a U.S.-exclusive SQ9 model, but its competition is nothing if not stiff.

Full Disclosure: Audi flew me out to Munich, Germany, put me up in a nice hotel and fed me all so I could check out the new Q7 and Q9.

I'll level with you, big dog, it's sort of hard to tell the Q7 and Q9 apart. That's nothing new for Audi (or German automakers as a whole), which has always been into the idea of "the same sausage in different lengths," and that continues here. The Q9 is a taut 209 inches long, nearly 10 inches longer than the Q7, and the Q9's 123.5-inch wheelbase is 5.6 inches longer, which you can really see in the rear doors. It's also wider and taller than the Q7, with all of that extra girth showing up on the inside.

Whether you go with the standard seven-seat configuration (made up of a 2-3-2 setup) or the available six-passenger setup that gives you captain's chairs in the second row, there's a hell of a lot of room. I'm 6-foot-1, so I won't say the third row is the roomiest place I've ever been, but with 29.1 inches of legroom and 39.8 inches of headroom it's roughly on par with what you'll find in the X7 — more than good enough for kids and adults on shorter journeys. Getting back there is a cinch, since no matter what seat style you choose, they're all power-operated as standard.

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Behind that rear seat, you'll find a cargo area with plenty of room for your activities. With the third row up, there's 19.3 cubic feet of cargo room. That number balloons to between 43.8 cubes (seven-seater) and 50 cubic feet (six-seater) with the rear-most seat folded down. Drop all the seats, and there's a van-like 87.7 cubic feet of space up for grabs. If you find yourself in need of more room, a standard roof rack frames the biggest panoramic sunroof Audi has ever fitted to a car

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The word "largest" appears 16 times in Audi's press release about the Q9, and that's fitting, because, well, she big. The Q9 doesn't exactly shy away from its size, either. With its Mercedes-AMG Panamerica-style grille, wheels that span between 21 and 23 inches, and other aggressive, upright, and boxy styling elements, this Audi wants everyone to know it's top dog. There's nothing subtle about it.

Audi is all about the idea of a "mobile living space" when it comes to the Q9, and comfort above all else was the guiding principle. That comes through, especially in the second-row captain's chairs that feel every bit as good as the seats in the front row. They even look pretty much identical, with built-in LED ambient lighting.

These seats are a big difference-maker between the Q7 and Q9, as are the materials found inside. Being Audi's new flagship, ze Germans pulled out all the stops when it came to material choices, leathers, trims, and color schemes. There are a slew of new fabrics and wood trims available, as well as Dinamica microfiber, leatherette, and Nappa leather. Hell, there's even a wool upholstery option, which will certainly be the choice of anyone with actual taste. New colors include Tamarind Brown and Stone Beige.

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Buyers also have their choice of plenty of different wood, metal, and carbon-fiber trim elements. Anti–piano black crusaders will be happy to learn that Audi has decided to ditch a lot of its use of the nasty stuff inside the Q9 in favor of matte and textured materials. It looks pretty damn cool, if I'm honest, and it'll definitely cut down on the nasty fingerprints left behind by grubby little kids.

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This is a family car after all, so there are plenty of storage and phone charging solutions like two Qi2.2 magnetic wireless charging pads and a handful of USB-C ports in the center console. Like most redesigned Audis, the shifter has been moved to the steering column (matching the brand's wrongly hated turn signal stalk), so the designers were able to make the cupholders big enough that massive Stanley cups can fit in them now.

Flanking that center console are two Sports bucket seats that have standard heating, optional cooling and a massage function to help you relax after your hard day of being a captain of industry. Like the second-row chairs, they also have that slick-ass built-in ambient lighting.

At this point, you're probably champing at the bit to play with all of these interior goodies, but before you can, you've got to open the door. Like all modern luxo-barges, that's not as simple as grabbing a handle and pulling. In the Q9, the doors are electric, because manual doors are for the poor. They can be opened or closed in a whole bunch of ways — the key fob, MyAudi App and infotainment system all control the doors' opening and closing functions. The driver's door also swings closed when you hit the brake pedal or buckle your seatbelt. Of course, there's also a button on the interior that'll swing it open or close for you, and on the outside, the Q9 has rather conventional-looking door handles to take up the duty. A built-in radar sensor makes sure the power doors don't slam into anything, either.

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The dashboard is pretty similar to every other new Audi, but it added back some hard buttons and knobs to make interacting with the car just a bit easier. Those buttons and knobs don't take away from the importance of the three-screen setup, though. While there may be a bit too much bezel for my liking, there's no getting around the fact that the 11.9-inch gauge cluster, 14.5-inch center infotainment screen and 12.3-inch passenger screen work very well together.

That standard panoramic sunroof is pretty wild, too. It can do all the normal sunroof things, but there's also an optional switchable transparency feature that makes use of Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal laminated safety glass that'll let you control nine different segments of the roof to let the sun in and out as you please. It also has LED ambient lighting elements built in that work in concert with the rest of the car's ambient lighting. An optional 22-speaker, 1,360-watt Bang & Olufsen Premium Sound System with 4D sound stereo system will make being in the Q9 a wildly immersive experience.

There's some neat tech on the outside, too. Namely, the lights. Audi is finally bringing its advanced lighting technology to Stateside in the Q9 with the help of curved digital OLED taillights — those are just 0.1 millimeters thick, and there are 512 individual sections — and Matrix LED headlights that helps show folks where you're going without blinding them. Like the Q7, the Q9 will also project arrows onto the ground when the turn signals are activated.

The Q9 will only be available with one engine, but it's a good one: a twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 that Audi says will pump out 429 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque. It's routed through an eight-speed automatic transmission to a standard Quattro all-wheel-drive system. That's enough juice to move the 5,302-pound SUV from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds and go on to a top speed of 130 mph. Audi says that 0-60 time makes it the quickest-accelerating car in its class.

It comes standard with an adaptive air suspension that can adjust the ride height depending on speed, load and driving conditions. Higher trims also benefit from standard all-wheel-steering that can turn the rear wheels by up to 5 degrees. To help stop the big lug, there are massive 16.5-inch brake discs up front with 15-inch units out back, and for Q9 buyers out there who have other fancy, expensive things they want to take with them, Audi says the Q9 can tow up to 7,700 pounds when optioned with an integrated trailer hitch.

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Audi engineers bestowed upon it a slew of safety features as standard, like an automated emergency braking system, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a 360-degree camera, park assist, trailer brake maneuvering and trailer stability control. It also has nifty driver aids like adaptive cruise control and Audi's "Level 2+" Adaptive Cruise Assist Plus with hands-free highway driving. It comes standard on the SQ9, Q9 Premium Plus and Prestige models, and it'll allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel at speeds up to 85 mph with the help of long-range radar, side radar sensors, and a front camera in the windshield.

Yes, I said the Q9 only came with one engine, but that's a technicality, because in the U.S. we'll also get an SQ9. The rest of the world doesn't believe in freedom enough to have such things. The SQ9 gets an updated version of Audi's corporate twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8, putting out 591 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. The SQ9 knocks the 0-60 time down to 3.8 seconds, and its rear-based Quattro is augmented by an electrically controlled rear-axle differential lock. Like the regular Q9, Audi claims the SQ9 is the quickest-accelerating three-row vehicle in its class (it's a tenth quicker than the updates GLS63). With your foot fully matted and the right set of summer tires it'll hit 155 mph, and it can still tow 7,700 pounds.

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There's an electromechanical clutch that modulates the torque flow between the front and rear axles, and when needed it can send almost 100% of the engine's torque to the 11.5-inch-wide rear wheels. To make things even more fun, it can be optioned with Audi's sport adaptive air suspension that drops the ride height by 1.2 inches.

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Inside, the SQ9 doesn't look terribly distinct from a regular Q9 — just that little bit sportier enough to make a difference. There's more carbon-fiber trim, and the Sports seats are here from the get-go. Seating for seven is still standard, and six seats are an option. Like most "S" Audis, it doesn't look a whole lot different on the outside, either. You've got to know what you're looking for with the SQ9, but those who know will know thanks mostly to the grille pattern, quad exhaust outlets and rear spoiler.

If all of this sounds enticing to you, I've got some good news. Audi says the Q9's production line in Bratislava, Slovakia, is going to spin up soon, and it'll start arriving in U.S. dealers in the fourth quarter of this year. When it does, it'll come with a base price of $89,095, including destination. That's just $45 more than a BMW X7 and $2,505 cheaper than the Mercedes-Benz GLS. If you desire a little more pep, the SQ9 will set you back a far heftier $119,395.

There's a real argument to be made that the Q9 is a car Audi should have come out with 20 years ago. Surely it saw how popular the GLS (and the GL before it) have been since Mercedes introduced it all the way back in 2006, and the popularity of full-size SUVs should have really been driven home by the success of the X7 after its introduction in 2018. Better late than never, I suppose. Still, the folks in Ingolstadt now have their work cut out for them if they'd like to catch up.

I won't sit here and tell you that the Q9 is the most exciting car ever produced, but for folks who bought a Q7 and wished it was just that bit bigger, well, their prayers have been answered at long last.