Anyone own one? While not truly necessary, my wife has been wanting a 7 passenger SUV for a while now that we have 3 kids (all in car seats) and only one car.
I've resisted due to the fact that our 4Runner (2013 Limited w/ FullTime 4WD) has been able to swallow the whole brood. That being said, it does get annoying when we have visitors or an additional family member/friend to drive around. Now that the twins are headed toward 3, my wife is more likely to have additional kids in the car as well.
The most obvious choice would be a highlander/pilot or Sienna AWD. That being said, on a camping trip this past summer, a friend had a highlander that got stuck three times (had to pull him out with chains) just getting to our camp spot. This doesn't give me much faith in the "barely AWD" system in the Highlander or Sienna. We have owned Audi in the past and had really good luck with its AWD system (especially in the snow...seemed even better than the Full time system in our 4Runner to be honest...and we drive up in the mountains in snow a lot). I don't think the Audi will match the 4runner in off-road capability, but I think it would be good enough for us.
Part of me has ruled out the Audi thinking reliability would be an issue. Anecdotally, we have had no issues with our Audi's in the past (myself and extended family). I know empirically they have been doing much better these days with even Consumer Reports stating it is their second most reliable car (still hard to believe): https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/pictu...-reliable-cars-according-to-consumer-reports/
Will be hard to get rid of the 4Runner. Just a tank all around that stands up to abuse. Of course it drives like a tank (not nice at all) and is pretty gutless.
I've shown my wife several other options like Tahoes, GL class, Acura MDX, Land Cruisers, etc...but the only vehicle that has made an impression has been the Audi (I think this has a lot to do with how much she liked our previous car and some of my relatives cars).
Thinking maybe a 2014/2015 S-Line to get the 333HP engine.
Any thought from past or current Q7 owners or people with experience with the car? Any other ideas on possible vehicles? One major requirement is that the back two seats have a Latch tether for car seats (Q7 does).
Still not sure we'd move on from the 4Runner (my wife has even given it a name), but the prospect of 7 seats has my wife currently excited.
I've resisted due to the fact that our 4Runner (2013 Limited w/ FullTime 4WD) has been able to swallow the whole brood. That being said, it does get annoying when we have visitors or an additional family member/friend to drive around. Now that the twins are headed toward 3, my wife is more likely to have additional kids in the car as well.
The most obvious choice would be a highlander/pilot or Sienna AWD. That being said, on a camping trip this past summer, a friend had a highlander that got stuck three times (had to pull him out with chains) just getting to our camp spot. This doesn't give me much faith in the "barely AWD" system in the Highlander or Sienna. We have owned Audi in the past and had really good luck with its AWD system (especially in the snow...seemed even better than the Full time system in our 4Runner to be honest...and we drive up in the mountains in snow a lot). I don't think the Audi will match the 4runner in off-road capability, but I think it would be good enough for us.
Part of me has ruled out the Audi thinking reliability would be an issue. Anecdotally, we have had no issues with our Audi's in the past (myself and extended family). I know empirically they have been doing much better these days with even Consumer Reports stating it is their second most reliable car (still hard to believe): https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/pictu...-reliable-cars-according-to-consumer-reports/
Will be hard to get rid of the 4Runner. Just a tank all around that stands up to abuse. Of course it drives like a tank (not nice at all) and is pretty gutless.
I've shown my wife several other options like Tahoes, GL class, Acura MDX, Land Cruisers, etc...but the only vehicle that has made an impression has been the Audi (I think this has a lot to do with how much she liked our previous car and some of my relatives cars).
Thinking maybe a 2014/2015 S-Line to get the 333HP engine.
Any thought from past or current Q7 owners or people with experience with the car? Any other ideas on possible vehicles? One major requirement is that the back two seats have a Latch tether for car seats (Q7 does).
Still not sure we'd move on from the 4Runner (my wife has even given it a name), but the prospect of 7 seats has my wife currently excited.