I currently own a Q7. I have a lot of experience with the X5 as my father owned one, it was an 04' model. He had nothing but problems. First, it's ride is the stiffest of all SUVs that I have driven. I believe that if you are going to buy an SUV why the hell would you get one that feels like a sport sedan raised a foot higher so all of the bumps are felt twice as much. The roads in Nor Cal are very rough and I found myself always thinking it was an uncomfortable ride, and my daily driver is a S4! Second, there was a squeeking sound that came from the dash that never went away in the three years he owned it, the dealer always "couldn't find the problem." They even replaced the entire dash and it still happend. Third, the rear tailgate had to be replaced because of a faulty latch. Fourth, electrical issues that could never really went away.

When my father went to sell it, there were at least 50 other X5's in the same model year with the similar miles on the market, which says something. He even tried to sell it $5k below low blue book and didn't even get a call. A friend of mine sold his ML350 in a week.

I am a huge fan of BMW, I love their 5 series, but as far as their SUVs.........they really missed the mark. Q7, smoother ride, better interior, more room, great Audi Quatro AWD.......and I think they both look cool.

 

x5 is kinda ugly and i bet the q7 would smoke it in a really froad situation where you would need an SUV, most people buy x5's and just drive them around the street like ******* idioits, but i do appreciate them for what they are for, just hate people who buy suv's and just waste gas and never use them for their purpose

 

Let us know what you decide after test driving both. I'm betting the Q will be your choice

...& what ever you do - don't read lauren5757 posts...

 

I empathise with Froglogic comments.

Furthermore, the Q7 is a bigger (more practical bigger) SUV variant to that of BMW's X5. Q7 serves its occupants well in the refinery and comfort department and provides peace of mind with its quattro set-up - if ever relied upon. Prices discount (here in NJ) favour the Q7 heavily against its Bavarian cousin ($3000 USD versus $1500 USD). However, BMW's maintainance is more comprehensive over 50,000 miles and it's steering/handling is a notch better/tidier.

For me the Q7 was a clear winnner. A great family vehicle where comfort and space reign over differences in steering, and financial discounts nearly always have a major say in the decision.



I'm new to the audi forum (used to drive an A4 roughly 10yrs back). Currently drive a 530i, and will be taking delivery of a new Q7 in 10 weeks time. My comparison was against Q7 3.6 premium and X5 3.0si both of which were well equiped with comparitive options.

 

reliability wise i would say beamers are as bad as audis. if not worse

 

Based on personal experience, I would say the X5 is the clear winner. The one caveat is that I feel the most recent version of the X5 is less attractive than the outgoing model.

I've owned a 2004 and 2006 X5, and currently own a 2007 Q7. I'm replacing the '06 X5 with the '08, and it was a tough decision because I don't like the styling nearly as much. I think the Q7 is beautiful, but we've had nothing but trouble with it (it's my wife's car, but I'm in it fairly often on family trips).

To begin, the unusual shape of the rear seat headrest supports make installing certain child seats difficult. The headrests don't easily remove as they do in some cars - we had to go to Audi for a special tool to do this. This isn't really a flaw - but by comparison, the BMW headrests slide right out if needed.

The tire pressure monitoring system is constantly alarming whenever there is a change in outside air temperature - since the tires are actually fine, you have to go through the MMI menu system to reset this. We live in Mass., so I can understand the occasional alarm, but our experience has been every 2 - 3 weeks, and our dealer says everything about the system is normal.

The check engine light is constantly lighting. This requires taking it in for service, which is usually just resetting the light. On one occasion the light actually illuminated on the way home from the dealer. 21,000 miles and the light has been reset at least 8 times.

My wife had the dead battery issue once, but now understands to hold the stop button, so that was a one time only occurance.

At the approx 20,000 mile service, they replaced the brakes - nearly $900. The rotors are so thin that you have to replace everything - by comparison, the last time I had the brakes serviced on my '06 X5, it was under $200, and was just pads and labor. Who knows, maybe the latest BMW's are made with cheaper rotors now, so this may just be an industry wide trend.

Overall we like theQ7 and the styling, however there have been constant niggling issues requiring trips to the dealer. By comparison, on my old X5's I never had a single issue - just standard service appointments.

 

I went looking for an owners forum and and landed on a wonderful debate. Since the wife and I just bought a Q7 3.2 premium, own an '07 328i that we downgraded from an '06 550 while we shopped for an SUV, I has to offer my two cents.

1. Need - THIRD ROW (standard on the Q7)
2. Style - Audi won (personal choice)
3. Price - Audi hands down
4. Driving experience, almost a 50/50 for us.

We shopped and researched for over 5 months while we decided. Obviously we have experience with BMW and the local dealership. Not to mention my sister-in-law let us borrow her '05 X5 for a month. We fell in love with the Audi!!! We use it first as a grocery and kid getter so easy of third row entry and interior space were important. Second we find ourselves in Mammoth 3-4 times a year doing a little snowboarding and my brother and sis-n-law swayed our decision there. They only recently moved back to Cali from Denver (they are very active, board and hike tons (no kids.)) and they both were less than impressed with the way the X handled in the snow. The sum of it all was that the Q and the X quickly became our top 2 in the beginning of our research. However, after a month long test drive in an X and anoutstanding experience and willingness to deal at the local Audi dealership we are now the proud owners of a Q with NO regrets.

Good luck in your hunt, I personally feel that you will be happy with either, and it might come down to the dealership....DO NOT FORGET TO ASK AROUND ABOUT SERVICE DEPARTMENTS!!!!!

 

while the audi q7 is a nice guy, the bmw technology is definately better. the x5 sd acceleration is only .5 seconds slower than the 4.2L V8 turbo diesel audi (with a twin turbo v6 3L). bmw have been able tomake a better engine, using less cylinders to produce nearly as much acceleration. the 3L turbo diesel model of the audi is 1.5 seconds SLOWER than the x5. bmw all the way!!

 

i mean 'nice car' not 'nice guy' haha

 

and as far as looks go, the x5 is definately not ugly. think they both have very different looks. think bmw is a much smoother ride tho, feel more like ur sitting IN the car rather than on top of it like the audi. we test drove both one after the other.