Audi joins the luxury SUV fight with the all-new Q9
Better late than never, Audi’s Q9 has finally broken cover, almost 20 years after Mercedes-Benz launched its immense GLS and about 8 years after the BMW X7 graced us with its presence.
Audi has taken its sweet time to get here, having watched Stuttgart and Munich go to war over 3-row luxury SUVs. Audi sat out for a while, trusting the Q7 to carry the flagship torch it was never really built for. That changes now.
Sitting on the same platform that also underpins the A5, Q5 and the next Q7 models, the Q9 has a wheelbase of 3,137mm and a width of 2,002mm, slightly larger than the X7 (3,105mm and 2,000mm) and GLS (3,135mm and 1,956mm). These are small figures on paper, but in the respective stable, bragging rights matter more than the numbers themselves.
On looks alone, it’s a massive 3-row SUV that, depending on the angle, looks like an enlarged Q8. That’s not exactly a bad thing. Audi’s recent design language is genuinely pleasing, and scaling it up to flagship proportions hasn’t broken it; if anything, the bigger stance suits it.
The interior is the usual Audi flex, thanks to a large 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster, a 14.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system, and a 10.9-inch passenger display up front. There are individual electric second-row seats, powered doors, and the largest panoramic sunroof ever fitted in an Audi. Also, it comes with an optional 22-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, standard sports seats, heated door armrests and front centre armrests,
The Q9 is offered in six- and seven-seat configurations. Go for the optional six-seater, and you get a 2-2-2 layout with two individual captain’s chairs in the second row, for that business-class experience. The standard seven-seat 2-3-2 setup is the more family-focused pick. Either way, ingress to the third row is handled properly; the outer second-row seats slide forward electrically, activated either through the infotainment system or a button right there in the rear door entry area.
At launch, particularly in Germany, the Q9 will be available with a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel engine in two outputs: 220kW and 630Nm, and a slightly detuned version with 180kW and 500Nm. There’s also a 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 (320kW and 599Nm) and plug-in hybrid versions on the pipeline. A range-topping SQ9 wielding a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with 441kW and 800Nm from the pre-facelifted RS6 Avant is also on the cards. This particular model will send the behemoth from 0-100km/h in 3.8 seconds.
Regardless of the engine, every Q9 is equipped with an 8-speed automatic transmission and quattro all-wheel drive as standard.
So, is the Q9 worth the wait? Yes. On paper, it brings a lot to like. But the reality is that spec sheet numbers don’t win loyal buyers overnight, and both the GLS and X7 have had many years to build the ownership trust that flagship SUV buyers actually pay for. Perhaps the next question the Q9 still needs to answer is whether it has the badge equity to match. We will only find out when it gets here, likely before the end of the year or early 2027.
