Might be joining you guys very soon, Q7 TDI

[justinperkins]

Looking at picking up a new-to-me daily driver and a 2013-ish Q7 TDI (w/ Prestige) is what I'm heavily leaning towards. Owned lots of VAG cars and several TDIs, but no oil burners in my life since '08, so I've been mostly ignorant about the latest round of diesels besides the headlines. Any tips or gotchas to keep in mind? Know anyone selling a well-kept TDI?

Background: I've got a B6 S4 avant and have been using a beater WRX to keep the miles off the S4. Due to living in VT and the WRX spending its whole life here, and it being a Subaru, it is rusty as hell and at this point needs extensive rust repair before it can pass annual state inspections. I'm getting rid of it and want something bigger –*had a '17 4Runner Trail a year ago but sold it to make room for our camper.

Have always loved the Q7, pretty stoked about the potential to be daily driving one soon.

I live in the woods at the end of a dirt road and can have snow on the ground for up to 6 months, so the extra ground clearance compared to my S4 will be real nice too.

[Golfather]

Looking at picking up a new-to-me daily driver and a 2013-ish Q7 TDI is what I'm heavily leaning towards. Owned lots of VAG cars and several TDIs, but no oil burners in my life since '08, so I've been mostly ignorant about the latest round of diesels besides the headlines. Any tips or gotchas to keep in mind? Know anyone selling a well-kept TDI?

Background: I've got a B6 S4 avant and have been using a beater WRX to keep the miles off the S4. Due to living in VT and the WRX spending its whole life here, and it being a Subaru, it is rusty as hell and at this point needs extensive rust repair before it can pass annual state inspections. I'm getting rid of it and want something bigger –*had a '17 4Runner Trail a year ago but sold it to make room for our camper.

Have always loved the Q7, pretty stoked about the potential to be daily driving one soon.

I live in the woods at the end of a dirt road and can have snow on the ground for up to 6 months, so the extra ground clearance compared to my S4 will be real nice too.

Welcome to the fold and hope you find a good one. Not sure of spec ranges in the US but in the UK I’d be going for an S-Line Plus or Sport Edition depending on spec. I found a highly specced Plus as all the sports available looked great but had poverty spec.

Look out for the usual stuff, electric, Tyres, roof operation, service history etc.

Looking forward to seeing some pics!

[Timtheguru]

I just picked up a 2013 TDI Premium Plus, with cold weather package, warm weather package, tow package, and 20" wheels. It had one owner for 4 years an 9 months, then it sat the dealer for about 6 months after the buyback. Cool thing is the buyback pushes the warranty out for a lot of the engine components, including turbo, DPF, etc.. until 2021.





I wish I would have gotten a Prestige though with the airbag suspension.. oh well, it's good enough.

[SQive]

Congrats! Are you going to bag it?

[justinperkins]

Cool thing is the buyback pushes the warranty out for a lot of the engine components, including turbo, DPF, etc.. until 2021.

Oh rad! I didn’t know that. I was originally looking at higher mileage 2013s, planning to spend around 20k, but the more I think about it, tue more like the lower mileage 50-70k) models, inching towards 2014 & 2015 more in the 30k range.

There’s quite a few on autotrader that looks amazing and have been sitting on the lot for 6 ish months, just like you said.

[Timtheguru]

Oh rad! I didn’t know that. I was originally looking at higher mileage 2013s, planning to spend around 20k, but the more I think about it, tue more like the lower mileage 50-70k) models, inching towards 2014 & 2015 more in the 30k range.

There’s quite a few on autotrader that looks amazing and have been sitting on the lot for 6 ish months, just like you said.

Here's the warranty manual for the whole thing. Hope this helps. :)

https://redirect.viglink.com/?format...NAL_ONLINE.pdf

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Congrats! Are you going to bag it?

Probably not, will likely use it for going offroad to pick chanterelles at some point.

[SQive]

Probably not, will likely use it for going offroad to pick chanterelles at some point.

Well. . .aren't you a fun guy!

[justinperkins]

Anyone in the Tulsa, OK area able to do an on-site inspection for me?? 🙏

[justinperkins]

How about this, can we talk about adaptive air suspension? Get it? How on earth do you know if a used Q7 has it or not. Nobody lists features correctly, VIN lookups don't accurately indicate whether or not the vehicle has adaptive air. What a mess.

I found a Q7 prestige that had listed that it has adaptive air, ran a vin trim/feature lookup, results did not show that it had adaptive air.

[TheMysticWizard]

Get the air suspension.

I drove a '14 TDI without it, riding on 20"s, and found it to be both too soft and too harsh. Seemed to lean in the corners and you felt every bump pretty directly.

Drove my current Q7 (also a '14 TDI but on 21"s) with the air suspension and found the ride to be much nicer. It's still a bit harsh compared to what a Luxury SUV should ride like in my mind, but it seems to lean less and handle better, also bumps seem to be a little more cushioned (in comfort mode) where dynamic mode feels more controlled and firm.

I can't imagine the price to reflect air vs no-air much in the used market. I feel half the people shopping and buying these things have no clue what they are looking at or what they truly want (or what they're missing out on, for that matter) Except I guess the air suspension was only available on the prestige trim, which may be priced much higher than premium or premium plus models.

[lml999]

I can't imagine the price to reflect air vs no-air much in the used market. I feel half the people shopping and buying these things have no clue what they are looking at or what they truly want (or what they're missing out on, for that matter) Except I guess the air suspension was only available on the prestige trim, which may be priced much higher than premium or premium plus models.

My understanding is that air was an option on the premium plus model. I *think* it was also optional on the prestige. I have seen 0 premium plus Q7s with air, and a couple of prestige models with it.

Used car dealers will have no idea. When I was shopping for my '10 Treg TDi, there was one listed nearby for $15K with full high end audio and 4 corner air. Dealer had no idea, and the car was priced accordingly. I missed that one by an hour, ended up buying an identical one (with air) in the same area. Didn't see another V6 TDi Touareg on the market with air suspension anywhere for 6 months...

I'm thinking about turning in the Treg and picking up a Q7. Haven't decided whether to stick with diesel...I'm hearing reports that post fix, highway mileage is down 5 mpg. Doesn't make sense then...