2027 Audi Q9 First-Drive Review: Audi’s Biggest SUV Beats BMW and Mercedes on Family-Friendliness

Key Takeaways

• Audi enters the large three-rowSUV market. The 2027 Q9 and SQ9 aim to compete with the Mercedes GLS and BMW X7 with advanced tech and spacious design.
• Powerful engine options. The Q9 features a turbocharged V6, while the SQ9 boasts a V8, both with significant towing capacity.
• Luxurious interior features. Includes a triple screen setup, cooled smartphone chargers, and a Bang & Olufsen 4D sound system.
• Competitive pricing. Positioned between the Mercedes GLS and BMW X7, offering a new choice for luxury SUV buyers.

Bottom line: Audi's 2027 Q9 and SQ9 offer a compelling entry into the luxury SUV market with robust features and competitive pricing, challenging established rivals.

✦ AI assisted, editor reviewed

Better late than never, right? That’s what Audi’s hoping for as it finally enters the full-size three-row SUV market, after far too long. The house of quattro isn’t just looking to stop the bleeding from its showrooms; it’s aiming to steal sales from the competition, and then some.

The 2027 Audi Q9 and SQ9 are about to hit dealers and mark the automaker’s largest vehicle ever, with turbocharged engine options, the latest tech, and three rows of legitimate space. Still, on-brand, it’s late to the party, with no hybrid model in sight. At least the cupholders will fit Stanley cups, right?

If you have at least $89,095, including a $1,395 destination charge, or, in the case of the SQ9, $119,395, read on to understand what Audi’s brought to the game. If you don’t, I’m sure someone will let you take out a loan.

Joel Feder

The Basics 

Audi’s been losing customers because families feel they’ve outgrown its current three-row SUV, the Q7. The Q7’s third row isn’t exactly adult-rated, and using it leaves you with little cargo space. The Q9 fixes these issues and super-sizes the new Q7. Yes, the two share the same underpinnings.

The Q9 isn’t flashy, but there’s no question it’s an Audi. The design is an XXL version of last year’s pint-sized Q3, or an XL version of the upcoming Q7. Yes, back to the one-sausage-in-different-lengths methodology, again. Split lighting up front, including Audi’s new (available) digital matrix LED headlight tech and communication lighting system, a neat safety feature, bookends a pin-striped Q9 grille and an egg crate SQ9 grille. It has real door handles, and that’s a win for families. The rear doors are absolutely massive, and the rear wheels are so wide on the SQ9 at 315/30R23 as tested that it has plastic fender guards to keep rocks from chipping the paint. Frankly, every wheel option is huge, with base models rolling on 21s, and you can option 22s or 23s. The D-pillar is upright for an Audi, and the clamshell tailgate is sadly dead. The available OLED curved taillights are slick, can communicate with symbols while parked (like a hazard sign), and will surely cost whatever a kidney goes for these days if or when they break.

Joel Feder

Inside, the Q9 already feels familiar. It’s taken most of the Q3 and even the A6 E-Tron, but added three adult-sized rows of seating. The triple-screen setup—two screens under one single curved piece of glass (one for the digital gauge cluster and one for the touchscreen infotainment system), plus a third screen for the front passenger. The world’s most incredibly over-engineered yet delightfully functional one-piece stalk pairs the gear selector with the turn signal and wiper controls. Shiny piano black plastic has been mostly jettisoned, leaving it only around the dashboard vents, which you won’t touch since you control them via the touchscreen.

Notably, the open-pore wood trim on the center console is lovely, but the SQ9’s matte carbon-weave trim almost felt, dare I say, fake and weird. The MagSafe-compatible smartphone chargers on the center console are cooled and work well. An available Bang & Olufsen 4D surround sound system with 24 channels, 22 speakers, and I can’t make this up, two actuators in the front seats so you physically feel the music. It’s weird. Also, making the eyebrow-raising list is a 16-cubic-foot glass roof panel that can be optioned with electrochromatic-like Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) technology to block out the sun. But for those who really like to party, you can option embedded lighting with 84 LEDs inside the glass. Do you like to party?

Joel Feder

Packaging-wise, the Q9 is a mixed bag with more good than bad. It certainly equals or beats the competition. Only Q9 and SQ9s with sport bucket seats and power-operated second-row captain’s chairs were available for testing, so the final verdict is still on hold. The front seats are supportive, and there’s plenty of room in every direction, with excellent visibility, though I did hate the camera dangling down and sitting behind the rearview mirror as part of the dashcam setup. It’s in the way. Access to the second row is easy thanks to doors that open a full 90 degrees. Buyers with narrow garages, take note. The second row has plenty of space, cup holders that fit Stanley Cups, and the best part: the seats slide and tilt. This lets a car seat stay in place while you access the third row. The third row is adult-friendly, and I could sit comfortably in the back with a 6-foot-5 friend in the second row. Every seat in the second and third rows has LATCH, and you can option automatic opening and closing doors. They were a bit finicky to use, much more so than the ones on the Cadillac Escalade, and didn’t always respond immediately when activated.

Joel Feder

Cargo room is notable. With all three rows up, there’s 19.3 cubic feet of space for stuff. For those keeping score, that’s 1.9 cubic feet more than the Mercedes-Benz GLS, and 6.5 cubic feet more than the BMW X7. With the third row folded, there’s between 43.8 and 60 cubic feet of space. That discrepancy is worth noting because models with the available second-row captain’s chairs don’t feature a fold-flat second row. Those captain’s chairs only slide and tilt forward. Only the second-row bench seat can fold flat. Be mindful of how much cargo space you need and how many seats you need when ordering your Q9. Behind the first row, when you fold both the second and third rows, there’s 87.7 cubic feet of space.

Q9 turbocharged V6 (left)/SQ9 turbocharged V8 (right) Joel Feder

Driving Experience 

The Q9 runs on a 2.9-liter turbocharged V6 rated at 429 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque. The SQ9, which only America gets because, for once, we get the good stuff others don’t, swaps in a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with 591 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque. Regardless of engine, it gets an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the latest iteration of quattro all-wheel drive is standard; in SQ9 models, it’s rear-wheel biased. Every Q9 and SQ9 can tow up to 7,700 pounds.

Joel Feder

Starting the SQ9 and firing the turbocharged V8 to life brought a refined growl, with the smallest barks from the trademark quad tailpipe setup. It

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