The V8-powered Audi SQ7 is coming to Singapore

There you have it, the Audi SQ7. The upper echelon of Audi’s Q7 range is making its first appearance in Singapore. One could think of it as the luxurious Q7 crossover with more go-faster bits, bigger vents, bigger rims and a thumping great lump of V8 goodness under the hood. 

The SQ7 is propelled by way of a twin-turbod’ 4.0-litre V8, which dishes out a very healthy 500 horsepower and 770Nm of torque. The turbochargers themselves are housed between the cylinder banks in a hot-V layout, which should ensure minimal lag for on demand performance.

Sure, it doesn’t have the 600 horsepower that the RS-badged RS Q8 has, but 500 is hardly a number to throw shade at. 0-100km/h is dealt with in just 4.1 seconds and it’ll hit an electronically limited top speed of 250km/h.

Hypermiling aficionados fret not, for the SQ7 comes with cylinder on demand (COD) tech which can deactivate half of the 8 cylinders to net you some semblance of decent fuel economy. The SQ7’s 8-speed Tiptronic transmission can also disengage the clutch when freewheeling to reduce the load sustained by the engine.

Under normal driving circumstances, torque and power are split 40:60 between the front and rear axles. Under exigent driving circumstances, the centre-mounted mechanical differential is able to shove up to 70% of power to the front or 85% to the rear.

Sounds like a neat bit of kit doesn’t it? Well, it’s yours for S$500,951 if you so fancy one. But if you’d prefer the coupe-ish SQ8, it’ll be made available later this year.

PHOTOS Audi