The 2027 Audi Q7 lands in America in the fourth quarter of the year at $70,900, a $3,300 rise, with a standard 429-horsepower twin-turbo V-6 that sees off 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds.The SQ7 climbs to $98,700, up $4,900, in exchange for a 591-hp twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 and a 3.7-second sprint to 60.Against the $69,800 2027 BMW X5 and the $62,250 Mercedes-Benz GLE, the Q7 is the priciest of the German trio, but it is the only one that hands you three rows of seats without asking. Every year, without fail, the price of a German luxury SUV moves in one direction. It never comes down. It never even holds still. It simply climbs, quietly and relentlessly, like damp in an old cottage. And so it is with the new Audi Q7, which has been comprehensively reworked for 2027 and will now relieve American buyers of $70,900, which is $3,300 more than the outgoing car asked. Before you spit out your coffee, it is worth pausing to consider what that money actually buys. This is not a light dusting of chrome and a new shade of gray. Audi has given the Q7 fresh styling, its latest technology, and, crucially, a proper engine as standard. Every 2027 Q7 comes with a twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V-6 producing 429 horsepower and 442 pound-feet of torque, which is a frankly serious amount of thrust for a machine whose main job in life is ferrying children, Labradors and flat-pack furniture. The result is a claimed 0 to 60 mph time of 4.8 seconds. That is 0.7 seconds quicker than before, and more than quick enough to embarrass a hot hatchback at the lights, assuming you would ever stoop to such behavior. You would. We all would. And if 429 horsepower somehow leaves you feeling short-changed, perhaps because you own a boat, or a horse, or an inflated sense of your own importance, Audi will gladly sell you the SQ7 instead. Just bring money. Quite a lot of it, actually, because the fast one now starts at $98,700, which is uncomfortably close to six figures for what is, at its core, a school-run appliance with anger issues. What the 2027 Q7 and SQ7 Cost, and How the German Rivals Stack UpLet us begin with the fast one, because it is more fun. The SQ7 sticks with the recipe that has always made it slightly absurd and completely wonderful: a twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8, now churning out 591 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. Audi says it will reach 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, a 0.3-second improvement on the old car. Read that again. Three point seven seconds, in a vast, three-row family wagon. Not so long ago, numbers like that were the exclusive preserve of low-slung exotics with no trunk space and no manners. The catch, as ever, is the invoice. That $98,700 starting figure represents a $4,900 increase over the previous SQ7, and once you have had even a brief rummage through the options list, which you will, because no Audi buyer in recorded history has ever left the configurator alone, you will sail past the $100,000 mark without so much as a backward glance. The regular Q7 tells a similar story on a smaller scale. Its $70,900 sticker is up from $67,600, and the SUV goes on sale in the United States in the fourth quarter of this year, with the first cars reaching dealers before the year is out. So if you want one, the waiting is nearly over. If you want your bank balance left alone, well, you clicked on the wrong article.Now for the genuinely interesting bit: the competition. Audi has aimed the Q7 squarely at the BMW X5, which in turn spends its days scrapping with the Mercedes-Benz GLE. But here is the thing. It is not really a fair fight, because the Q7 is a slightly bigger car, and it comes with three rows of seats as standard. Its two German rivals make do with two rows in their standard forms. So while the Audi is the most expensive of the three, it is also the only one that will carry seven people without a trip to the options list, which rather changes the arithmetic. The numbers themselves are close enough to matter. The all-new 2027 BMW X5 opens at $69,800, which makes it $1,100 cheaper than the Q7. That figure gets you the X5 40, powered by a turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six making 394 horsepower. A fine engine, and a fine car, but you are down 35 horses and one row of seats compared with the Audi, for a saving that would barely cover the wheels upgrade. Mercedes complicates matters, as Mercedes so often does. The GLE is not an all-new car for 2027 in the way the Audi and BMW are, though it has been given a substantial overhaul for the upcoming model year. Stuttgart has not yet announced 2027 pricing, so the most useful reference point is the current 2026 GLE, which starts at $62,250. That sounds like a bargain next to the other two, and it is, until you notice the small print. That entry price buys the GLE 350, which makes do with a 255-horsepower turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder mild hybrid. Perfectly pleasant. Not remotely in the same conversation as a 429-hp V-6. Step up to the GLE 450, with its 375-horsepower turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six hybrid, and the Mercedes suddenly costs $72,250. That is more than either the BMW or the Audi, for less power than both. The 2027 GLE is expected to keep a 2.0-liter hybrid at the bottom of the range, which should help it continue undercutting the Q7 and X5 on headline price, but the moment you shop on performance rather than the number in the advert, the picture shifts firmly in Audi's favor.Here is how the entry prices line up:ModelStarting price2027 Audi Q7$70,9002027 BMW X5$69,8002026 Mercedes-Benz GLE$62,250So where does that leave the buyer? In a rather good place, actually. Audi has not tried to win this contest by being the cheapest, because it was never going to be. Instead it has loaded the Q7 with more standard power than the BMW, more seats than either rival, a redesigned cabin with a clear focus on quality, and performance figures that would have counted as sports car territory within living memory. The price rise stings, of course. Price rises always do. But $3,300 for a car that is quicker, sharper and better equipped than its predecessor is hardly daylight robbery by the standards of this class. And the SQ7? That one is simpler still. If the idea of a 591-horsepower, V-8-powered family SUV that hits 60 in 3.7 seconds does not stir something in you, check for a pulse. The rest of us will be busy speccing one past $100,000 and pretending it is a sensible family decision. Because in a strange, wonderful way, it is.
