Lift mode would have helped. We set the Q7 3.6’s adaptive air suspension to Off Road while goofing around on trails that Audi didn’t approve for the test drive, bumping ground clearance to 9.1 inches. It wasn’t enough. In Lift mode, we could have extracted almost another half inch, up to 9.5 inches of air between the Q7 and the earth. That might have been enough to keep from settling the right rocker panel onto a jagged rock and damaging our test car. But what’s a trashed trim panel when you can provide your reader with the real scoop on a new SUV?

The 2007 Audi Q7 proves to be a much better four-wheeler than you might expect, even if you do know it’s based on the same platform that underpins the equally remarkable Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg. While AWOL from the rest of the Audi group, we took this thing up a rock-strewn, faintly visible canyon trail no owner would tempt. The self-locking center differential and electronic differential locks did a terrific job of keeping the Q7 moving, the turning circle proved impressively tight, and visibility was quite good. The optional rearview camera and parking sensors really helped to gauge distances in tight situations.

If there’s room for improvement, without building a Paris-to-Dakar rally machine, it’s with regard to the Q7’s downhill speed regulation system. When engaged, this safety net is supposed to automatically limit the Q7’s rate of descent to 12 mph so that the driver can concentrate on steering rather than braking, but that’s a little too fast, in our opinion. Audi should cut the maximum descent rate by half to provide a proper comfort zone. But then, given the Q7’s on-road handling bias and the target market, it possesses more off-road capability out-of-the-box than 99 percent of its owners will require.

*photo by Christian Wardlaw