Road Test: Audi Q7 3.6 FSI Quattro 5dr Tip Auto

This is the engine that makes the 4.2-litre V8 almost redundant in the Q7 range - unless you're so into badge snobbery that common sense only has a tenuous relationship with your bank account.

Basically a 280bhp, 3.6-litre V6 with FSI clever-clever injection, the 3.6 Q7 feels lighter in the nose than the 350bhp V8, with better steering and reactions. It's also more sympathetic to the Q7's bulk, revving sweetly and picking up much more keenly than its bent-eight counterpart.

This level of driving precision makes you feel that the Q7 has been scaled down somehow, and the sensation is further helped by the lighter, relatively revvier engine, which seems to get on better with the standard six-speed auto 'box.

Fuel economy is better, as are emissions, as is the feeling that you're getting a better deal. Let the American market have the V8 - it's not the best petrol engine in the range.

The rest remains the same. All UK cars get the firm air-suspension system, so we're guaranteed a car that can at least handle a B-road, though the terror is that it'll fill it from bramble hedge to bramble hedge. The only issues are that the diesel motor still makes a better practical case for itself in Europe.

The other issue? You'll have to wait for the 3.6-litre FSI - it arrives six months after the V8s and diesels.

Tom Ford