Porsche Cayenne, VW Touareg, Audi Q7 owners

[Bruce B]

Thanks Phil and Cedonly,
I have no concerns towing with the Q7. I've even gotten Andy to answer a few emails where he suggests that the experience will be entire different than what I am used to.
Not sure what I'll do yet..
Next question, can you still open the tailgate when hitched to the trailer with a shortened hitch stinger...?
Thanks again,
Bruce

[Phil Krogh]

Yes. Mine clears the propane tanks by about 4 inches.

[cedonly]

No problems with the tailgate. On the cayennes it will open but if the tv and as are at an angle it will have interference

[mikextr]

Originally Posted by Bruce B

I opted for a Q7 with the adaptive chassis package mostly because I wanted the 4 wheel steering after 10 years of parking a truck...Any thoughts?
Bruce

The Q7 with the adaptive chassis package is quite possibly the best TV available today. I'm a Porsche guy, but for a TV I think I would have to choose the Q7 over a Cayenne if I was in the market today.

[Mr. Merk]

I tend to tow in sport mode. For one it starts out in first gear and it feels much more stable. Probably doesn't make a difference but I figure being lower to the ground might aid in aero.


What mode do you tow in?

[Bruce B]

Just brought it home last night.
Hitched it up just to take a quick look...
Bruce

[Tom_T]

Originally Posted by Bruce B

Just brought it home last night.
Hitched it up just to take a quick look...
Bruce

Looks great Bruce - now take them out for a run!



Cheers!
Tom
///////

[Bruce B]

I’m trying to get a reasonable number of miles on the Audi before doing more than a quick tow around the neighborhood!
Of course I will report back...
BB

[madmac157]

Bruce,
I have a 2017 Audi Q7 3.0T as TV for our 2018 BC. I'm considering a Globetrotter 23 or 25, so would like to upgrade from straight towing to WD hitch.
Do you have, or can you point me to, pictures, parts list, and instructions for the hitch receiver reinforcement done on your Audi Q7? I'd like to get a local shop in California to do it for me since I'm 2500 miles away from Andy and CanAm.
Thanks,
Mark
P.S. You can private message me at donnelly.m@mac.com

[bono]

I did my reinforcement at this place

https://www.yelp.com/biz/midnight-au...redwood-city-7

You may experience some scheduling issues, but overall I am very happy with the service.

[madmac157]

Originally Posted by bono

I did my reinforcement at this place

https://www.yelp.com/biz/midnight-au...redwood-city-7

You may experience some scheduling issues, but overall I am very happy with the service.

Bono, thanks. I’ll give them a call since I live in NorCal.
Mark

[madmac157]

Originally Posted by bono

I did my reinforcement at this place

https://www.yelp.com/biz/midnight-au...redwood-city-7

You may experience some scheduling issues, but overall I am very happy with the service.

Hey Bono, I got the 2017 Q7 hitch receiver reinforcement done this week at Midnight by Luis.

He first modified the hitch receiver by welding a small section of 2” box tube underneath the existing receiver between the existing safety chain hookup holes. A small flat steel plate with 1/2” bolt holes drilled into it got welded to the modified receiver. He welded a new safety chain hookup ring into place. The long reinforcement piece was fabricated out of 1/2 inch thick flat plate solid steel, measured and cut, bent into shape by a 10 ton hydraulic press, and then attached to the rear suspension support and the modified hitch receiver plate with 1/2” Grade 8 bolts of medium carbon alloy steel, quenched and tempered. The bolts were torqued to 110 ft/lb.

In my opinion, the shaped steel plate looks nicer than the welded 2” square tube arrangements, has very little impact on ground clearance, AND IS REMOVABLE to allow maintenance of muffler or suspension. Although, I'm not an engineer, I feel confident it will likely work as well as the welded 2” tubes because the reinforcement is designed to put pressure directly between the hitch and rear frame support, and to not put shear load on the bolts or the suspension wishbones (the bolts are in line with the load).

For now, I'll just try towing my little 16 foot BaseCamp with WD to level out the car and trailer, and then see how it goes. I got a baseline empty weight CAT scale measurement of the car right out of the shop. I'll do the 3- pass CAT weighing with a loaded trailer and car next week. I'll report if I have any issues on the road.

madmac157

[bono]

Please post the photos. I think I know how your reinforcement looks like. I believe Luis did it on the first Cayenne he worked on.

Thanks!

[madmac157]

See attached Photos of the 2017 Audi Q7 hitch receiver reinforcement using 1/2” thick steel plate tang and hardened heavy duty bolts.

Mark

[madmac157]

Final product looks like this

[bono]

Looks good, thanks for sharing!

[Mr. Merk]

Finally got a few pics of the pair.....getting ready to head out in a month!

[waninae39]

we tow a sport 22Fb with our Audi q5 Sline.
no issues.

we get about 1/3 less gas millage when fully loaded

[ARF]

Thought I would share how our Audi Q5 TDI is performing after the recall work was done on the emissions system. We completed our first extended trip since I had the recall work done, a 5000 mile trip towing our FC 27FB.

Towing - Dropped from 15-16 MPG to 14 MPG. However, biggest change is the amount of Blue Def/Ad Blue we went through. We were only getting about 500 miles per gallon of Blue Def.

Not towing - Dropped from 31 MPG to 29 MPG. We live in Summit County, CO and the MPG drop is more significant after the recall work. Went from 29MPG at high elevation to about 27MPG. In the winter, it is even lower, about 25MPG. Cost of living in paradise at 9500' elevation.

Anyone else experience the huge increase in the amount of Blue Def used when towing?

[waninae39]

this is our af22fb with the q5 when we first picked it up

and stuck between white 18 wheelers