Audi of America’s product planning manager, Filip Brabec, told journalists “the Q7 combines the dynamism of a sports saloon with the performance of an off-roader.” So that’s pretty much how we drove it, once we escaped the unmarked SUVs containing photo radar units that line the streets of Scottsdale and Fountain Valley, Ariz.

Starting the first half of the day in the 2007 Q7 4.2, it didn’t take long for characteristic Audi traits to materialize – sublimely fluid and linear steering with perfect assist levels regardless of speed, responsive brakes with a pedal that felt a touch too sensitive and difficult to modulate in the city, the sweet sound of the V8 engine when it was revved, a seemingly endless reserve of power underfoot, and a transmission that glides between gears under hard acceleration.

Comfort is king in the Q7, for the front seat occupants, anyway. The leather on the steering wheel is butter-soft and wonderful to hold, the seats supportive and easy to adjust to a wide variety of body types. Ride quality is exceptional with the optional adaptive air suspension dialed in to Comfort. In this mode, the Q7 floats over the surface, cushioning passengers from road zits and wrinkles but never letting the body wallow about. Want to take things up a notch for that favorite stretch of country road? Select Dynamic mode and every whoop, de, and doo will get transferred to the cabin.

For an SUV, one that weighs closer to three tons than two, handling is impressive. Body roll and motion is effectively minimized by the adaptive air suspension, and we had a terrific time tossing the Q7 down a canyon road until a sheriff’s deputy, frustrated by six weeks of speeding journalists from around globe ripping through his rural desert outpost, took our velocity unkindly and rewarded us with a citation. After that, we kept the suspension dialed to Automatic and let the Q7 handle the all the guesswork.

Our afternoon drive took place in the 280-horsepower Audi Q7 3.6. This model arrives in September with less equipment and a sticker price shaved by $10,000, but after a few hours in the saddle we decided it just might be the Q7 to get. This is a torquey V6, delivering peak power across a broad rev range, and sounds good while doing so. It’s not as quick as the Q7 4.2, something we definitely noticed while running an uphill on-ramp into Phoenix freeway traffic, but if you’re just carting around a couple of kids most of the time, the 3.6 makes sense. We mustered a 16.1 mpg average according to the Q7’s handy trip computer, compared to a 15.2 mpg average in the 4.2, but our jaunt in the V6 model included plenty of first-gear four-wheeling, and lots of idling while we inspected body damage and made feeble attempts to clip the Q7’s side cladding back onto its flanks.