Cleveland to Chicago:

When I woke up yesterday morning in Cleveland, it was cold and raining - hard. We had a 120 mile trip to Toledo where we are stopping for lunch at Tony Packo's Cafe (of M*A*S*H fame). Still shaky with his run in with the law from yesterday, in broken English my partner suggested that I drive. I concurred.

At the morning breakfast/driver briefing, we were given the results from the DC – Cleveland leg, and unfortunately we fell into 6th place. The 20 minutes we were stopped when we were pulled over didn’t help our average speed, which was tied for the highest with 55 MPH. Apparently, cruising at 90 MPH isn’t the most fuel efficient speed. We did have our highest MPG so far, with 27.3 MPG being listed, but that was still the lowest out of the group.

Since I knew we weren’t going to win this competition, I decided to just get to Chicago as fast as possible. I floored it a few times and really felt all 400+ torque that this engine has to offer. It definitely gets up and moves for a big, heavy SUV. After two hours of driving in heavy rain, we arrived in Toledo at Tony Packo’s and had a chili dog complete with a side of, you guessed it, chili. It was suggested we make this a quick lunch stop, as the traffic in Chicago gets bad around 3pm.

The navigation showed a travel time of 250 miles and roughly 4 hours. My partner still didn’t want to drive, so I jumped behind the wheel once again. Audi provided in car wireless internet, so since my partner and I were unable to communicate, at least there was internet to entertain the person not driving. And thanks to Google Translator, our communication increased tenfold, albeit through text. I think we both realized we created a non-verbal bond, and were starting to understand each other.

With about 200 miles to go, we decided to switch driving positions. I turned on the lane departure warning, as I noticed from the other day he enjoyed driving in-between both lanes on the highway. Perhaps this is normal practice in Chile, but rather disconcerting as a passenger when traveling at 90 MPH on the highway. Alas, the lane departure warning didn’t have much effect on his driving habits, but at least he thought it was funny when the steering wheel would vibrate.

Once into Indiana, the clouds miraculously just disappeared. It went from downpour to sun in about one minute. Having seen a lot of cops, I decided it was time to teach my partner how to use the cruise control. Thanks again to Google Translator and hand motions, we finally got the cruise control set. I could tell the adaptive cruise control was confusing him, and he kept pushing the brake anyway once the car automatically started to slow down. Then to resume the cruise control, he kept pushing on the downshift paddle shifter instead of the cruise control stalk. A couple more entries into Google Translator got this problem sorted out.

Once getting into the city, I suggested that we stop and switch driving positions again. He agreed and I jumped behind the wheel. The navigation had us pointed to a Shell station just outside of Chicago, and we refueled there. Gas consumption was definitely lower this time, with the on board computer showing right around 25.5 MPG.

30 minutes later we arrived in the heart of Chicago at our hotel, and I said goodbye to my Q7 which has served us well so far on the trip. Later that night we were given the results for the first leg of the trip, and our score was as follows:

Overall Points: 427
MPG: 26.4 (only team to come in under 28 MPG!)
MPH: 53.8 (the highest by far!)
Distance: 1,037 miles
Standing: 6th place (not last!)

The lowest point count was 398, and the highest was 488, so there was a 90 point spread. Although we had the lowest MPG with 26.4, that is still not bad at all. I wish my car could get that on the highway. One Q7 averaged an even 30.0 MPG on the trip, but it had the lowest average speed of 48.8 MPH, and it came in last place. If it wasn’t for our highest average speed, we would have been dead last by far. Although we may have come in second to last, we always arrived before everyone else, so we spent less time in the car, and we were the only car to get pulled over. I think it’s safe to say our trip was the most exciting out of the group.

The Q7 performed flawlessly on the drive, and it is a very comfortable cruiser. Thanks to all the technological aids, it also makes for a less stressful drive. Adaptive cruise control has to be the greatest feature readily available on a car. If you do any long distance driving, I think you’ll find it was a good purchase within the first 10 minutes of driving.

I’m glad I got to spend an extended amount of time in Audi’s new clean diesel Q7, and I think once more people open up their mind to new diesel technology, they will be pleasantly surprised. I know I am.

- Anthony

2008 BMW K1200S | 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera | 1992 VW Corrado SLC Supercharged

The next morning I saw the TDI A3 on I-90 during morning rush hour as well.

Keep on going, guys!

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