The 2027 Audi Q9 Configurator Is Already Live. We Maxed It Out

It usually takes months, or even up to a year, for a German luxury brand to fire up the configurator on its website in the United States, but the Audi Q9 is an exception. Mere days after its world premiere, the build tool for the full-size SUV is already live on the official website. There’s a good reason for that, as the belated rival to the BMW X7 and Mercedes GLS is perhaps the most US-centric product ever to carry the Four Rings.

North America will be by far its most important market, as Europeans don’t have quite the same appetite for these mastodons. As someone who lives on the old continent, it doesn’t happen very often to run into a GLS, X7, or other full-size luxobarge. Aside from the U.S., I imagine the Q9 will also do well in the Middle East, where three-row SUVs remain a hot commodity.

In the U.S., $41,150 separates the base Q9 from the fully loaded SQ9. That’s about as much as an A3, the cheapest car Audi sells. Pricing starts at $89,095 for the base model, rising to $119,395 for the V8-powered SQ9. Since it didn’t cost us anything to tick all the boxes on the options list, we maxed out the configurator, resulting in an MSRP of $130,245 with destination and handling fees included.

Whether you’re buying a Q9 or the SQ9, Audi doesn’t charge extra for the body colors. Carrara White, Mythos Black, Alopias Blue, Glacier White, Agave Green, Waitomo Blue, Midnight Green, and Daytona Gray (pearl effect) are all no-cost options. The same can be said of the leather upholstery, as the black, red, and white interiors don’t command a surcharge.

The SQ9 gets 22-inch wheels as standard, but our build has the larger 23-inch set available for an extra $2,500. These are available with a two-tone look or in an all-black finish. The dark wheels are part of the $1,000 Black Optic Package, which also comes with black roof rails, dark chrome exhaust tips, and anthracite gray Audi rings.

Photo by: Audi

We splurged another $1,200 of our virtual money on the S Sport Package for the red brake calipers and sport adaptive suspension. The most expensive option is the $4,750 Luxury Package, which encompasses automatic doors, an illuminated grille, eight-way customizable daytime running lights, curved OLED taillights, a black headliner, and an air quality package.

For another $450, Audi throws in the captain’s chairs, turning the SQ9 into a six-seater with individual second-row seats and armrests. Rounding off the list of options, a Bang & Olufsen sound system crams 22 speakers and two seat actuators into the cabin for $950.

With the configurator going live, the order books are already open. Audi kicks off deliveries of the Q9 and SQ9 in the fourth quarter of the year. While Europeans are stuck with a V6 diesel engine until new powertrains arrive in 2027, the German configurator is far more elaborate than the U.S. version.

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Source: Audi

Motor1’s Take: Audi took its sweet time coming out with the Q9, but now it’s finally here. With Mercedes recently giving the GLS a facelift while BMW will launch a second-generation X7 next year, the Q9 won’t have an easy life. Along with the reborn A2 debuting soon, the Q9 is among the last Audi models to use the now-old design language combined with a screen-heavy interior.

With the Concept C and Nuvolari sports cars, Ingolstadt is entering a new phase with radically different exterior styling. We’ve also been promised a jump in interior quality, along with the return of buttons and less reliance on screens. The cabin tweaks all sound rather wonderful, but it won’t be until 2028, when the A4 E-Tron launches, that the first volume Audi from the new era arrives.