2007 Audi Q7 in Tinley Park

From early December to mid-March, Hell freezes over. If the Devil lived here, he would have to put on his parka, gloves, hat, and snow boots-like the other 266 inhabitants of this hamlet hidden twenty miles northwest of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The center of Hell Township consists of a general store, an ice cream parlor that's closed in winter, and a bar and grill. The dominant colors of these dwellings are yellow and red, the most popular symbols are licking flames, and the best-selling memorabilia are Satan T-shirts, mugs, and caps. Overall, however, winter in this place seems more like purgatory than the underworld.

Heaven, on the other hand, is a slice of paradise. Located on the outskirts of picturesque Bardstown, Kentucky, it's home to the Heaven Hill distillery. Founded in 1935 after the repeal of Prohibition, Heaven Hill is the largest independent, family-owned producer of distilled spirits in the United States. Geographically, Heaven and Hell are closer than you might think. The distance between the little village on Hell Creek and the home of both Evan Williams and Elijah Craig bourbon whiskey is about 400 miles.

Our transport is a brand-new SUV that will attempt to make an impact on an already crowded market when it goes on sale in June. The Q7 is the biggest let's-call-it-crossover made in Europe, but the real surprise is that it's made by Audi, a German company renowned for advanced engineering and a range of all-wheel-drive luxury sedans. Audi hopes that the market is craving a mud crawler made in Ingolstadt and firmly believes that it can add a new dimension to the SUV game. The Q7 is priced competitively, with a base price of $50,620 in V-8 form.

If the response to the vehicle during our drive is anything to go by, the Q7 will do a better job of putting Audi on Americans' radar screens than all of its current passenger-car models combined.... Read full article