What a sensational vehicle this is. Never mind the price (we will get to that latter)
The earlier model Touareg was made famous through a television commercial of a Touareg towing a airline and the fine print stating that the vehicle as not fitted with factory towing equipment.
That vehicle was a great vehicle too however VW vowed to release something special to take on the Audi Q7, Porsche Cayenne and Range Rover and in our opinion VW come out with the gloves on.
The Touareg key feature fo us is the adaptable air suspension, something that is not new to the automotive industry but Vw have really nailed it in this car. Ride hight options can be controlled by the driver using a console control dial gauge. At highway speeds the vehicle will automatically adjust the ride hight to minimise drag, increase stability and reduce fuel consumption.
In addition to the air suspension the Touareg comes with four wheel steering. This only operates at speeds below 37km/h designed to help with parking and manoeuvring in tight spaces. The use of the four wheel steering can reduce the vehicles turning circle up to one meter making a large SUV easier to part that most small vehicles.
The towing hitch is a unique and cool feature with an electrical switch used to hide it away, on demand and at the push of a switch the towing hitch miraculously appears at the back off the vehicle.
This car even has the option of what VW is calling the adaptive chassis control which is basically a fancy name for electronically operated sway bars. This is designed to help with handling and stability.
Worthy of note is the fact that VW has managed to add a huge amount of features to this vehicle and still reduce the overall weight of the car by 120Kgs over its predecessor.
This car is also filled with some super cool tech. The huge screen in the dash allows for the driver to change everything from music right through to the colour of the interior lights. This vehicle is truely packed with features. It drives and handles perfectly and is almost un fault able.
Negatives to watch for on this vehicle are the price tag. This model with the $8K options package won’t give you much change from $100K.
The only other draw back we can see is the vehicle does not come with a seven seat option. This seems unusual given the target market likely to look at buying this vehicle.
All in all we can’t really fault this vehicle. It’s expensive, servicing costs will be high compared to other SUVs (this applies to most European vehicles) We have coved the reason behind this in the following article.
The Trouble with European Vehicles
We would also note that all these features are fantastic and add to the driving experience however with more tech comes the greater chance of something going wrong and once these vehicles are outside of the manufacturers warranty period they will become an expensive vehicle to maintain with these many systems and options eventually failing and needing repair. VW is offering a very generous 5 year manufacturers warranty on the Touareg.