Is the Volkswagen Touareg good for new drivers? Here’s our verdict.
The Volkswagen Touareg is a large, luxury 4x4 with a price tag to match. It’s an unlikely match for a freshly-minted motorist. Still, an inexperienced driver might find himself at the helm. Would he cope?
Volkswagen South Africa has a shining portfolio of television commercials. You might remember the Jumbo Golf ad, the Golf that broke the sound barrier, the red-yellow-blue Citi Golfs and the youngster who received his dad’s old Beetle on his 18th birthday.
One of the finest was the old ad where a father and his dikbek teenage son bond on a road trip together, while driving a Touareg. The boy was a bit young to drive, but his dad probably shared the driving duties with him later, when he had acquired his learner’s licence. These days, there is a fair amount of technology in the Touareg that will make a new driver’s task easier than in those days.
Related: 5 extras you should fit on a new Volkswagen Touareg
Safety is a standard feature
The 2020 Touareg is only available with VW’s 3.0 TDI V6 (190 kW) engine, mated to an 8-speed Tiptronic transmission. It’s a good combo, and the market doesn’t really require other engine options, though a plug-in hybrid would be welcome. From there, the buyer chooses between the Luxury-trim car (from R1 126 600) and the Executive version (from R1 294 900). The latter comes with air suspension, four-wheel steering, matrix LED headlights and a few other bits as standard equipment, hence the price difference.
Though the Executive has gadgets the Luxury forgoes, both cars are very comprehensively equipped, and some of these features are safety aids. This makes the Touareg a safe car for new and experienced drivers. Noteworthy items are adaptive cruise control (ACC) with “stop & go” (including speed limiter), Forward Collision Warning Front Assist, automatic headlight control for the LED headlights, park assist (self-parking) with park distance control (front and rear) and a multi-function camera.
Some safety features are optional and bundled together. If you want lane-keeping assist, you have to take the heads-up display and night-vision too, and this will add R63 350 to the car’s price
Familiar safety systems
On top of the cleverness above, the Touareg has eight airbags and a whole lot of harware and software for achieving consistent, optimal traction: stability control, traction control, 4Motion all-wheel drive, brake assist and so on.
If you buy a Touareg from one of the previous generations, it will have most of these safety features and therefore be quite safe, if not as much as the latest Touareg, with its advanced features like Adaptive Cruise Control. There are examples on this site that lived a pampered life for around R200 000 and up. Maybe start your new driver with one of these.
Related: Top 10 differences between new and older-generation used VW Touaregs
Ease of driving
For new drivers it is generally easier to maneuvre a small car, but with its cameras, parking sensors and other driver aids, the Touareg isn’t hard to pilot. The elevated driving position also helps drivers to see around them, while the automatic transmission makes shifting gears one less thing to think about. Day-time running lights make the Touareg more visible, while auto-on headlights help inexperienced drivers who have a lot of driver-related tasks on their mind.
Verdict
The Touareg does not spring to mind as a vehicle for new drivers, but it is a very safe car, and the latest model has technology to make driving a big car easier than before. The Volkswagen T-Cross, T-Roc or Tiguan are more obvious choices, but, with a bit of practice, the Touareg could be a good car for new drivers.
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