The all-new Volkswagen Touareg – First Drive Impression

By Chad Lückhoff

The all-new Volkswagen Touareg is impressively specced right from the dealership floor and with cutting-edge technology bundled in, presents an attractive, comfortable package.

We have, for the longest time, lamented the fact that too many of the premium German brands require you to go a little bit crazy on the options list in order to get anything worth driving. These extensive options lists often take what seems like an affordable base-model and leave you with an eye-watering bill at the end of the day.

It's a smart enough business tactic; luring unsuspecting customers in with attractive prices and holding them captive by their emotions. Once you're behind the wheel of a well-specced demo model on your test drive, your heart takes over the decision making process and you walk away having signed on the dotted line, usually for way more than you originally bargained on.

It seems that the tides are changing, though and if the new Volkswagen Touareg is anything to go by, we may be seeing more impressive standard equipment levels without too much variation in the base price. The future may just be a little rosier then.

Fresh Attire.

I first caught a glimpse of the new Touareg at the Auto China 2018 Motorshow, replete with creases and chrome. While still maintaining the basic look and feel of the Touareg that we've come to enjoy, the new one has a stronger presence with bold, chrome slatted grilles, gaping air dams and sharp creases down the flanks. These creases are known as Tornado lines and extend from the edge of the headlights, all the way through to the rear where they crest over the strong, muscular shoulders of the imposing SUV. The C-pillar has an aggressive forward slant, much like the new Polo, hinting at performance and agility. It sets a striking presence on the road but still manages to blend in at the same time.

The new Volkswagen Touareg is an all-new design and not just a nip/tuck facelift. The overall dimensions have changed, making the new Touareg longer and wider than before, but a little lower than the previous versions. This has improved interior space, and luggage area is up from 697 litres to an impressive 810 litres. Thanks to mixed material construction incorporating aluminium and high-tech steels, the new Touareg is 106kg lighter than the second generation model it replaces.

City Friendly.

These changes make for a more road-friendly tourer, not that the previous generation lacked in that department. The Touareg has always been a capable long-distance cruiser and we managed to drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town (on one tank of fuel) in exemplary comfort. While both the first and second generation Touaregs were geared towards being off-road-capable, the new, third-generation Touareg takes a more urban approach.

As such, the new Touareg has a host of advances which make it more city-friendly. Four-wheel steering aides with parking and manoeuvring in tight and confined spaces, while the standard tech is something that one would usually have to specify in an options list.

Standard fare across both trim derivatives, Luxury and Executive, includes LED head- and taillights; Active Climate; electrically adjustable memory seats; Easy Open,Easy Close power tailgate; Adaptive Cruise Control with Front Assist; panoramic sunroof; Light Assist high beam control; and a Parking Package that includes a reverse camera, Park Assist and Park Distance Control.

Technology overload.

Luxury variants are fitted with the Discover Pro media system, which features a 9.2-inch, full-colour glass touchscreen. This unit has 10GB of internal storage and accepts Bluetooth, USB, and SD card inputs. The Executive models are treated to the top-of-the-range Discover Premium media system, with a 15-inch screen that is, and there's no other way to say this, massive. Working in a similar fashion to a tablet with single finger swiping for widget control and two-finger swiping to switch between screens, the Discover Premium is a central command centre for the entire vehicle. Pair it with the optional 730w Dynaudio sound system and you have 12 speakers caressing your ears, making light of the kilometres as you blast across the country, or pass time on the daily commute.

Discover Premium forms part of the Innovision Cockpit, a combination of infotainment and driver display. Digital Cockpit is Volkswagen's answer to the Audi Virtual Cockpit, replacing the traditional analogue gauges and multi-function display with a 12-inch digital display which can be customised to the driver's liking. Do you want an analog gauge layout? That can be done. Want a minimalist approach with the navigation, or media splashed across all 12-inches? Sorted. Or, would you like a combination of both with more information than you can wave a stick at? It is all possible with this Digital Cockpit layout.

The Digital Cockpit is complemented by a colour head-up display, capable of displaying speed, speed limiter info, navigation info, adaptive cruise control settings, lane assist and side assist. The head-up display is part of the optional Advanced Safety Package, but this will see the vehicle fitted with Lane Assist, Side Assist and Night Vision – a system that uses infrared cameras to detect heat signatures of pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife on dark roads.

Not that it's needed though, as the IQ.Light Matrix LED headlights will do a more than adequate job of illuminating the road and surrounding areas. Made up of 128 LEDs per headlight, the IQ.Light Matrix has the ability to only illuminate the areas on which the driver needs to focus their attention, and will leave dimmed areas around pedestrians and other traffic to avoid blinding them. Using GPS information, the system will also adjust the brightness based on the light density of the area, ie: dimmer lights in residential areas but brighter lights out in the wilderness.

Driver-focused interior.

The Discover media systems may be at the centre of the Touareg’s control, but most of the cockpit is still geared towards the driver. VW designers have made the cockpit a space where one would gladly spend time. The infotainment is angled towards the driver at a rather noticeable angle. While this makes reaching the extremities of the touchscreen easier, I still found it hard to get to its furthest corners without leaning a little forward in my seat.

The multifunction steering wheel is probably the largest let down of the interior, but that's only if one really tries to look for fault. It's a familiar unit, and I would have liked to see something a little more modern doing service.

There have been some initial concerns about the quality of the plastics, with some calling it somewhat low-rent. While there is extensive use of hard plastics, they've been finished off in a suitable manner, and don't seem to offend too much. You're not going to get British trim levels here, but at least everything will work as intended past next Tuesday.

Power! Or rather...

Possibly the lack thereof. While I'm not saying that the new Touareg is underpowered, there's a sad reality that doesn't bode well for performance enthusiasts: South Africa will not be getting the almighty twin-turbodiesel V8, and instead will have to be content with the 3.0-litre V6 TDI engine – the only powerplant on offer, and the only one that we will see on local soil. This is thanks to the Euro emissions regulations and South Africa's atrocious fuel quality.

It's not all doom and gloom though, as the 3.0 TDI V6 still churns out a respectable 190kW and 600Nm. This is sufficient to give the new Touareg a towing rating of 3.5 tonnes (braked). As for fuel consumption; information on this was limited, with only European figures available based on the 210kW engine (I know, right!?). That being said, you're purchasing a premium, diesel SUV – fuel consumption probably isn't high on your consideration list.

Drive is plumbed through an 8-speed automatic with steering mounted paddle shifters, onto an all-wheel-drive system will electronic modes for various surfaces, including an automatic mode that will vary the amount of slip allowed depending on road surface. Mated to the optional air suspension, there is up to 70mm additional ground clearance when “Special Terrain” is selected. The Touareg can also be lowered by an extra 25mm to provide better road manners and more-stable cornering.

I would suggest specifying the air suspension, as the ride without it was sadly quite jarring over the rougher and more uneven road surfaces we encountered during our test drive. I remembered how the older Touaregs rode rather comfortably, and without the air suspension that luxury is lacking in rather large doses in the new one.

What will it cost?

Then there's the matter of price. And this is, genuinely, one of the more surprising points of the new Volkswagen Touareg. Despite all the additional standard equipment, the new Touareg comes in at very much the same price as the old one. Strip away the frivolities and one could even argue that this new Touareg is cheaper than before.

The Luxury model retails for R999 800 while the Executive comes in at R1 088 200, and both carry a 5yr / 100 000lm maintenance plan, 3yr / 120 000km warranty and a 12yr anti-corrosion warranty.

The new Volkswagen Touareg, then, raises the bar for the German marque to a level where optional extras won't be the end of you.