Volkswagen Touareg 3.0 V6 Luxury – Hanging with the bruisers

By Lawrence Minnie 

With the Touareg going up against some stiff competition from its home-based rivals in the BMW X5, Audi Q7 and its British counterpart the Land Rover Discovery, VW’s latest offering has a little something special in store. Read our road review below.

I have an endearing relationship with the Touareg. It was one of the first really big expensive SUV’s that I drove and was the test subject of our very first cross-country drive and economy run.            

Despite the hair-raising experience that driving from Johannesburg the Cape town on one tank of diesel in a powerful V8 created, I walked away from that experience with a deep respect for the luxury SUV. With the Touareg going up against some stiff competition from its home-based rivals in the BMW X5, Audi Q7 and its British counterpart the Land Rover Discovery, VW’s behemoth faired relatively well, but things could have been better.

Volkswagen has hedged their bets and the all-new Touareg was unleashed on us just a few weeks ago.

The new offering is more angular and has an aggressive air about it. The overall styling isn’t really anything to write home about and a quick glance in traffic leaves you wondering if it was a Porsche Cayenne that just passed you. That may be because the new Touareg shares its platform with the likes of the Bentley Bentayga, Lamborgini Urus and the aforementioned Cayenne. This may give it similar proportions to vehicles costing much more but, trust me, it’s all Volkswagen.

Interior refinement

The interior has seen the biggest change, and even in the lower-spec Luxury model, the fittings are top-notch. Polished black surfaces, brushed aluminium and soft, supple leather adorn the surfaces. Electrically adjustable, heated and ventilated front seats are a welcome fitment and although the interior may be rather dark, a simple flick of a switch will open the panoramic sunroof and let in the sun, brightening things up.

I really do like the new infotainment screen setup. The Discover Pro system is seamlessly integrated into the dashboard and the gesture control interface is a nice addition.

Power and drive

The Touareg Luxury that we tested propels its hulk down the road thanks to a 3.0 turbocharged V6 diesel engine that delivers 190 kW and 600 Nm.

This engine can be found in other VW products such as the Amarok and I have nothing but praise for the refinement and poise. It is quiet and you can barely hear it inside the cabin and even when you firmly plant your foot, barely a rumble from the engine bay can be heard.

As per our previous experiment, and even though the Touareg has a big hulking engine and weighs almost 3 tons, it is surprisingly light on fuel and you can expect roughly 9.2l/100km.

The wheels are driven by the permanent all-wheel drive 4Motion system and an 8-speed DSG transmission. Most of my praise for this car is directed at this transmission, it is faultless. The mark of an excellent transmission is that you don’t know it’s there and this transmission is playing hide and seek. Seamless and quiet, the transmission shift gears up and down with barely an indication of what gear you are actually in.

Final drive and thoughts

Even though the Touareg is equipped to tackle the road less travelled it’s not where these types of vehicles will live. We avoided the gravel and instead stuck to the highways and byways of Johannesburg.

The drive is exquisite with seamless power delivery and gear changes. This SUV is not small and just barely fits in a standard mall parking bay but it is no more difficult to manoeuvre than a BMW 3 series.

VW has taken a shortcut and instead of offering a base model and an exhaustive list of options you can get the new Touareg in just two spec levels Luxury and Executive. The luxury is the base with a few options tacked on while the Executive is the full house with all the tech and gadgets that you would expect to find in a vehicle of this calibre.

Compared to its class rivals, the Touareg is incredible value for money. It has the fit and finishes to rival the best in this segment and this should definitely be on the shopping list if you are in the market for a big bruiser SUV.

Model and Pricing

Volkswagen Touareg 3.0 V6 Luxury	R999 800
Volkswagen Touareg 3.0 V6 Executive	R1 088 200

 

Maintenance Plan	5 years/100 000km
Warranty	3 years/120 000km