2007 Volkswagen Touareg Review

Specifications

Some years ago, when I first heard that Porsche and Volkswagen werecollaborating on a vehicle, I thought to myself that it would be the first new vee-dub to have its engine at the rear of the car since the Beetle. It turns out that I was so far misled by the tantalizing thought of a budget 911 that I completely discounted the possibility that the two companies would produce something other than a sports car. Okay, so Porsche and Volkswagen had worked on a few projects together previously, such as the 356 (it was a relative of the Beetle, you know), and, in my earlier years, I thought that Porsche was a division of Volkswagen due to the relationship the brands shared spanning the late ’60s through ’80s (remember the 912, 914/4, 914/6, and the 924?). I suppose it would also be inappropriate for me to neglect mentioning that the great Ferdinand Porsche Sr. (1875-1951) was the man who engineered the original 1935 VW3 and 1937 VW30 (early prototypes of the Beetle) in the first place… but enough history. After all, the Porsche-Volkswagen relationship is at least as heated a subject today as it must have been in Hitler’s era. Back to my initial thoughts of the modern day collaboration, while the Cayenne designation sounded suitably spicy, a potentially viable name for a sports car, there is nothing remotely sporting about a vehicle named after a band of blue-robed nomadic tribesmen.

It turned out that the Touareg name was right for Volkswagen, and indeed the resulting vehicle wasn’t a sports car, but a sport utility vehicle. This was a concept that wasn’t too difficult to grasp for a mainstream automaker likeVolkswagen, but a mind boggling incarnation on behalf of Porsche. I won’t let my personal opinions on the Cayenne filter through this article (too much), but it must be said that I have deep respect for the Touareg, especially in what it’s capable of doing. It’s one of the most well-rounded luxury sport utility vehicles on a market that’s spread out very evenly. Unlike a BMW X5 or a Volvo XC90, it is not afraid to continue on where tarmac ends and earth begins, yet it’s still competent and capable at cruising comfortably and soundly on the highway. It also doesn’t pretend to be a people hauler, so you can’t get one with seven seats; which is just fine by me as third-row seats in medium-sized SUVs are often somewhat useless. Instead, the Touareg always has a nice, large cargo area, easily capable of swallowing a family of four’s over-packed luggage.

Late last year, when the new ‘07 Touareg first arrived, we grabbed hold of one with its brand new V6 engine and tested it. Volkswagen significantly upgraded the base enginefrom a measly 3.2-liter narrow-angle V6 that comfortably found itself shifting generations of GTI and Jetta around, but wheezed at the very thought of rushing a fully-laden luxury SUV to highway speeds, to a vastly more powerful 3.6-liter 280 horsepower unit. The power gains are nothing short of pleasing, with the Touareg now transcending that invisible yet oh-so important acceleration barrier, changed from doggedly slow to reasonably quick. With its Passat-sourced V6, I asked myself if Volkswagen really needed to offer a V8 engine in this machine, so to find out I grabbed one for a weekend. Like the V6, the only real thing that’s new about this SUV is its engine, although the changes are a lot less monumental. The V8 itself isn’t completely new, still being the time-tested 4.2-liter Audi-based engine, but what it gains is the FSI direct injection system that increases horsepower and torque, while using less fuel in the process. The revised V8 now produces 350 horsepower and 324 lb-ft of torque, a 40 hp gain and 22 lb-ft of torque increase.

Any fuel consumption reductions are negligible, however, at least by my experience. Volkswagen may claim figures of somewhere in the 5-percent region, but thatfigure might as well have been pulled out of a hat. The Touareg tester Volkswagen provided was well broken in, with about 8,000 miles on its clock, yet it was really, very thirsty. From start to finish, I put just about one tenth of the overall mileage in the city, yet my average distance traveled was no better than just under 16 miles per gallon. That’s only acceptable at best, given that the vast majority of this driving was done on the highway. On the plus side, at no time did it feel troubled by its off-roading footwear; the steering didn’t wobble or squirm, and tire roar was well subdued.

Many sport utility vehicles are at home on the highway, their weight and size being easily managed by drivers on wide, straight roads, and a large number of automakers are wise to the city conditions that most owners drive through, so a growing number of SUVs are easy to drive in town as well. But very few are as nimble and agile as the Touareg. The steering is light, with a sort of frictionless quality that makes it very easy to park, yet it is geared to becalm, relaxed and most importantly, confidence inspiring when traveling at higher speeds. How it can do both is really quite amazing; even at high cruising speeds it feels as planted and as solid as a large German luxury sedan. The second is its turning radius; it may take quite a few turns of the steering wheel to reach full steering lock, but it’ll drive rings around an XC90 (Volvo’s are notorious for extra-wide turning circles). Three-point turns in a car will remain three-point turns in a Touareg, very handy when parking in cramped stalls or navigating claustrophobic underground parking garages. One option that really should be standard, or at least a standalone option on any luxo-ute let alone the Touareg are front and rear parking sensors. On the Touareg V8 it takes upgrading to Package 1, an option group that costs $3,480 (the same as on the V6-powered Touareg), to get them.

Back to its thirst, I didn’t mind such a gluttonous character flaw for the best that Exxon has to offer, because of its comfort and performance. Though it didn’t have theavailable air suspension system, it was by far the most comfortable Volkswagen Auto Group product I’ve driven in the past year, which includes a selection of very expensive Audis. It eats up the biggest and smallest bumps with the least amount of interior intrusion while keeping the Touareg very stable. And back to the issue of fuel consumption? To move a vehicle as portly as this takes a serious amount energy, especially if its driver often takes advantage of all the V8 muscle that comes under the hood. With 350 horsepower and six smooth-shifting gears in its automatic transmission, and the 4XMOTION all-wheel drive system shifting the power around, the Touareg is more than just fast in the normal “German efficiency” manner. It picks up speed at a troublingly quick rate, which defies its weight, size and its SUV classification. There are a good number of sports cars that aren’t as quick, and equally as many that don’t sound as good as this thing!

A facelifted Touareg, called the Touareg 2, will go on sale just before summer, and willshow off VW’s shiny chrome-plated corporate face and a raft of new features which I would’ve liked to see on the outgoing model. They’re little things that many players in its segment include, like adaptive front lighting and LED brake lights, plus all sorts of technology that seeks to make it safer on-road and off-road. The Touareg will also gain the Audi Side Assist radar-based blindspot warning system, which keeps its infra-red eye out when changing lanes, and ABS brakes that reduce stopping distances in the rain and on gravel roads. Fortunately, they haven’t messed around with the interior either; the wonderfully comfortable seats will still be part of the standard package, as will the high-end interior ambiance and excellent build quality.

One feature that VW did address in the meantime is the intelligent key system, and in particular the keyless start system. North American Touaregs prior to this year were available with the system that allowed you to keep your keys in your pocket and unlock the car. However, due to liabilityconcerns VW didn’t equip the car with a pushbutton start, so you’d have to fish the key out of your pocket and slot it into the ignition, which made the whole system rather redundant. Anyhow, this has been rectified with the installation of a push-button start, so everything’s all good now.

Perhaps, the best part about the Touareg is that it’s a top-runner in the luxury off-roading world, but it isn’t exorbitantly expensive. The new direct injection system for the V8 engine marks a base price gain of less than a grand over last year’s V8 model, for a very reasonable starting price of $43,110, which is almost seven grand less than the Audi Q7 4.2 and ML500, twelve large ones less than the X5 4.8i and much, much less than either a Range Rover Sport or a full, proper Range Rover which, all things considered, are its truest rivals in terms of all-round capability and luxury. When phrased like that, suddenly value becomes another extremely strong point going for the Touareg.