The Volkswagen Touareg has a brand new lease on life.
Certain, it seems to be just like the pre-update mannequin, and it’s packing the identical engine as earlier than below the bonnet. The cabin has been tweaked moderately than overhauled, and there’s little or no change about the way it drives.
However… Volkswagen has given the Touareg a serious worth reduce. Whereas it’s not low-cost at $109,990 earlier than on-road prices, the Touareg 210TDI R-Line on take a look at right here is round $7500 cheaper than earlier than.
It was already a pointy purchase alongside the BMW X5, Audi Q7, and Mercedes-Benz GLE, which have been subjected to repeated worth rises, however the newest iteration represents even higher worth.
WATCH: Paul’s video assessment of the Volkswagen Touareg R
There’s way more to this household four-wheel drive than a pointy sticker worth, although.
How does the Volkswagen Touareg evaluate?
View an in depth breakdown of the Volkswagen Touareg towards equally sized automobiles.
Volkswagen
Touareg
How a lot does the Volkswagen Touareg value?
The facelifted Volkswagen Touareg lineup stays unchanged since launch.
| Mannequin | Worth earlier than on-roads |
|---|---|
| Volkswagen Touareg 170TDI | $86,790 |
| Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI Class | $99,990 |
| Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI R-Line | $109,990 |
| Volkswagen Touareg R | $129,990 |
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
What’s the Volkswagen Touareg like on the within?
Volkswagen hasn’t reinvented the wheel with the 210TDI, nevertheless it didn’t really want to. That is nonetheless an enormous, comfy household wagon, full with a powerful know-how suite.
Reasonably than the open-pore wooden seen within the base grade, the 210TDI picks up metallic trim throughout the dashboard and an R-Line steering wheel, as examined.
The basics are glorious. The driving force and passenger sit in generously stuffed armchairs with heating and acres of adjustment to dial within the good driving place for lengthy journeys.
Massaging and air flow function, and additional reinforce the posh vibes. There’s not an enormous distinction in right here relative to the bottom variant, however the costlier leather-based seat trim, black headliner, and additional luxurious options on the entrance seats do elevate the expertise.
The flash Innovision display setup that was commonplace on the final Touareg 210TDI carries over, albeit with just a few selection upgrades. The graphics have been polished, whereas Apple CarPlay and Android Auto at the moment are wi-fi.
CarPlay now takes up the entire display, moderately than sitting in an ungainly little window. It seems to be nice, nevertheless it’s unusual that utilizing the local weather controls or seat buttons on the base of the display blanks out that full display show.
Past that, the system is snappy to reply and straightforward sufficient to navigate. Many of the icons are huge and vibrant, to allow them to be noticed and prodded merely on the transfer… for probably the most half.
Our tester threw a hissy match at one level, necessitating a full manufacturing facility reset – as soon as that was finished, which took round quarter-hour throughout my drive residence, it performed good once more.
Volkswagen hasn’t killed the haptic steering wheel buttons within the Touareg, which suggests you’re nonetheless caught with fingerprint-prone gloss black on the spokes. The earlier that goes, the higher.
The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is crystal clear, and blends a spread of totally fashionable choices with one for classic-looking gauges. It’s additionally been massaged as a part of this facelift, with new colors and graphics.
With a storage bin below the dashboard (residence to the wi-fi telephone charger), cupholders on the centre console, an honest bin below the armrest, and spacious door pockets, there are many nooks and crannies for snacks, units, and keys on lengthy highway journeys.
As you’d anticipate of a hulking household SUV, the Touareg has acres of house within the rear. There’s sufficient legroom for lanky adults to sit down behind lanky adults, and the entrance seats are set excessive to release sufficient toe room for chunky winter boots.
Prime tether factors function on all three rear seats, and there are ISOFIX factors on the outboard rear seats.
Headroom is sweet, however the angled C-pillar does make it really feel a bit tighter again there than possibly it must.
Youngsters will recognize the standalone local weather controls, and the auto-dipping air suspension makes this a better automobile to clamber into or out of.
Then once more, it places the mid-sized Audi Q5 and Mercedes-Benz GLC within the shade for rear house – regardless of being priced in keeping with them, the Touareg is a extra substantial automobile.
The boot is a broad house, full with distant releases for the rear seats and a baggage cowl that slides robotically up once you pop the boot to make loading huge gadgets simpler. There are additionally air suspension controls again there, permitting you to boost or decrease the automobile with out clambering into the entrance.
| Dimensions | Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI R-Line |
|---|---|
| Size | 4889mm |
| Width | 1984mm |
| Top | 1718mm–1757mm |
| Wheelbase | 2888mm |
| Boot house (seats up) | 810 litres |
| Boot house (seats folded) | 1800 litres |
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
What’s below the bonnet?
There’s no change below the bonnet for the 210TDI R-Line within the up to date mannequin.
| Specs | Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI R-Line |
|---|---|
| Engine | 3.0L V6 turbo-diesel |
| Gas | Diesel |
| Transmission | 8-speed auto |
| Pushed wheels | AWD |
| Energy | 210kW |
| Torque | 600Nm |
| Claimed gasoline economic system | 7.4L/100km |
| Gas tank | 90 litres |
| Towing (unbraked) | 750kg |
| Towing (braked) | 3500kg |
| Weight | 2249kg (tare) |
| Gross Automobile Mass | 2850kg |
| Gross Mixed Mass | 6350kg |
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
How does the Volkswagen Touareg drive?
The Touareg 210TDI R-Line majors on relaxed long-haul consolation, nevertheless it’s additionally a surprisingly proficient metropolis automobile due to its rear-wheel steering and plush air suspension.
Refinement is superb. The turbo-diesel V6 engine fires with a muted grumble and barely raises its voice above a whisper, and there’s greater than sufficient shove within the mid-range to make this 2250kg beast really feel hot-hatch fast once you actually dig into the accelerator’s journey.
In regular driving the eight-speed automated shuffles by the gears to the tallest doable ratio, and usually is comfy leaning on the engine’s torque moderately than dropping all the way down to ship the revs hovering. It means you could be deliberate with the throttle once you’re in a rush, or flick the chunky gear selector into Sport.
There are few higher vehicles for freeway cruising. The Touareg chugs alongside silently at 100km/h, ticking over barely above idle and sipping from its huge gasoline tank like a a lot smaller automobile.
There’s minimal wind noise from the mirrors, and minimal highway roar from the tyres which suggests you don’t want to boost your voice to speak with passengers, or flip up the radio to drown it out. That’s not all the time the case in European vehicles.
We’ve collected two examples just lately, and each have proven a projected vary of greater than 1100km from their 90L gasoline tanks.
Volkswagen’s adaptive cruise management is easy and good, sustaining a niche to the automobile in entrance with minimal fuss, and the energetic lane-centring operate included as a part of Journey Help retains you between the white strains with out making an attempt to wrench the wheel out of your fingers.
Beneath the pores and skin is an air suspension system able to elevating or decreasing the physique on the press of a button, and making the trip firmer or extra relaxed based mostly on the drive mode.
Some vehicles have drive modes that don’t actually do a lot, however flicking by the modes within the Touareg meaningfully modifications its character. The place the bottom 170TDI has a hard and fast metal suspension setup, the air suspension within the 210TDI opens the door for way more.
Consolation provides it a languid feeling, floating over the worst the town can throw at it, whereas the trip corporations up in Sport.
Flicking into Sport additionally brings the energetic anti-roll bars into play. Nicked from the Bentley Bentayga and Lamborghini Urus, they’re capable of push up one aspect of the physique once you flip right into a nook to cease the automobile rolling.
Flip left and the right-hand aspect stiffens up, flip left and the right-hand aspect is actively propped up. Drive in a straight line or flick right into a extra relaxed drive mode and the anti-roll bars chill out for a looser, extra comfy trip.
Flicked into Sport, you’ll be able to actually throw this bus round and it dances like a smaller, lighter automobile.
What’s extra, the energetic anti-roll system is tech you don’t get within the Touareg R, regardless of that automobile’s larger sticker worth and extra overt concentrate on efficiency.
Arguably extra helpful than the energetic anti-roll is the rear-wheel steering system, which makes the Touareg straightforward to park.
The rear wheels flip in the wrong way to the fronts at low speeds, just about shortening the wheelbase and making this large SUV really feel extra like a Tiguan in small parking areas.
It’s vastly useful on busy streets, the place it may be the distinction between an ungainly three-point flip and a neat U-turn within the face of oncoming site visitors.
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
What do you get?
Touareg 170TDI contains:
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- Energy tailgate with kick activation
- Energy-folding exterior mirrors with reminiscence and auto-dip
- IQ.Gentle HD matrix LED headlights
- Innovision Cockpit
- 15-inch touchscreen
- 12-inch digital instrument display
- Satellite tv for pc navigation
- Wi-fi Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
- FM, AM, DAB+ digital radio
- Wi-fi telephone charging + 5 x USB-C ports
- Heated, power-adjustable entrance seats
- Vienna leather-based seat trim
- 30-colour ambient lighting
- Twin-zone local weather management
- Open-pore dashboard wooden trim
- Illuminated door scuff plates
- Cargo administration system for boot
Touareg 210TDI Class provides:
- 20-inch alloy wheels
- Varenna leather-based seat upholstery (Blue, White inside elective)
- Ventilated entrance seats
- Massaging entrance seats
- Auto-levelling air suspension
Touareg 210TDI R-Line brings:
- R-Line inside/exterior styling package deal
- 21-inch alloy wheels
- Puglia R-Line leather-based inside trim
- Brushed stainless-steel pedals
- Stainless-steel scuff plates with R-Line emblem in entrance doorways
- Rear privateness glass
- Rear-wheel steering
- Energetic anti-roll stabilisation
- Heated sports activities steering wheel
- Brushed aluminium inside trim
- Black headliner
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
Is the Volkswagen Touareg protected?
The Touareg has a five-star ANCAP security ranking based mostly on testing carried out in 2018.
| Class | Rating |
|---|---|
| Grownup occupant safety | 89 per cent (34.0 out of 38) |
| Little one occupant safety | 88 per cent (43.4 out of 49) |
| Susceptible highway person safety | 72 per cent (34.6 out of 48) |
| Security help | 78 per cent (10.2 out of 13) |
Commonplace security tools contains:
- Entrance, front-side, rear-side, entrance and rear curtain airbags
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Entrance cross-traffic help
- Blind-spot monitor
- Rear cross-traffic help
- Adaptive cruise management with energetic lane centring
- Dynamic highway signal monitoring
- Encompass-view digital camera
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
How a lot does the Volkswagen Touareg value to run?
Just like the broader Volkswagen vary, the Touareg is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee.
| Operating prices | Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI |
|---|---|
| Guarantee | 5 years, limitless kilometres |
| Roadside help | 12 months, prolonged with every scheduled service |
| Service schedule | 12 months or 15,000 kilometres |
| 3-year service plan | $1900 |
| 5-year service plan | $3500 |
To see how the Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Volkswagen Touareg
Though the bottom 170TDI represents distinctive worth, the additional package on the Touareg 210TDI R-Line is fairly rattling interesting.
Together with the additional punch from the higher-output V6 diesel, the addition of air suspension and rear-wheel steering add an additional few levels of functionality.
I additionally occur to assume that is the best-looking member of the up to date Touareg vary, with its neat mixture of chrome and black on the skin… together with these tidy aerodynamic wheel covers.
Do you could stretch all the way in which to a Touareg R? Sure, its plug-in hybrid know-how will win you some inexperienced factors on the college run, however the R-Line counters with a less complicated powertrain, rear-wheel steering and energetic anti-roll know-how lifted from Bentley and Lamborghini.
I’d be pocketing the additional $20,000 the R calls for and investing in a household vacation.
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