Why we’re running it: To see if Volkswagen’s re-engineered SUV is a fitting flagship – and how well it can do diesel
Month 3 - Month 2 - Month 1 - Prices and specs
Life with a VW Touareg: Month 3
We’ve learned some important lessons over nearly 10k miles in our big diesel SUV - 4 March 2020
The weeks have flown by. It feels like it was only the other day that I first slipped behind the wheel of our Volkswagen Touareg, and the fact that it has since amassed nearly 10,000 miles is hard to comprehend.
But what pleases me most, now that the big Volkswagen is about to leave our fleet, is how closely our experiences with the car align with our expectations of it going in. It may look like an off-roader but, in our hands, the Touareg has turned out principally to be an effortless motorway mile-eater. You begin a journey and you arrive with little perception of fatigue in what seems very short order.
True, the 4Motion permanent four-wheel drive system has given us occasional chances to tackle muddy fields and grassy slopes – one especially slippery farmer’s field, safely negotiated, will always live in the memory – but our recollection of the Touareg will mostly be of tackling long journeys, on which you almost never seem to have to stop for fuel.
Indeed, it was a superb performance in this role that made us want to run a Touareg in the first place. A couple of us were late for a flight home from Germany and still 80 miles from the airport. A Volkswagen chauffeur installed us in the back of a gleaming black Touareg (the same 282bhp diesel version as ours) and set off down the autobahn at a secure, stable and remarkably quiet 120mph. We made the terminal in plenty of time…
As is well known, the Touareg has close relatives at Porsche, Audi and Bentley, so its price leads you to believe it’s a very good-value machine, even at an entry price just short of £60,000 and even (in our case) with nearly £10,000 in options. The quality, after all, is very little different from the others.
However, in our hands, the Touareg never really assumed the role of a prestige machine: it was always the one car on our fleet that would take rear passengers in spacious comfort, would reliably eat miles and would rarely need fuelling at the outset of every journey. It was far more likely to have ‘450 miles to go’ showing on that blessed readout in the middle of the speedometer.
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Touareg Black Eddition 286 & Touareg SEL 231
Totally mixed experience owning the new 2019 Touareg. I first had a 68 plate SEL 231 and it was great. Not one problem with it. I had it for 2 years and it was comfortable to drive, very spacious. The fact is, I loved it so much I upgraded it to a 70 Plate Black edition 286. Had it 6 months now and it had 11 faults and been off the road for almost half the time I have had it.
After owning many many Volkswagens, this is the first I have had serious issues with. I think the most serious was the safety system failing. The SOS not working the impact protection showing a sporadic fault by emergency stopping with no object in front.
The car also went into limp home mode due to a coolant pump issue and low voltage test. The software issues also meant that many of the functions were not working either. It’s had the LTE aerial replaced, many software updates.
The most frustrating thing is that the dealer network seems swamped with issues. When I have a fault it always seems a month to get it booked in and get a curtesy car. If it’s a safety issue, then I don’t want to drive it while it waits to be fixed. So, it becomes an expensive ornament on my drive. Also frustrating is at this point, I feel like the mechanics have driven more miles in the car than I have, through test diving and fault finding.
The latest issue is the AdBlue seems to be leaking out the back and spraying up the back door and down the wheel arch under the tank. Currently waiting another month to get that resolved. Meanwhile I have no other option than to use a car with chemicals leaking out the back of it. I just hope it is AdBlue as it meant to be harmless.
I hear horror stories with VW more and more these days. Just not the cars they once were.
Touareg R
I really like the Touareg although I dont think the latest 'revised' model has improved the breed in any way. Too much 'Chinese Market' chrome for my liking and the front end treatment is way too fussy compared to the restrained and classy previous (2nd Gen) model.
I think Autocar ought to 'call out' more strongly the ergonomic desert that is the current manufacturer craze for giant touchscreens. They dont work and they are extremely expensive to replace when they fail, (as are TFT dashboards). As Steve said - buttons are nice! Any dashboard where you still cant find a function after 600 miles of driving, or where you need to go to the handbook for guidance (men never read handbooks!), has utterly failed.
Touaregs make great secondhand buys, as they drop like a stone in value....for me (being a Diesel hater), they are a no go area.
A lovely holiday