Introduction

True Touaregs (pronounced without the 'a' -- “Toor-reggs”), as many people will know, are desert nomads -- camel caravaneers, salt traders, extraordinary navigators among the countless huge dunes and gravel plains of the Sahara, and all-round survivors in the most inhospitable terrain on the planet. It can come as no surprise, then, that this was the name chosen by Volkswagen for this remarkably capable and durable S.U.V.

As soon as one drives the Touareg, its good handling characteristics, easy acceleration, sound braking ability and all-round comfort quickly become apparent.

Appearance and Bodywork

Seeing the VW badge on a Touareg merely serves to reinforce the impression of solidity and functionality that this vehicle displays. It is clearly an S.U.V. but it is equally obvious that it has been built to tackle serious terrain and not just to allow owners to look good when dropping their kids off at school.

The bodywork and overall construction of the Touareg come as no surprise: solid, functional and expectably good German engineering. 

Controls

On a major topic, the automatic gearbox was generally very smooth indeed. One has the option of moving the lever a notch to the right and using it as a Tiptronic selector but for ordinary driving this was simply not necessary. Given that the automatic box had no winter setting, however, the Tiptronic selector would be very useful on snow and ice, when using second or even third gear would be advisable for getting the vehicle moving from a standstill, and also for preventing the system selecting first or second gear once you are moving. (Tip: Low gears can easily cause wheel spin on slippery roads, and so should be avoided. The use of higher gears does not imply the use of higher speeds under these conditions.)

The vehicle has 4XMOTION permanent 4-Wheel-Drive (4WD) with selectable low ratio.

The Touareg is very well equipped in the controls department but there are a couple of aggravations which could so easily be avoided.

Firstly, the 'intelligent' windscreen wiper system that VW have fitted would not be my choice. Instead of having the traditional selection of intermittent, standard speed and fast wipe, the Touareg's wiper system goes straight from intermittent (a wheel control on the column stalk) to fast. Positioning the wheel for the fastest intermittent setting is meant to give continuous wiper action if the system detects enough rain to warrant it. There were, however, occasions when visibility demanded continuous wipers but they simply didn't comply. The only option, at such times, was to switch to fast wipe, but that then proved too much and had to be switched off again. Frankly, I have yet to find a so-called intelligent wiper system that fully lives up to its promise, and this was no exception.

The horn and the headlight flashers, on any vehicle, are classed as the emergency warning instruments, with which -- rather obviously -- a driver can warn of his vehicle's presence, whether or not his vehicle is in motion. As such, these two controls should both function at all times, even if there is no key in the ignition. (Imagine, for example, being in a parked car and a large truck is reversing towards you. Being able to use the horn would be rather vital!). Despite the fact that the headlight flasher on the Touareg worked with no key in the ignition, the horn did not. That is a safety issue which should be rectified -- a very rare problem, granted, but there's no excuse not to be able to deal with such situations.

For ordinary use when driving, though, the horn was very accessible. Four prongs of the steering wheel boss come close to the rim of the wheel, and although only two are marked with a horn symbol all four are functional. Indeed the whole wheel boss will activate the horn but the whole point is that a horn should be easily usable while a driver keeps both hands on the wheel rim to enable accurate steering in an emergency situation, when the horn might also be needed.

Our final concern was that all four doors of the Touareg lock shortly after the driver sets off. This approach has been taken on many modern cars but in terms of the safety which it is intended to assist, it is not necessarily a good thing. Indeed, even the Touareg handbook states:

"Locked doors can delay assistance to vehicle occupants and rescue from outside in an accident or other emergency."

View Out

The high viewpoint afforded by most SUVs naturally does enhance a driver's view but as the DSA road tests are aimed primarily at safety it is the A-pillar and B-pillar blind spots on which we focused our attention.

(For those who aren't sure, the A-pillars are the columns which support either end of the windscreen/windshield, and the B-pillars are the bodywork that separates the front, side windows from the side windows beside the second row of seats.)

The fact is that because SUVs are more prone to rolling over in a crisis situation than a vehicle with a lower center of gravity, such as a sedan, it is essential that the roof-support pillars are strong enough to hold up the roof even if an SUV rolls or somersaults several times. And the down-side of this requirement is that SUVs must naturally have substantial pillars, especially those that have particularly strong roof-support construction.

SUV drivers therefore must be alert to the fact that they will need to lean forwards, or from side-to-side on occasion, in order to get a view beyond A-pillars or B-pillars and make sure, for example, that there isn't a motorcycle approaching that is hidden in one of the pillar blind spots.

With that consideration in mind, the Touareg's view front and side view is good.

Mirror views were typical for an SUV. In such vehicles, the longer distances from the interior mirror to the back window inevitably give a narrower angle of view through that mirror than one would typically obtain in a sedan/saloon car. The heads of back seat passengers, or the head restraints if the back seat is empty, also take chunks out of what may be seen through the interior mirror. To reduce this problem, the Touareg has a significantly smaller head restraint fitted on the center seat and unless it is manually raised it is effectively just a part of the seat-back. (Given that many Touareg owners will use the middle seat for a child, this is no problem, but if a tall adult had to use the middle seat the head restraint could not be set high enough.)

The exterior mirrors (wing mirrors) gave good views and the passenger-side mirror automatically dropped to show the ground, behind the car, whenever reverse gear was selected, as long as the mirror adjuster control is in the 'Right' position.

All three mirrors were self-dimming (for when somebody using bright lights is following you at night).

Drivability

Click on any of the above images to enlarge. (Photos by VW)   

Do we need to add that it drives extremely well on highways and side roads too? Well you can be confident that it does. The only time that a road surface became aggravating in the Touareg was on a few miles of the I-390 that is composed of concrete sections with seams every one hundred feet or so, but even the top-end super-smooth sedans (saloons) can't completely mask that repetitive "taddat, taddat, taddat" noise that sounds almost as though one is on an old train going over rail joins, so it can't be taken as being too big a deal in the Touareg, either.

As for the handling of the Touareg, it is very good indeed.

On twisty, rural roads the steering was positive and accurate, and body roll was not severe.

Our test drive of the Touareg was in fall/autumn and as it rained on some of the days, we got the opportunity to give the brakes a very demanding test on a surface that was not only wet but was also covered in soggy leaves; a situation that can be problematical. Getting the car down from 60mph to a standstill in those conditions was laudably swift and assured. 

Apart from the nowadays-common ABS, the Touareg has a whole array of braking devices: Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), Engine Braking Assist (EBA), and Hydraulic Brake Assist (HBA).... All it needs now is voice recognition that kicks all those devices into action if the driver shouts "Whoa!"

Interior and Comfort

The electronically controlled seats in our Touareg were excellent and one highly likable feature is that the driver's seat may be set so that it slides fully down and backwards when the ignition is turned off, to enable the driver to get in and out with absolute ease. It then returns to its original position -- or a different memory setting, if selected -- when the ignition is turned on once more.

All five seats had three-point seatbelts fitted but all four outboard seatbelts were height-adjustable -- a feature often found only on front seats.

Dual climate control allows the driver and front seat passenger to set different temperatures and the system worked very well.

Double sun visors were fitted for both front seats, so that one visor could be used for the side window and one for the windshield /windscreen. for the two outboard rear passengers, sun shields are fitted in the door panels and may be pulled up when needed.

Exterior Lights

undeniably do an excellent job by making vehicles more conspicuous during daylight hours and that is a good thing. But -- and this goes for virtually all auto makers -- why aren't DRL's wired to come on when the vehicle is put into a forward gear, rather than coming on as soon as the engine is running? 

To be fair, they are generally wired to go off when the parking brake is applied but unfortunately it seems to be a cultural thing in the USA that people rarely if ever use the parking brake, even when leaving the vehicle parked for one or more days.

In some countries -- Britain being one of them -- it has long been illegal to keep headlights on while stopped at the kerb/curb at night, perhaps to let somebody get in or out of the car. This law exists to make it easier for the drivers of vehicles coming in the opposite direction to be able to easily see what is happening ahead rather than being unable to see past the bright headlights of a temporarily parked vehicle. Pedestrians have been killed while crossing the road near static vehicles that still had low beam headlights on, because oncoming drivers couldn't see them through the glare. Reducing such risks was, of course, why the aforementioned laws came into being, so -- given the American habit of never using the parking brake -- it seems bizarre that today's DRLs can in this one specific sense be a backward step in terms of night-time safety.

So -- Volkswagen et al -- may we please have DRLs that only come on when a forward gear is selected?

Safety Aspects

Importantly, our Touareg not only had front airbags and side airbags but it also had curtain airbags (for all four outboard occupants). And given that SUVs are undeniably more prone to rollover-type crashes than lower vehicles, such as sedans/saloons, I would personally not have an SUV that did not have curtain airbags fitted -- period. Head injuries are the major cause of death in rollover crashes so curtain airbags should be thought of as being essential.

A tire pressure monitoring system was fitted, which is excellent, and in due course all new cars in America will have a similar device, when the NHTSA's rule eventually comes into force.

The safety section of the rather large driver's manual is 70 pages long, and 58 of those pages are devoted to the seatbelts and airbags.

The windscreen washers on the Touareg are heated, for winter use, and of course a totally clear windscreen is a safety feature.

Our Touareg did not have rear or front parking sensors fitted but Electronic Park Assist (EPA) is available as an option.

Load Carrying and Towing

Towing with a Touareg, though possible, is clearly not recommended. The handbook reads:

     "...Your Volkswagen was designed primarily for passenger transportation. If you plan to tow a trailer, remember your car will be performing a service for which it was not primarily intended."  But it also states: "Do not use a bumper hitch. Use a weight-carrying hitch...", so clearly towing is not out of the question.

The cargo volume with all seats in use is 31 cubic feet. With the rear seat folded flat that increases to 71 cubic feet (floor to ceiling).

Technical Specifications

Price - USA

           Base price:  $37,140

           As tested:    $53,205

Price - UK

           Price range: £29,505 to £52,375

Price - Australia

           Price range: $69,900 to $143,650 (V10 TDI)

Conclusions

The Touareg is a well respected worldwide, and an immensely capable vehicle.

VW commercials use the phrase "drivers wanted" and despite the minor grumbles, above, I volunteer! I would happily drive the Touareg anywhere. And, of course, that's the key phrase because a Touareg will go virtually anywhere.

For the Volkswagen USA website click here

For the Volkswagen UK website click here

For the Volkswagen Australia website click here

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