On The Outside
Smooth lines and bold features come together to make up the strong exterior silhouette of the Touareg. Added touches include a sporting rear diffuser, dynamic rear tail-lights and chrome trapezoid tailpipes to further emphasise the sporty looks. There’s a choice of stylish 19” or 20” alloy wheel dependent on model. All trims come with front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera as standard, plus also get LED headlights. These can be upgraded to adaptive Matrix LED headlights at extra cost, although they are standard on the ‘Black Edition’ and the R models.
Its striking chrome front grille extends into the headlights to create a more dynamic look. Compared to its predecessor, the third generation Touareg is both wider and longer, yet lighter than before. The added exterior length leads, for example, to a significant increase in luggage capacity, from 697 to 810 litres, with rear seats in place. There’s also an optional electrically extending and retracting luggage compartment cover.
The High-Tech Interior
It seems like these days, car makers choose to imply that their cars are, as it were, a part of the family; adapting to how that family lives their lives. In fact, it’s nearly true. In this case, the VW Touareg offers a fully digitalised ‘Innovision Cockpit’. Here the digital instruments (Digital Cockpit with 12-inch display) and the range-topping Discover Premium infotainment system (with 15-inch display) merge to form a fully-digital operating, information, communication and entertainment unit that hardly needs any conventional buttons or switches.
Always-on and offering intuitive control and maximum personalisation, the car in essence becomes 'your’ Volkswagen Touareg. This, we learn, opens up a world in which the driver and passengers no longer have to adapt to the vehicle, it adapts to them. Like the smartphone in your pocket, there’s an astonishingly high level of connected systems and programmes, controlled via digital interfaces and of course, the multifunction steering wheel.
The VW Touareg is, clearly, super-roomy inside. Finding a comfortable driving position behind the wheel is simple. Both the steering wheel and driver’s seat offering plenty of manual adjustment. The SE trim level doesn't include lumbar support adjustment, though, and the only way to add it is by ordering the option of leather seats. A powered 14-way driver's seat, with four-way lumbar adjustment, is standard on R-Line Tech trim and above.
On The Road
Needless to say, the latest Volkswagen Touareg comes with the largest range of assistance, handling and comfort systems, the best ever to be integrated into any car from this German brand. Cross-traffic, Night Vision, Roadworks Assist, the list goes on and on and supports the suggestion that this is one of the safest and reliable SUV’s on sale today.
Buyers wishing to import the Volkswagen Touareg from the UK to Kenya, New Zealand and elsewhere will want to know that UK specification models come with a choice of two power outputs from a 3.0L diesel engine, possibly the best choice for this vehicle with economy in the mid-thirties per gallon. Alternatively, if power is your thing, there’s a 335bhp 3.0 V6 petrol power plant. It’s smooth and very quick, but less economical. All engines drive through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. For the best of both worlds, there’s a plug-in petrol/electric hybrid too.
Handling is surprisingly good for a vehicle of this size. With four-wheel drive as standard, there’s a huge amount of traction. The Touareg hangs in there and grips tenaciously. Better yet, body-roll, often a bugbear on these large cars, is well controlled. R-Line models have stiffer suspension and air-suspension and even four-wheel-steering are optional, but add cost.
Unfortunately there is no seven-seat option, but that just gives five people more space still. The Volkswagen Touareg is good value at entry level with prices rising as the specification grows. It’s a personal choice as to which specification suits, but the price of this car is competitive against other German or Scandinavian models. This SUV is a global model, popular across the world. Get in touch with us here at MHH International for the latest stock listings.
