TOURING WITH A TOUAREG TDI
This article is from our archives and has not been updated and integrated with our "new" site yet... Even so, it's still awesome - so keep reading!
Published on Sat, Nov 21, 2009
By: The LACar Editorial Staff
TOURING TDI
We've just had the opportunity to spend a few days on the road in the new
Volkswagen Touareg 2 V-6 TDI taking the cool crossover on our annual
family trip for the first weekend of Fall (even though the weather
while we were there was still quite pleasant, in fact hot for that time of the
year. It actually snowed only five days after we left!).
Everyone on the away team, my wife, our two seasoned travel pups, and I loved
the drive, the ride, and the seamless (and seemingly endless) supply of
soul-satisfying torque that this machine's 3-liter clean diesel engine delivers
on demand.
The Touareg nameplate has been around for a while and the basic design has had a
number of different power plants installed. Let's see, there have been a
gasoline V-6 and V-8s, a powerful-but-thirsty diesel V-10 and now the V-6 TDI,
the engine that I deem as near perfect for the purpose. Remember, this basic
machine is also sold as the Porsche Cayenne Turbo S replete with some 550
horsepower.
Editor's note: The Touareg TDI
is available without the door decals
The above basically indicates that this chassis is a VERY good piece of design,
and our miles behind the wheel confirmed that, and then some! Two tankfulls of Shell Diesel No. 2 worked out to
better than 24 miles per gallon (on a trip that was at least 25 percent twisting
mountain roads and long grades). The EPA price ticket numbers quoted for the Touareg are 17/25 (city/open road). We seemed to get a bit better mileage than
that.
My notes on this review drive are among the most scattered, but most positive
I've written in quite some time. One small confession, this is the first
machine, car, motorcycle, truck, or SUV, that I did not open the hood (even
once) on. I love this engine almost like no other, but I never even stole a
glance at it in five days of driving. I have no idea of what that means about me
psychologically ... You tell me. (Maybe I didn't want to spoil the love affair by
seeing how all that lovely torque was made. Besides, I looked at the same engine
in the Audi Q7 that I had driven the week before.
The Touareg has full-time four-wheel drive (Volkswagen calls it 4XMOTION). I
never got the opportunity to try out the low range (actually I'm not much of a
rock-climber anyhow) but the option is there and will surely be a handy feature
when one hits hostile road and/or weather conditions.
Which leads us to the overall handling which can be simply stated as beautiful.
As I earlier indicated, fully in tune with its powerful engine, this VW was
competent, assured, and generally a class act over the road.
Every aspect of what we expect in a good machine was handled in the Touareg.
These are great, no-compromise brakes, four-wheel discs of course, but these are
racecar-like multi-piston binders with oversize discs (you really can't have
enough brakes for me) that measure 350mm (13.75 in.) up front and 330mm (13 in.)
at the rear.
As you've already read, we took this machine on a relatively long drive to the
mountains and the lakeshore and had a virtually stress-free time of it. Be
forewarned here, this VW is sincerely profound motivation for a road trip. A
scrawled trip note (my own) says: "Touring Tool" ... I'm pretty damn apt, if I do
say so myself.
Inside, the accommodations live up to all the great tech-stuff that I've been
going on about in the above 'graphs. There's better than good room for four
full-size adults inside and every seat is designed and rendered very much in the
great Teutonic tradition of building devices that one can sit on and travel in
for extended lengths of time without even a hint of discomfort.
The driver (as they should be) is particularly pampered with a lovely
multi-adjustable seat that caught and cradled this operator's avoirdupois
perfectly for each and every one of the thousand miles I drove it. Head, leg,
shoulder, all the "rooms" that count are all most satisfactorily accommodated
herein.
Standard features on this machine include many items that are ballyhooed extras
elsewhere. We're talking niceties like: a push-button power liftgate out back,
heated seats and exterior mirrors, power sun/moonroof, electronic stabilization,
anti-slip suspension regulation, anti-lock brakes, and even heated windshield
washer nozzles. There's a premium AM/FM stereo/CD player and Sirius/XM Satellite
Radio, dual-zone climate control, and leather-clad steering wheel too.
Let's take a minute or two to talk suspension, in fact let's talk about
something that I really never thought that I'd ever talk nice about: air
suspension. Not only is the Touareg's optional air suspension good, it was, by
far the best I've ever had the pleasure of. Unobtrusive, steady, stable, supple,
and supremely confidence-inspiring. I've always shied away from "air suspension
systems", finding virtually all of them wallowy, wishy-washy, and weak. And then
the Touareg shakes my core beliefs with a near-perfect example of the technique
that flat wins my heart in the first five miles of travel.
Truth is driving this machine does NOT make you feel as though you're riding on
air, it feels more like one is guiding a fine-handling sports coupe. Remarkable,
and at $2,750 added to the base $42,800, a bargain in my book.
One of my notes reminds me that: "... never got within 50 percent of this one's
full capacity." I think that I meant overall handling, there seemed to be so
much in hand at all times.
Our test machine came replete with what the manufacturer calls the Technology
Package (and you thought this was a pretty high tech machine already ... right?).
Well, $3,350 more gets you a rear view camera with park distance control, a DVD
navigation system, and a "Volkswagen Sound" eight-channel, 11-speaker (!) stereo
system. The sound (we listened to lots of great stuff from Sinatra to Dylan on
Sirius on this trip) seems to come at you from across the whole dash and the nav
system was eminently workable.
But the best part of the package was the rearview camera. It took me a while to
trust it (I had experienced the same basic device on an Audi Q7 a week earlier
so I had a bit of a head start) but once you get the hang of it, you'll really
appreciate the tech part of this package and you just might end up saving the
$3K that it cost in the first place by NOT taking a corner off your machine (or
someone else's) in a tight parking lot late on a dark and stormy night.
Let's see what do we cash out at? $49,650. Not cheap by any means, but certainly
justifiable given the wealth of features and the wonderful way that all of them
come together in this outstanding machine.
By the way, and as always, there's more on the Volkswagen website ... Including a
nice button for arranging a test drive ... Need I say more?
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
High-end SUV motoring with a near high-end admissions price.
For more information about Volkswagen products, go to
www.vw.com
SPECIFICATIONS
Name of vehicle:
2009 Volkswagen Touareg 2 TDI
Price:
$49,650, as tested
EPA rated gas mileage (city/highway)
17/25 miles per gallon (Editor's note: TDI's real world highway mileage
typically fares better)
Engine:
3.0 liter direct-injection, turb-charged, intercooled, common rail diesel DOHC
32-valve V6
Horsepower: 221
Torque: 407 pound-feet at 1750-2750 RPM
Transmission: Six-speed Tiptronic automatic with sequential manual mode
Drive configuration: All-wheel drive
Steering: Servotronic rack-and-pinion power steering
Suspension
Front Suspension:
Double wishbone front independent suspension with 4-Corner adjustable
air suspension with six adjustable ride heights and Continuous Damping
Control - three adjustable damping settings
Rear Suspension:
Four link rear independent suspension with 4-Corner adjustable air
suspension with six adjustable ride heights and Continuous Damping
Control - three adjustable damping settings
Brakes:
Power assisted front vented disc brakes (350 mm X 34 mm), rear vented
disc brakes (330 mm X 28 mm) with ABS
Dimensions
Length: 187.2 in
Width: 75.9 in
Height: 68.0 in
Ground Clearance (standard suspension): 8.3 in
Ground Clearance (4-corner air suspension):
Load level (0-3 mph) 6.3 in
Standard level 8.7 in
High speed level I (from 87 mph) 7.7 in
High speed level II (from 118 mph 7.3 in
Off-road level (0-43 mph) 9.6 in
X'tra level (0-12 mph) 11.8 in