VW Touareg - any good? alternatives?
Discussion
Morning all, I realise this is probably a question best directed at the audi/vw section but I'd rather it was kept in GG so I can get some suggestions for alternatives.
I put a thread up fairly recently which was pretty unsuccessful in gathering much in the way of replies, presumably because of it's boring nature
Not a very PH genre of cars but any help would be appreciated.
I'm after a work hack, but the catch is it needs to be able to haul a fair bit of gear around, be capable of some epic milage comfortably and reliably, be fairly sturdy, and generally a nice place to be. Also needs to tow stuff, and sit 4 people in relative comfort plus luggage (roof box if req'd). Running costs aren't too big a deal, MPG isn't of any concern provided the tank range isn't pathetic.
So I've been frantically clawing the classifieds and have wittled the list of possibilities to a few. One of which is the VW Touareg. I can't stand the looks of the Porsche Cayenne, but have always quite liked the VW. I test drove one very briefly last year and it seemed fine, but I'm more interested in what they're like more long term. I'm more interested in the 5.0 V10 diesel than any of the others, though that W engined one sounds lovely
Aside of the Touareg, I'm fairly stuck for alternatives. I'd like a yank tank but I prefer the fact I'll have a decent warranty if I buy a UK car which kind of rules them out, so the best alternative I can find is the Landcruiser Amazon. Any other suggestions?
Budget is anywhere between 15 and 30k, though I'd rather not spend the top end of it.
I put a thread up fairly recently which was pretty unsuccessful in gathering much in the way of replies, presumably because of it's boring nature
Not a very PH genre of cars but any help would be appreciated.I'm after a work hack, but the catch is it needs to be able to haul a fair bit of gear around, be capable of some epic milage comfortably and reliably, be fairly sturdy, and generally a nice place to be. Also needs to tow stuff, and sit 4 people in relative comfort plus luggage (roof box if req'd). Running costs aren't too big a deal, MPG isn't of any concern provided the tank range isn't pathetic.
So I've been frantically clawing the classifieds and have wittled the list of possibilities to a few. One of which is the VW Touareg. I can't stand the looks of the Porsche Cayenne, but have always quite liked the VW. I test drove one very briefly last year and it seemed fine, but I'm more interested in what they're like more long term. I'm more interested in the 5.0 V10 diesel than any of the others, though that W engined one sounds lovely
Aside of the Touareg, I'm fairly stuck for alternatives. I'd like a yank tank but I prefer the fact I'll have a decent warranty if I buy a UK car which kind of rules them out, so the best alternative I can find is the Landcruiser Amazon. Any other suggestions?
Budget is anywhere between 15 and 30k, though I'd rather not spend the top end of it.
The discovery 3 I'd considered, as well as a full fat rangie, but despite being a die-hard fan of them and currently owning a freelander 2 (and previously owning a few discos), I'm not quite sure they'll be as reliable as I'm after. It's something I've struggled to get past as the Disco 3 and the rangie were top of the list but I just can't ignore the amount I've seen going back to the local dealer with problems. Shame as they're a complete bargain these days too but I'm fairly sure I'd always be a little nervous of it.
Edited by Stu R on Wednesday 8th July 06:27
I have a Touareg (3.0tdi) and it is well equipped and very comfortable.
Boot swallows huge amounts of stuff and the seats fold properly flat.
Much more grunt that the Disco 3 and discounted by a silly amount - much more than Landrover would with the Disco.
Tried about every other large 4x4 out there.
Just my views on the ones I looked at.
X5 was too expensive - great on road but useless off - May have been the tyres but a friend with one managed to get stuck several times in his and not in anything worse than a muddy field.
Porsche Cayenne - filling it up too often! Electrical faults.
Q7 - Didn't like the looks, too wallow prone.
Landcruiser/Amazon - too crude
Volvo XC90 - too slow
Merc ML - Too expensive over the other options.
Saab 9-7 (?) thing - just horrid.
Hyundai Santa Fe - actually pretty good. Bit gutless though.
Kia Sorrento - crap interior - didn't even bother driving it.
Mazda CR-7 - loved it but waiting list at the time was too long.
Nissan Pathfinder - tractor engine, poor rear seats.
I actually tried the Touareg first and talked myself out of it as I sooo wanted to love the Discovery, but when everything was considered it was such a good deal on offer that I ended up back where I started.
Boot swallows huge amounts of stuff and the seats fold properly flat.
Much more grunt that the Disco 3 and discounted by a silly amount - much more than Landrover would with the Disco.
Tried about every other large 4x4 out there.
Just my views on the ones I looked at.
X5 was too expensive - great on road but useless off - May have been the tyres but a friend with one managed to get stuck several times in his and not in anything worse than a muddy field.
Porsche Cayenne - filling it up too often! Electrical faults.
Q7 - Didn't like the looks, too wallow prone.
Landcruiser/Amazon - too crude
Volvo XC90 - too slow
Merc ML - Too expensive over the other options.
Saab 9-7 (?) thing - just horrid.
Hyundai Santa Fe - actually pretty good. Bit gutless though.
Kia Sorrento - crap interior - didn't even bother driving it.
Mazda CR-7 - loved it but waiting list at the time was too long.
Nissan Pathfinder - tractor engine, poor rear seats.
I actually tried the Touareg first and talked myself out of it as I sooo wanted to love the Discovery, but when everything was considered it was such a good deal on offer that I ended up back where I started.
Had a Touareg 2.5 Tdi auto was surprised how good it is to drive, great on long journeys, tows very well. Not as good as a Discovery 3 but much cheaper if you compare them year/spec the touareg will be newer and lower miles for equivalent ££.
3.0 Tdi came out later and is worth more, starting price seems to be around £16k for a good one.
Havent driven a V10 there are a few cheap ones around which were tempting (but with 100k miles on them, would be worried about buying a v10 without a good warranty to back me up) MPG is apparently not that good and is in the highest tax band, should imagine it tows very well.
3.0 supposed to be the best one but commands the highest price.
3.0 Tdi came out later and is worth more, starting price seems to be around £16k for a good one.
Havent driven a V10 there are a few cheap ones around which were tempting (but with 100k miles on them, would be worried about buying a v10 without a good warranty to back me up) MPG is apparently not that good and is in the highest tax band, should imagine it tows very well.
3.0 supposed to be the best one but commands the highest price.
I'd vote for the Touareg being one of the most underrated cars out there at the moment. Slightly biased as I own a 3.0 Tdi Sport with every option - soon to be in Pistonheads Classifieds after 4 years and 50K miles (bought a Boxster to go touring round France in...). 
Feel free to ask any specific questions. Looking at the 2nd Hand Values they are a bargain.
Feel free to ask any specific questions. Looking at the 2nd Hand Values they are a bargain.
I had 2.5TDi (mapped) manual with offroad pack and 3.2 V6 Auto. The first one was unbelievably great offroader and quite comfortable cruiser. Later i had Disco 2 and 3, but i still love VW.
The second was dissapointing in every little bit - engine underpowered, gearbox crap, clearnace low. And very crampy interior on both - you can't believe it is so small when looking from the outside.
I'd go for a 3.0 diesel.
The second was dissapointing in every little bit - engine underpowered, gearbox crap, clearnace low. And very crampy interior on both - you can't believe it is so small when looking from the outside.
I'd go for a 3.0 diesel.
Stu R said:
The discovery 3 I'd considered, as well as a full fat rangie, but despite being a die-hard fan of them and currently owning a freelander 2 (and previously owning a few discos), I'm not quite sure they'll be as reliable as I'm after. It's something I've struggled to get past as the Disco 3 and the rangie were top of the list but I just can't ignore the amount I've seen going back to the local dealer with problems. Shame as they're a complete bargain these days too but I'm fairly sure I'd always be a little nervous of it.
Not based on facts but the Mrs has a Disco 3 and I know a lot of others with Discos and Rangies and they seem pretty reliable these days. Didn't know VW were the last word in reliability either. Edited by Stu R on Wednesday 8th July 06:27
unpc said:
Stu R said:
The discovery 3 I'd considered, as well as a full fat rangie, but despite being a die-hard fan of them and currently owning a freelander 2 (and previously owning a few discos), I'm not quite sure they'll be as reliable as I'm after. It's something I've struggled to get past as the Disco 3 and the rangie were top of the list but I just can't ignore the amount I've seen going back to the local dealer with problems. Shame as they're a complete bargain these days too but I'm fairly sure I'd always be a little nervous of it.
Not based on facts but the Mrs has a Disco 3 and I know a lot of others with Discos and Rangies and they seem pretty reliable these days. Didn't know VW were the last word in reliability either. Edited by Stu R on Wednesday 8th July 06:27
BTW, I understand the V10 Toerag eats certain transmission components. Best speak to an Indie VW specialist for more details.
I have run a V10 for 50k miles over the last 3 years.
They are great cars, though as said earlier it is imperative you buy with a proper and fully inclusive warranty preferably from a main dealer. As when they go wrong, believe me they cost eye watering amounts to fix!
The V10 is a comfortable cruiser and eats miles very well, the cabin is a nice place to be and it has all the toys one would want. Handling is ok for such a big motor, though the heavy engine does cause a very nose heavy feel when you drive spiritedly. The engine is a real torque fest with 750NM peak at 2000 rpm.
Maintenance is not bad, with service intervals at roughly 19k miles and an average cost of £300 - 500 at the main dealer. Economy wise you will get 22mpg around town and 25 - 26 mpg with mixed urban / m-way driving. On a run 27 - 28 is possible with a steady cruise at 80 odd. Brakes are not too bad; I have done 50k miles on the same set of discs, with 2 pad changes in that time. It is heavy on tyres with the fronts wearing out in around 10k miles max, you will go through 1.5 - 2 sets of fronts for every set of rears. My car wears 19 inch wheels with the P-zeros costing circa £180 each.
On my own car required a new cylinder head on one bank at 40k miles, plus it destroyed a propshaft also just prior. The majority of this was covered under warranty, but not without a fight with VW who simply tried to ignore me when the head cracked despite the full VW main dealer history, etc. It took them 4 weeks to finally authorise the claim and the car was off the road for 6 weeks in total. Out of principle alone I would not buy another after the rubbish backup and aftercare of VW UK. The gearbox / transfer box are a known weak point plus the front diffs are a common failure also I understand.
If you buy one with a good warranty then it is a great car and awesome value for money
They are great cars, though as said earlier it is imperative you buy with a proper and fully inclusive warranty preferably from a main dealer. As when they go wrong, believe me they cost eye watering amounts to fix!
The V10 is a comfortable cruiser and eats miles very well, the cabin is a nice place to be and it has all the toys one would want. Handling is ok for such a big motor, though the heavy engine does cause a very nose heavy feel when you drive spiritedly. The engine is a real torque fest with 750NM peak at 2000 rpm.
Maintenance is not bad, with service intervals at roughly 19k miles and an average cost of £300 - 500 at the main dealer. Economy wise you will get 22mpg around town and 25 - 26 mpg with mixed urban / m-way driving. On a run 27 - 28 is possible with a steady cruise at 80 odd. Brakes are not too bad; I have done 50k miles on the same set of discs, with 2 pad changes in that time. It is heavy on tyres with the fronts wearing out in around 10k miles max, you will go through 1.5 - 2 sets of fronts for every set of rears. My car wears 19 inch wheels with the P-zeros costing circa £180 each.
On my own car required a new cylinder head on one bank at 40k miles, plus it destroyed a propshaft also just prior. The majority of this was covered under warranty, but not without a fight with VW who simply tried to ignore me when the head cracked despite the full VW main dealer history, etc. It took them 4 weeks to finally authorise the claim and the car was off the road for 6 weeks in total. Out of principle alone I would not buy another after the rubbish backup and aftercare of VW UK. The gearbox / transfer box are a known weak point plus the front diffs are a common failure also I understand.
If you buy one with a good warranty then it is a great car and awesome value for money
Edited by MOD500 on Wednesday 8th July 11:30
Thanks for all the feedback again folks.
Sorry to hear about your problems MOD500, seems a shame that such a nice car is let down by the company who built it acting the fools when it's time to cough up.
I've had a quick trawl around some dealerships today, not as many as I'd hoped but still got a chance to see some of the cars I've previously dismissed, now I'm not so sure.
My thoughts... (apologies for waffling)
I can't find a decent Touareg in any main dealer for love nor money locally, none of the dealers have any whatsoever, be it brand new or used. Closest I got was a peek at a customer car which was waiting for a service, seemed really rather nice. Quite subtle and anonymous for such a big beast, and inside looked a lovely place to be, on par with my 7 series at a first glance.
The same can be said for X5's, almost impossible to track down at main dealers be it new or 2nd hand, I had a sit in one which was comfortably outside of my price range just to get a feel for it and wasn't thrilled. It's nice, but I can't get past the image of them, just not the car for me I guess. I get the impression they drive very well though for a vehicle of that ilk. Had a look at a 530d touring whilst I was there, lovely cars those. Quite why the dealer decided it'd be a good idea to have on the main forecourt with a broken windscreen and the interior mirror hanging off the screen in pieces for all to see god knows.
The Q7 I've got mixed opinions of, I realise I'm at the fairly lower end of the price range, which means I'll be looking at fairly lower end models. The cars in the showroom all seemed quite nice, nothing OTT spec wise, but at the same time they seem unfeasibly huge, and yet not really all that big inside despite this. From some angles, I really don't mind them, others (the rear especially), I can't stand them.
The shock of the day came from Land Rover. Despite my local dealership closing down I managed to have a decent gander around a Range Rover Sport, and a FFRR. No disco 3's unfortunately but I'm familiar with them. The RRS was a total shocker. I'm not sure if it's just my lust for all things LR haunting me, however a lovely dark metallic green RRS caught my eye, with a simply stunning interior to compliment it perfectly. Sort of a biscuit / light oatmeal coloured leather with the wood panelling in the door card and the obligitory LR badge attached. My mate who accompanied me has *almost* convinced me that whilst I need to haul a lot of stuff, I could probably get away with one of these and a roof box in most scenarios. The boot is awfully small on them though!
As much as I protested earlier in the thread that they're not the car for me because I can't really trust them, I'm not too big and ugly to do a complete u-turn and say I was smitten with the RRS. I've seen any amount of them up close, and appreciated them to some extent (less than FFRR's though), but today something just clicked.
I'm going to have to get some test drives ( the RRS was up on one of those display ramps). I'm not entirely convinced I can make do with the lack of space afforded by the RRS, but I'm certainly willing to give them a second chance. I guess with that, I'll try and get a chance to look at some more Disco 3s too.
I still really love the Touareg though.
Also spotted a lovely ducati 999R at a BMW dealership (car and bike) today, oh so tempted to chop my newly acquired bike in for it
Thanks again for all the help peeps, hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings after todays investigations. I'll look around some more and try and get some test drives sorted before the week is out and report back.
Sorry to hear about your problems MOD500, seems a shame that such a nice car is let down by the company who built it acting the fools when it's time to cough up.
I've had a quick trawl around some dealerships today, not as many as I'd hoped but still got a chance to see some of the cars I've previously dismissed, now I'm not so sure.
My thoughts... (apologies for waffling)
I can't find a decent Touareg in any main dealer for love nor money locally, none of the dealers have any whatsoever, be it brand new or used. Closest I got was a peek at a customer car which was waiting for a service, seemed really rather nice. Quite subtle and anonymous for such a big beast, and inside looked a lovely place to be, on par with my 7 series at a first glance.
The same can be said for X5's, almost impossible to track down at main dealers be it new or 2nd hand, I had a sit in one which was comfortably outside of my price range just to get a feel for it and wasn't thrilled. It's nice, but I can't get past the image of them, just not the car for me I guess. I get the impression they drive very well though for a vehicle of that ilk. Had a look at a 530d touring whilst I was there, lovely cars those. Quite why the dealer decided it'd be a good idea to have on the main forecourt with a broken windscreen and the interior mirror hanging off the screen in pieces for all to see god knows.
The Q7 I've got mixed opinions of, I realise I'm at the fairly lower end of the price range, which means I'll be looking at fairly lower end models. The cars in the showroom all seemed quite nice, nothing OTT spec wise, but at the same time they seem unfeasibly huge, and yet not really all that big inside despite this. From some angles, I really don't mind them, others (the rear especially), I can't stand them.
The shock of the day came from Land Rover. Despite my local dealership closing down I managed to have a decent gander around a Range Rover Sport, and a FFRR. No disco 3's unfortunately but I'm familiar with them. The RRS was a total shocker. I'm not sure if it's just my lust for all things LR haunting me, however a lovely dark metallic green RRS caught my eye, with a simply stunning interior to compliment it perfectly. Sort of a biscuit / light oatmeal coloured leather with the wood panelling in the door card and the obligitory LR badge attached. My mate who accompanied me has *almost* convinced me that whilst I need to haul a lot of stuff, I could probably get away with one of these and a roof box in most scenarios. The boot is awfully small on them though!
As much as I protested earlier in the thread that they're not the car for me because I can't really trust them, I'm not too big and ugly to do a complete u-turn and say I was smitten with the RRS. I've seen any amount of them up close, and appreciated them to some extent (less than FFRR's though), but today something just clicked.
I'm going to have to get some test drives ( the RRS was up on one of those display ramps). I'm not entirely convinced I can make do with the lack of space afforded by the RRS, but I'm certainly willing to give them a second chance. I guess with that, I'll try and get a chance to look at some more Disco 3s too.
I still really love the Touareg though.
Also spotted a lovely ducati 999R at a BMW dealership (car and bike) today, oh so tempted to chop my newly acquired bike in for it
Thanks again for all the help peeps, hope I haven't bored you too much with my ramblings after todays investigations. I'll look around some more and try and get some test drives sorted before the week is out and report back.
I had two of them, and I let go the last one at end of lease (company car). Both V8s. Sadly they stopped importing the V8 into Canada so I moved to a Cayenne S; although I prefer the Cayenne engine, the interior and generally appearance of the Touareg is much superior to the Cayenne. I recommend the Touareg V8 unreservedly.
Why are you looking at 4x4s and not large estate cars? Do you need off-road capabilities?
If not, I'd be looking at the V8 RS6 Avant.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1089176.htm
If not, I'd be looking at the V8 RS6 Avant.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1089176.htm
Was thinking about your earlier comment re the Landcruiser also, I think out of all the premium 4x4's these are probably the best built and would give great reliability. Towing would be no problem and bar fuel the maintenance costs should not be too bad. The only thing is that the last generation LC might now feel a little old school and dated to drive if you are contemplating newer metal like a RR of some sort?
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