Volkswagen loves an attention-grabbing Touareg hero.
Over time it’s provided some fascinating range-toppers, together with V10 diesel and W12 petrol choices. Now, it’s turning to plug-in hybrid energy.
The brand new Touareg R is the primary Volkswagen plug-in hybrid to be provided in Australia, and stands out farther from the broader vary by mixing its electrical energy with a petroleum V6.
Though it’s meant to enhance effectivity, the PHEV within the Touareg R packs a critical punch. With 340kW and 700Nm on faucet, it’s probably the most highly effective Volkswagen ever bought in Australian showrooms.
These punchy outputs don’t deliver with them an extortionate price ticket. With a sticker of $130,000 earlier than on-road prices, it comfortably undercuts BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE variants with much less grunt and gear.
Sounds good on paper, proper?
How does the Volkswagen Touareg examine?
View an in depth breakdown of the Volkswagen Touareg towards equally sized automobiles.
Volkswagen
Touareg
How a lot does the Volkswagen Touareg value?
All fashions are cheaper than these they exchange, and all characteristic additional normal gear.
| Mannequin Variant | $RRP | Value lower |
|---|---|---|
| Volkswagen Touareg 170TDI | $86,790 | $2450 |
| Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI Class | $99,990 | $8250 |
| Volkswagen Touareg 210TDI R-Line | $109,990 | $7550 |
| Volkswagen Touareg R | $129,990 | N/A |
Costs exclude on-road prices
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg traces up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability software.
What’s the Volkswagen Touareg like on the within?
There are a couple of nods to the actual fact that is an R mannequin inside, however at its core the Touareg stays a cushty household automotive.
The entrance seats are generously padded armchairs trimmed in supple, rich-smelling leather-based with heating, air flow, and massaging to whereas away the hours on the street. The driving place is nigh on excellent, and every part you contact appears and feels costly.
There’s a whiff of Golf about most Volkswagen cabins, however the Touareg actually is a lower above.
The Innovision display setup dominating the dashboard has been handled to some alternative upgrades.
It’s nonetheless a showstopper, and is built-in much better than the tacked-on iPads proliferating throughout the business. The graphics have been polished, whereas Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are actually wi-fi.
CarPlay now takes up the entire display, relatively than sitting in an ungainly little window. It appears nice, nevertheless it’s unusual that utilizing the local weather controls or seat buttons on the base of the display blanks out that full display show.
Past that, the system is snappy to reply and simple sufficient to navigate. A lot of the icons are large and vibrant, to allow them to be noticed and prodded merely on the transfer.
Volkswagen hasn’t killed the haptic steering wheel buttons within the Touareg, which suggests you’re nonetheless caught with fingerprint-prone gloss black on the spokes – the earlier that goes, the higher.
The 12.3-inch digital driver’s show is crystal clear, and blends a variety of totally fashionable choices with the choice for classic-looking gauges.
It’s additionally been massaged for 2024, with new colors and graphics on provide, and the R has PHEV-specific readouts so you realize the place your energy is coming from, and whether or not you’re utilizing the engine or battery – given how refined this factor is, it may be arduous to inform.
With a storage bin below the dashboard (house to the wi-fi cellphone charger), cupholders on the centre console, an honest bin below the armrest, and spacious door pockets, there are many nooks and crannies for snacks, gadgets, and keys on lengthy street journeys.
As you’d anticipate of a hulking household SUV, the Touareg has acres of house within the rear.
There’s sufficient legroom for lanky adults to sit down behind lanky adults, and the entrance seats are set excessive to unencumber sufficient toe room for chunky winter boots.
High tether factors characteristic on all three rear seats, and there are ISOFIX factors on the outboard rear seats. Air vents with their very own temperature controls, heated seats, and gadget energy all characteristic – as if children didn’t have it too good already.
Headroom is nice, however the angled C-pillar and darkish headliner do make it really feel a bit tighter again there than possibly it must.
It’s nonetheless effectively and actually higher than a Mercedes-Benz GLC, for instance, however isn’t fairly on a par with a BMW X5 for rear room.
The boot is a broad house, full with distant releases for the rear seats and a baggage cowl that slides robotically up once you pop the boot to make loading large gadgets simpler.
| Dimensions | Volkswagen Touareg |
|---|---|
| Size | 4889mm |
| Width | 1984mm |
| Top | 1718mm – 1757mm |
| Wheelbase | 2894mm (170TDI) – 2888mm (210TDI + R) |
| Weight | 2164kg – 2433kg |
| Boot house (seats up) | 810L |
| Boot house (seats folded) | 1800L |
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg traces up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability software.
What’s below the bonnet?
That is the primary plug-in hybrid Volkswagen coming to Australia, with a claimed electric-only vary of greater than 50km.
Choices with an extended battery vary gained’t be a part of the Touareg lineup, however Volkswagen Australia has opened the door for the brand new Tiguan PHEV with a variety of greater than 100km to move Down Underneath ultimately.
| Volkswagen Touareg R | |
|---|---|
| Engine | 3.0L V6 turbo PHEV |
| Gasoline | Petrol + EV |
| Transmission | 8-speed auto |
| Pushed wheels | AWD |
| EV battery | 14.3kWh (web) |
| Energy | 340kW |
| Torque | 700Nm |
| Claimed gas financial system | 3.3L/100km |
| Noticed gas financial system | 1.2L/100km (metropolis, full battery) 11L/100km (nation, arduous driving) |
| Claimed EV vary | 51km |
| Gasoline tank | 75L |
| Towing (unbraked) | 750kg |
| Towing (braked) | 3500kg |
| Gross Car Mass | 3020kg |
| Gross Mixed Mass | 6520kg |
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg traces up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability software.
How does the Volkswagen Touareg drive?
Volkswagen was at pains to point out the 2 completely different sides of the Touareg R.
We began our drive in internal Melbourne with a full battery, permitting the R to do its finest impression of an electrical automotive.
It’s silent on startup, and there’s sufficient punch that even if you wish to burn off different vehicles on the visitors lights, you may with out waking the petrol V6 from its slumber – though the shove within the again isn’t fairly the total R expertise.
We noticed 41km of e-powered driving, earlier than the petrol engine kicked in. And the one motive we all know that’s as a result of the rev counter advised us; at a cruise the engine is so easy and quiet you wouldn’t realize it’s there.
That’s a standard theme within the Touareg. It’s a really refined automotive, from the weighting of all of the controls to the best way it quiets the skin world, to the journey high quality on air suspension.
It simply floats via the town in a method that will be pretty after a tough day at work.
On the open street, it stays a really relaxed cruiser. Hybrid Mode for the PHEV system fires the engine and makes use of the e-motor at decrease speeds, or to supply help once you put your foot down relatively than leaning on it solely.
Put your foot down and there’s no sense you will have a number of energy sources competing for precedence, you simply get the form of satisfying shove we’ve come to like from Volkswagen diesel engines. It actually will get a transfer on once you flatten the accelerator at freeway speeds, shaking off the actual fact it weighs round 2500kg to throw your head again.
It handles, too. On slender, winding roads you may actually hustle the R alongside in a method you wouldn’t anticipate of such an enormous, heavy automotive.
The entrance finish – the place heavy crossovers typically fall over – goes the place you level it, and as soon as it’s turned the automotive feels rear pushed sufficient to rotate and push you out. There’s no escaping physics sooner or later, and should you overcook it the Touareg will push on the entrance finish.
By that time although the youngsters will likely be sick and your companion will likely be calling for a divorce, so it’s arguably not truthful to criticise it too arduous. However… I wish to know the way the R handles with the intelligent lively anti-roll and rear-steer tech from the R-Line sitting under it within the vary.
Whenever you’ve dialled down the depth, there’s loads of digital assist readily available to make sure lengthy drives are simple.
Volkswagen’s adaptive cruise management is easy and sensible, sustaining a spot to the automotive in entrance with minimal fuss, and the lively lane-centring perform included as a part of Journey Help retains you between the white traces with out attempting to wrench the wheel out of your arms.
What do you get?
The Touareg R sits on the top quality.
Touareg 170TDI normal gear:
- 19-inch alloy wheels
- Energy tailgate with kick activation
- Energy-folding exterior mirrors with reminiscence and auto-dip
- IQ.Mild HD matrix LED headlights
- Innovision Cockpit
- 15-inch touchscreen
- 12-inch digital instrument display
- Satellite tv for pc navigation
- Wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
- FM, AM, DAB+ digital radio
- Wi-fi cellphone charging + 5 x USB-C ports
- Heated, power-adjustable entrance seats
- Vienna leather-based seat trim
- 30-colour ambient lighting
- Twin-zone local weather management
- Open-pore dashboard wooden trim
- Illuminated door scuff plates
- Cargo administration system for boot
Touareg 210TDI Class brings:
- 20-inch alloy wheels
- Varenna leather-based seat upholstery (blue and white optionally available)
- Ventilated entrance seats
- Massaging entrance seats
- Auto-levelling air suspension
Touareg 210TDI R-Line provides:
- R-Line inside/exterior styling bundle
- 21-inch alloy wheels
- Puglia R-Line leather-based inside trim
- Brushed stainless-steel pedals
- Chrome steel scuff plates with R-Line emblem in entrance doorways
- Rear privateness glass
- Rear-wheel steering
- Energetic anti-roll stabilisation
- Heated sports activities steering wheel
- Brushed aluminium inside trim
- Black headliner
Touareg R provides:
- R inside/exterior styling
- 22-inch alloy wheels
- Direct tyre strain monitoring
- House and public EV cost cables
- Comfortable-close doorways
- 4-zone local weather management
- Evening imaginative and prescient
- Panoramic sunroof
- Head-up show
- 19-inch entrance, 18-inch rear brake discs with blue R calipers
- Energy-adjustable steering column with reminiscence
- Heated outboard rear seats
- Dynaudio premium sound system
Is the Volkswagen Touareg protected?
The pre-update Touareg had a five-star ANCAP security ranking based mostly on testing carried out in 2018.
It achieved scores of 89 per cent for grownup occupant safety, 88 per cent for youngster occupant safety, 72 per cent for susceptible street consumer safety, and 78 per cent for security help features.
Normal security gear throughout the vary contains:
- Entrance, front-side, rear-side, entrance and rear curtain airbags
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Entrance cross-traffic help
- Blind-spot monitor
- Rear cross-traffic help
- Adaptive cruise management with lively lane centring
- Dynamic street signal monitoring
- Encompass-view digital camera
How a lot does the Volkswagen Touareg value to run?
Just like the broader Volkswagen vary, the Touareg is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee.
| Volkswagen Touareg | |
|---|---|
| Guarantee | 5 years, limitless kilometres |
| Roadside help | 12 months, prolonged with every scheduled service |
| Service schedule | 12 months or 15,000 kilometres |
| 3yr service plan | $1900 (170 + 210TDI), $2050 (R) |
| 5yr service plan | $3500 (170 + 210TDI), $3400 (R) |
CarExpert’s Tackle the Volkswagen Touareg
The Touareg R is an attention-grabbing tackle the hero SUV system.
Plug-in hybrid energy isn’t for everybody, however there’s something interesting in regards to the concept of with the ability to deal with the college run utilizing your battery pack.
As soon as upon a time, a loud V8 was a standing image within the personal college carpark – in 2024, I’d argue it’s extra prone to get you soiled appears.
The petrol V6 within the R gained’t make you are feeling good like a V8 sadly, nevertheless it does mix with the electrical motor to ship a punch once you’re in a rush.
This can be a large household automotive that may stand up and dance, nevertheless it’s a disgrace the PHEV know-how has come at the price of rear-wheel steer and lively anti-roll tech that will have made for an much more succesful R.
It hasn’t come at the price of this automotive’s means on the open street which is, frankly, the place the Touareg nonetheless feels most at house. Air suspension, snug seats, and top-notch noise suppression are all readily available right here to ship a superb freeway cruiser.
Which begs the query of whether or not it is best to trouble with the R… In spite of everything, the R-Line is considerably cheaper, packs extra targeted chassis know-how, and its diesel engine is arguably higher suited to lengthy drives than a fancy PHEV.
The Touareg R gained’t be for everybody, nevertheless it’s an attention-grabbing tackle the flagship SUV system and nonetheless represents strong worth.
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