Volkswagen loves an fascinating Touareg hero.
Through the years 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 essentially the most highly effective Volkswagen ever offered 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 tools.
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 price?
All fashions are cheaper than these they exchange, and all function further commonplace tools.
Costs exclude on-road prices
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
What’s the Volkswagen Touareg like on the within?
There are just a few nods to the very fact that is an R mannequin inside, however at its core the Touareg stays a snug household automobile.
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 good, and every little thing you contact appears to be like and feels costly.
There’s a whiff of Golf about most Volkswagen cabins, however the Touareg actually is a reduce above.
The Innovision display setup dominating the dashboard has been handled to a couple 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, quite than sitting in an ungainly little window. It appears to be like nice, but it surely’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 implies 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 trendy 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 recognize 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 onerous to inform.
With a storage bin beneath the dashboard (dwelling to the wi-fi cellphone charger), cupholders on the centre console, a good bin beneath 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 function 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 machine energy all function – as if youngsters didn’t have it too good already.
Headroom is sweet, 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 properly and really 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 mechanically up whenever you pop the boot to make loading large gadgets simpler.
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
What’s beneath 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 received’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 Below finally.
To see how the Volkswagen Touareg strains up towards the competitors, take a look at our comparability instrument.
How does the Volkswagen Touareg drive?
Volkswagen was at pains to indicate the 2 completely different sides of the Touareg R.
We began our drive in interior Melbourne with a full battery, permitting the R to do its finest impression of an electrical automobile.
It’s silent on startup, and there’s sufficient punch that even if you wish to burn off different vehicles on the site visitors lights, you’ll be able to 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 purpose we all know that’s as a result of the rev counter instructed us; at a cruise the engine is so clean and quiet you wouldn’t understand it’s there.
That’s a standard theme within the Touareg. It’s a really refined automobile, from the weighting of all of the controls to the best way it quiets the surface world, to the experience high quality on air suspension.
It simply floats via town in a approach that may be beautiful 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 whenever you put your foot down quite than leaning on it completely.
Put your foot down and there’s no sense you’ve a number of energy sources competing for precedence, you simply get the type of satisfying shove we’ve come to like from Volkswagen diesel engines. It actually will get a transfer on whenever you flatten the accelerator at freeway speeds, shaking off the very fact it weighs round 2500kg to throw your head again.
It handles, too. On slim, winding roads you’ll be able to actually hustle the R alongside in a approach you wouldn’t anticipate of such a giant, heavy automobile.
The entrance finish – the place heavy crossovers usually fall over – goes the place you level it, and as soon as it’s turned the automobile feels rear pushed sufficient to rotate and push you out. There’s no escaping physics sooner or later, and in the event you overcook it the Touareg will push on the entrance finish.
By that time although the children will probably be sick and your associate will probably be calling for a divorce, so it’s arguably not truthful to criticise it too onerous. However… I wish to understand how the R handles with the intelligent energetic anti-roll and rear-steer tech from the R-Line sitting under it within the vary.
While you’ve dialled down the depth, there’s loads of digital assist available to make sure lengthy drives are straightforward.
Volkswagen’s adaptive cruise management is clean and sensible, sustaining a spot to the automobile in entrance with minimal fuss, and the energetic lane-centring operate included as a part of Journey Help retains you between the white strains with out attempting to wrench the wheel out of your arms.
What do you get?
The Touareg R sits on the prime quality.
Touareg 170TDI commonplace tools:
19-inch alloy wheelsPower tailgate with kick activationPower-folding exterior mirrors with reminiscence and auto-dipIQ.Mild HD matrix LED headlightsInnovision Cockpit15-inch touchscreen12-inch digital instrument screenSatellite navigationWireless Apple CarPlay and Android AutoFM, AM, DAB+ digital radioWireless cellphone charging + 5 x USB-C portsHeated, power-adjustable entrance seatsVienna leather-based seat trim30-colour ambient lightingDual-zone local weather controlOpen-pore dashboard wooden trimIlluminated door scuff platesCargo administration system for boot
Touareg 210TDI Magnificence brings:
20-inch alloy wheelsVarenna leather-based seat upholstery (blue and white optionally available)Ventilated entrance seatsMassaging entrance seatsAuto-levelling air suspension
Touareg 210TDI R-Line provides:
R-Line inside/exterior styling package21-inch alloy wheelsPuglia R-Line leather-based inside trimBrushed chrome steel pedalsStainless metal scuff plates with R-Line emblem in entrance doorsRear privateness glassRear-wheel steeringActive anti-roll stabilisationHeated sports activities steering wheelBrushed aluminium inside trimBlack headliner
Touareg R provides:
R inside/exterior styling22-inch alloy wheelsDirect tyre stress monitoringHome and public EV cost cablesSoft-close doorsFour-zone local weather controlNight visionPanoramic sunroofHead-up display19-inch entrance, 18-inch rear brake discs with blue R calipersPower-adjustable steering column with memoryHeated outboard rear seatsDynaudio premium sound system
Is the Volkswagen Touareg secure?
The pre-update Touareg had a five-star ANCAP security score primarily based on testing carried out in 2018.
It achieved scores of 89 per cent for grownup occupant safety, 88 per cent for baby occupant safety, 72 per cent for weak street person safety, and 78 per cent for security help features.
Commonplace security tools throughout the vary contains:
Entrance, front-side, rear-side, entrance and rear curtain airbagsAutonomous emergency brakingFront cross-traffic assistBlind-spot monitorRear cross-traffic assistAdaptive cruise management with energetic lane centringDynamic street signal monitoringSurround-view digital camera
How a lot does the Volkswagen Touareg price to run?
Just like the broader Volkswagen vary, the Touareg is backed by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre guarantee.
CarExpert’s Tackle the Volkswagen Touareg
The Touareg R is an fascinating tackle the hero SUV components.
Plug-in hybrid energy isn’t for everybody, however there’s something interesting concerning the thought of having 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 to be like.
The petrol V6 within the R received’t make you are feeling good like a V8 sadly, but it surely does mix with the electrical motor to ship a punch whenever you’re in a rush.
It is a large household automobile that may stand up and dance, but it surely’s a disgrace the PHEV expertise has come at the price of rear-wheel steer and energetic anti-roll tech that may have made for an much more succesful R.
It hasn’t come at the price of this automobile’s capacity on the open street which is, frankly, the place the Touareg nonetheless feels most at dwelling. Air suspension, comfy seats, and top-notch noise suppression are all available right here to ship a superb freeway cruiser.
Which begs the query of whether or not it’s best to hassle with the R… In any case, the R-Line is considerably cheaper, packs extra centered chassis expertise, and its diesel engine is arguably higher suited to lengthy drives than a posh PHEV.
The Touareg R received’t be for everybody, but it surely’s an fascinating tackle the flagship SUV components and nonetheless represents strong worth.
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