﻿The Third Generation Volkswagen Touareg was something of a game changer upon it's
arrival in Australia, in 2019. Genuinely cross-shopped by large SUV buyers against
the likes of Mercedes Benz, Audi and BMW. Well, three years have passed since then,
so how has the Touareg aged? We've got the 210 TDI R-Line to review, let's find out.
The Third Generation Touareg moved the Volkswagen brand into a new luxury paradigm when it launched
in 2019, judged as a runner-up in the Carsales Car of The Year and attracting a wave of new,
and existing buyers to the German brand. Three years on, the Touareg has crept up slightly in
price and has launched in V8 diesel, and soon, plug-in hybrid forms, the 210 TDI R-Line tested
here marks the longest standing model and retails at $116,290, plus on-road costs,
the real-world values are in actual fact, closer to $140,000 at the time of publishing. Yep,
the Touareg is that popular. Power here is sourced from a muscular, 3L turbo diesel V6 engine, it's
certainly not a new engine, but on paper, it gives you the best of both worlds. A 0-100 sprint claim
of 6.1 seconds and a claimed fuel-consumption figure of just 6.8L per 100km combined.
The Touareg's driveline comprises Volkswagen's four-motion, all-wheel drive system, connecting
with a conventional 8-speed automatic gearbox. At elegance and R-Line level, the Touareg is
air-suspended too, using MacPherson struts upfront and an independent 5-link arrangement at the rear.
Inside, there's beautiful Savona leather trims, soft contact points and trinkets are plenty,
including heated/cooled and massaging front seats, with a memory function as
well. The design here is first-rate as well, the sweeping 15in center-touchscreen display,
the metallic highlights, the use of different materials, it's a really pretty place to spend
time, but as we'll see, form doesn't always come before function where infotainment is concerned.
The other talking point here is probably the driving position, it sounds so simple,
but just to jump in a car, have easy reach of all the controls and to be so low-slung in the cabin,
it just feels right. The Touareg would benefit greatly from a soft-closed door feature,
as we found the drivers door on our test car in particular, often required a second shut to
seal tight, it's something small, but definitely annoying after a couple of weeks with the car,
otherwise storage and space is sound inside, buying into the big Volksy's, user-friendly
positioning, infotainment however, could be better. So, the center-touchscreen display is
pretty to look at, but is it functional? Well, for the most part, yes, it works quite well,
but when you're on the move, I'd simply prefer physical buttons and dials in the center fascia,
of course, that would completely change the packaging of the Touareg, but I just find that
when you're on the go, you're having to dig through all these needless different menus,
just to do something as simple as put the recon, the recirculated air-conditioning on. The other
little gripe is Apple CarPlay, it's not quite integrated into the full-screen of the Touareg,
it's only using a small part of it, so you do have a lot of dead-space and as someone
that uses Apple CarPlay, pretty much every time I drive, I find that's probably not as
good as it could be. Elsewhere though, the digital instrument cluster is a breeze to use, it's really
legible with all of it's information and you can scan at it on the move without distracting you,
equally, the head-up display means you can keep your eyes on the road ahead, while scanning all
the important information. The Touareg covers all-aid of our infotainment-checklist as standard,
likewise it gets a big nod for standard safety-inclusions ticking every box.
In many ways, the second row of the Touareg is simply an extension of the first because it's
comfortable, it's spacious and there's plenty of oddment storage, and rear air vents as well. You
can actually slide the rear-seats individually to prioritize either legroom, or luggage-space,
there's plenty of space as I said, door-pockets and even these sunshades, which are integrated
into the windows, it's exactly what you'd expect for this price tag. The rear seat-space covers
all the basic amenities expected at this price point and offers excellent comfort over longer
journeys. Now, one potential sticking point for the Touareg is the absence of third-row seats,
now make of that what you will, but you would think that just having a sixth and seventh seat
would really broaden this SUVs appeal, and open it up to a whole new market of buyers, either way
though, you're getting 810L of boot-space, it's a flat floor-space and it's facilitated by these
split-folding levers as well to stow the second row. There's also these handy buttons here, which
allow you to raise or lower the car at will for easier loading. The other bone of contention here
is the space-saver spare tire, it's definitely better than no tire at all, but given this is
geared as a vehicle that can go off-road, you'd ideally like a full-sized spare wheel.
Okay, so it might not accommodate seven people, but you jump behind the wheel of a Volkswagen
Touareg and there is seemingly no kind of compromise, because it is such a polished
performer across all the key-driving parameters. I'll start with the engine, it's not new,
it's been around for a long time, dating way back to cars like the Porsche Macan, the Cayenne,
but even the outgoing Volkswagen Amarok, they've all used this turbo diesel V6 engine
and in this application, it is simply a peach. I will say it is beset with a little bit of lag,
I hadn't driven it for about 12 months, this particular drive-chain and that's
one thing I kind of jumped into, and noticed straightaway, the initial throttle tip-in,
there is a noticeable hesitation and it's not really in keeping with this car's monstrous
power and torque outputs. Now, I've noticed that lag and that hesitation both from a standstill,
that's a bit of a typical symptom in Volkswagen cars, but also in rolling acceleration,
normally you have a DSG transmission to kinda rescue things and mitigate some of that delay,
to keep the engine in it's sweet spot, it is a diesel, so it has a narrower bend,
bend with the revs than a regular petrol and the gearbox is often kind of throwing
back gears to keep the engine at it's sweet spot, so there is a noticeable delay. But,
once you have tapped into that torque curve, which really kind of materializes from 1,500RPM
to about, just shy of 4,000RPM, you have a huge amount of power and torque to play with,
and it's a muscular diesel soundtrack too, forget clattery or agricultural, this is refined,
it actually sounds quite brutish and muscular, and I like it, it's very cool. I have to say,
this is a really impressive drive-train because it does do efficiency quite well too, 8.3L per 100km
on a 1,200km journey in this car, certainly isn't to be sneezed at, I think you'd be hard-pressed
to find petrol and diesel options that are this competitive, even hybrid, I think this really
remains competitive, despite being an older drive-train. Then there's the refinement as well,
that hesitation aside, it just feels like a nice, effortless drive-train, 8-speed automatic
as I said, it works well and with all-wheel drive grip, you have no problem putting the power to the
ground, those user-friendly properties are boosted by rear-wheel steering, adaptive suspension and
active-roll stabilization, features which together mask the Touareg's 2.2t curb weight.
Elsewhere look, there are so many competitors in this space, obviously this doesn't have two seats,
it is sort of geared as I guess a more European, more athletic option and it drives that way too,
I really enjoy spending time behind the wheel of the Volkswagen Touareg because it has genuine
feeling and feedback to the key controls, there is a slightly digital veneer to the steering,
the body control is well in check,
it changes direction quite admirably and it feels planted on the road too, bumps and things like
that present no such problem with this car, with a sportier premise to the key controls,
you're gonna notice perhaps more of a niggly ride than more comfort-oriented SUVs, but
it's a trade-off I'd be happy to make because for what you get with the way that this car changes
direction, the way that it just handles itself in a mix of conditions, on different road surfaces,
it really is impressive. I have to say, I think this is an SUV that
I can see owners really just enjoying living with every day, even something as simple as driving,
you think big family SUV, ordinarily you would think cumbersome, a little bit bulky,
a little bit hard work, but this really is a joy to drive, it's not a sports car,
but it's an SUV that does everything quite well and it's quite impressive as a result.
The Touareg is offered with a five-year unlimited kilometer warranty in Australia and at the time
of publishing is also being offered with five years complimentary servicing, a huge draw card
for families. When the third-generation Touareg first arrived in 2019, some naturally questioned
it's lofty purchase price or whether it deserved to be cross-shopped against European rivals,
we now know the answer to both those questions is an unequivocal yes, now while there have
been moderate price increases, the Touareg still holds plenty of appeal, it's loaded with tech,
it's refined inside and out, and it's just a breeze to drive, seven seats or not.