New VW Touareg

By Ollie Stallwood

11th February 2010

Watch out Porsche! Volkswagen has launched a sleek and stylish new Touareg SUV that is set to tempt buyers away from its Cayenne stablemate.
Shrugging off the workhorse image of the old Touareg, the replacement combines the new VW family face sported by the Golf and Polo with a sculpted body and vastly improved quality.

To emphasise a weight reduction of over 200kg across the range, VW has pulled off the illusion of making the car look smaller, despite an increased length and wheelbase of 40mm. “The old Touareg’s soft lines made the car look heavier,” Klaus Bischoff, VW head of design, told Autoexpress. “The bodywork now has tension and muscular sharp lines to make it appear compact and lighter.”

WATCH OFFICIAL FOOTAGE OF THE NEW TOUAREG HERE

LEDs are set into the family headlights, a detail we can expect to filter down to all VWs, adds Bischoff. “The target is to create a brand identity and follow a strong design philosophy – we are not into styling, we are into design.”

Sure to give the Mercedes ML sleepless nights is the Touareg’s high-quality cabin, with leather, touchscreen sat nav and a sliding rear bench standard across the range. Thd driving position is spot-on and gives the car a sporty, car-like feel, while there is ample head and leg room for six footers in the rear.

Air-conditioned seats join an extensive range of options that also includes Side Assist to warn of traffic in blindspots, adaptive roll air suspension and automatically dipping headlights. A third row of seats in the 580-litre boot (expanding to 1642 litres) is not planned for launch.

The big news is the addition of a hybrid to the Touareg range. Soon to be seen on the new Cayenne, the system allows the Touareg to outgun most hot hatches will returning 34mpg and 193g/km of CO2. The electric motor is coupled to the 328bhp supercharged 3.3-litre V6 engine from the Audi S4 and creates a combined output of 375bhp and a diesel-like 428lb ft.

A clutch allows the electric motor to disengage fully, powering the car independently and emissions-free up to 30mph for 2km. Regenerative braking and coasting at up to 160kmh also recharges the car’s batteries.

The battery in the 175kg hybrid system could have been bigger but the Touareg represents the best balance between efficiency, weight and packaging, according to Eike Feldhusen, head of hybrid development at VW. “We have spent four years developing this system and found we could have increased the size of the battery but this would have meant a higher boot floor. This is the best compromise.”

Non-hybrid Touaregs will be all diesel, starting with a 237bhp V6 TDI, likely to account for 35 per cent of sales, and a 4.2-litre 335bhp and 590lb ft V8 TDI. An entry-level 201bhp V6 TDI will arrive around Christmas.

Although yet to be announced, VW insiders reveal an efficient Bluemotion version of the 3.0-litre V6 will arrive later. All models come with a new eight-speed torque converter automatic gearbox, VW engineers saying this works better than dual-clutch 'boxes in SUVs, and most will feature stop-start.
There will be four versions of the Touareg – SE, Altitude, Hybrid and Escape - the latter being the choice for serious off-roading. Available on just the V6 TDI, Escape models feature 4XMotion, a system with five settings to lock both the centre and rear differential and to engage a low-range gearbox.
The range will start at £37,000, going up to £57,000 for the V8 and Hybrid. UK deliveries begin in August.

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