Volkswagen's Enigmatic Touareg Comes in from the Cold for 2011

I’m going to be brutally honest here: I did not like the previous generation Touareg very much. That said, having only driven it on a couple occasions, I admit my experience with the Bavarian beast was quite limited. However, my issue wasn’t necessarily one of experience. No, my issue was one of cost. With a base price that was only a few thousand dollars shy of that of Porsche’s entry level Cayenne and a top-end, fully loaded cost that eclipsed that of the Cayenne by almost $10,000, I found the Touareg’s existence to be more than a bit enigmatic.

And to be honest, that doesn’t appear to have changed with this new one. A Cayenne will still separate you from 55,300 of your hard-earned dollars, with a diesel Touareg only saving you $110 over the Porsche product… and that’s for the basic Comfortline model. But instead of bringing the price point down, Volkswagen has done a hell of a job of bringing the vehicle’s quality up. Equipped with a bunch of pretty features ranging from the Audi-inspired LED daytime running lamps to the shapely triangular dual exhaust outlets, the Touareg’s exterior certainly looks substantially upmarket compared to its nondescript former self. That said it’s definitely still recognizable as Volkswagen’s largest SUV offering. There’s still a pair of distinctly Volkswagen-esque taillights living in the rear quarters, and the grille opening closely resembles that of the equally new Jetta just as the previous Touareg’s did the previous Jetta.

But it’s inside where the Great Leap Forward appears to have really taken hold. Truth be told, I couldn’t stand the previous Touareg’s cabin; I found it brutally bland and atrociously executed, especially given the X5/Cayenne/ML-sized price tag attached to it. So, to say I didn’t have high hopes for this one would have been an understatement. But I was pleasantly surprised, upon swinging wide the door, to find swathes of glossy wood bordered in very classy matte aluminum, all offset by acres of well textured leather and a dashboard festooned with LCD screens. Soft illumination, and responsive controls were just the icing on the cake. And, at the centre of it all (at least as far as the driver is concerned); what is assuredly one of the most attractive steering wheels on the market today. Perfectly shaped and well proportioned, it’s sleekly trimmed with both leather and gloss black, and incorporates its stereo, cruise control, and Bluetooth controls extremely well. Although perhaps the best indication of Volkswagen’s newfound attention to detail, the steering wheel isn’t the only significant improvement. First off, nearly every control surface is dramatically improved. From the heater controls to the window switches, they’re all substantially more attractive to look at and much more pleasant to touch. The gauge cluster, although still a very simple quartet dominated by the massive speedometer and tachometer, is now home to an attractive high-resolution LCD display that can be configured to display everything from telephone information to fuel economy data.

And of equal importance to most Touareg owners, undoubtedly, is the news that although this new model may be lighter than the previous model, it’s certainly not reduced in any practicable dimension. In the rear seat, ample legroom abounds for even adult passengers, and the Touareg’s tall roofline kept even my six foot scalp from coming anywhere near the headliner. The manual curtains are a nice touch that will undoubtedly prove invaluable to those with infants and/or some form of vampirism, and when combined with the reclining rear seat back, make for a pretty luxurious rear passenger compartment. Further aft, a large cargo area stretches surprisingly wide between the Touareg’s haunches, and will undoubtedly swallow all but the largest of cargo loads, whereupon the folding rear seat back can be employed in either or both of its 60/40 split.

Now, in terms of driving performance, hot shoes will probably be drawn towards the almost iconic performance offered by the base VR6 3.6 litre gasoline engine, however, the real one to have is the 3.0 litre diesel. Although the 3.6 does have a wee bit more horsepower, the turbocharged diesel’s torque is sensational and the fuel economy nothing short of superlative. Likewise, although Volkswagen offers a sport suspension system for the Touareg, which works in concert with some very fine looking 20” allow wheels, it’s hard to picture how much real room for improvement Volkswagen’s engineers could find. After all, as it stands the standard Touareg rides quite well; isolating the occupants with a nice, smooth ride without pitching them overboard at the slightest hint of a corner.

Overall, I came away from this new Touareg with a newfound respect for the badge. Sure, it’s still surprisingly expensive and possibly the single largest argument against in-house competition between brands, but this one does a good job of bringing all the earmarks of Volkswagen ownership to the SUV-loving masses: it’s smooth, quiet, luxurious enough to be comforting, but still kiddie-friendly. And apparently I’m not the only one that thinks so. Having already caught on around here in Vancouver in a manner the old one never seemed to, the new Touareg seems to have found a pretty decent foothold deep in suburban territory. And with fuel prices continuing to rise, and news of a hybrid model set to join the already miserly Touareg TDI, chances are good that this may be only the beginning for Volkswagen’s biggest vehicle.