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Driving Impressions
The Volkswagen Touareg feels like a well-engineered vehicle carved from a single block. It's relatively quiet underway, the V6 and V8 engines are smooth, and the six-speed automatic transmission is really smooth.
The 3.2-liter V6 lacks the gusto to propel the Touareg with authority. It was revised to produce more power for 2005, bringing the total to 240 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 229 pound-feet of torque at 3200 rpm. Though smooth and quiet, the 3.2-liter V6 Touareg took about 9.4 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60, slow by anyone's stopwatch. Often it felt quite adequate but sometimes it felt distinctly underpowered, often at important moments, and it felt sluggish at altitude.
An all-new 3.6-liter V6 is replacing it late in the 2006 model year, so be sure and get that one. We haven't tried it, but it's rated at 280 horsepower at 6200 and, even more important, 265 pound-feet of torque at 2500 to 5000 rpm. That increase of torque, spread across a wide power band, should translate into better acceleration performance and throttle response.
The 4.2-liter V8 boasts 310 horsepower at 6200 rpm and 302 pound-feet of torque, capable of accelerating from 0 to 60 in 7.6 seconds, says Volkswagen. More important in daily use, the V8 delivers strong throttle response, aided by a transmission that always selects the right gear. So you don't need much throttle pressure to smoothly accelerate to the desired speed. Slam the throttle down and the V8 responds well, but it does not deliver breathtaking thrust. The reason is weight: The V8 model weighs about 5,300 pounds when empty. That makes the Touareg some 375 pounds heavier than a BMW X5 4.4i, and 650 pounds heavier than a 2006 Mercedes-Benz ML 500.
Neither the V6 nor V8 models are particularly fuel efficient, at least partly due to that weight. The V6 earns an EPA rating of 15/20 mpg City/Highway, while the V8 returns 14/18 mpg. VW recommends premium gas for maximum performance.
The 4.9-liter turbocharged diesel V10 develops 310 horsepower but at a much lower 3750 rpm and 553 pound-feet of torque at just 2000 rpm. Torque is the force that propels you from intersections, helps you crawl over rocks and tows trailers, so that massive torque should translate into impressive power.
The six-speed automatic that comes on all Touareg models is brilliant, a luxury-grade transmission shared with the Audi A8 L. Fuzzy logic senses the driver's intentions then smoothly selects the proper gear. Switch from Normal to Sport mode and it selects higher shift points for more aggressive driving. There's also a Tiptronic mode for manual shifting, useful in some situations, but ultimately the transmission will still shift up automatically when redline is reached.
Two suspensions are available for Touareg: a standard suspension with regular steel springs and an optional air suspension. The standard suspension works very well and we recommend it highly. It might even be our preference. It offers a nice ride and handles well, as we discovered on some winding mountain roads in Utah. Touareg boasts an impressive 8.3 inches of ground clearance with the standard suspension. Starting with the 2005 models, Volkswagen recalibrated the Touareg suspension for more sport.
The ride quality is good, though road vibration increases with wheel size and this is most noticeable with the 19-inch wheels and tires. The 17-inch wheels that come on the V6 models offer the best ride quality, smoother and quieter, though the aggressive tread pattern of the tires still generated some noise and vibration. The Touareg isn't as smooth and quiet as a Lexus RX 330, but we prefer the tautness and superior control of the Touareg.
On the road, the Touareg feels more substantial than the RX 330. Granted, the Touareg is heavier than the Lexus, but the Volkswagen suspension is beefier and more sophisticated than the RX 330 suspension, and the VW drive system is more sophisticated. We found
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