Volkswagen Touareg
Yet another groundbreaking sport-ute |
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By Richard J. Newman
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NITS: The turn-signal stalk is placed unusually low, requiring you to position your left hand much lower than the conventional ten o'clock position. It felt awkward.
G-FORCES: Despite a robust-sounding 220 horsepower, the V-6 engine on the test vehicle was sluggish and unresponsive and would probably be poorly suited to towing. An optional V-8 version comes with an additional 90 horsepower. Cornering is firm for an SUV, though not as crisp as the standard-setting BMW X5. Highway ride is cushy.
GIZMOLOGY: The handsome gauges are ringed in chrome, and VW's elegant dial-style controls operate the sunroof and heated seats. Climate and audio controls are a bit more convoluted, since they are channeled through a centralized display screen that often requires paging through menus to find what you want.
KID MARKS: It's a comfy kids' car, low enough for younger kids to climb in on their own but high enough to offer a raised view. Rear cup holders pop out of the center armrest, where kids can reach them easily. The back seat folds flat for convenient storage.
ENVIROMETER: Not yet assigned a "green vehicle" rating by the EPA. Mileage ranges from 14 mpg city to 20 mpg highway, depending on the engine.
CRASH COURSE: Not crash-tested by the government or by private testing organizations.
HOT OR NOT: Not. The Touareg looks like a swollen Passat wagon, which is a handsome car in itself but not in its expanded form.
PRICE POINTS: Base prices range from $35,515 to $41,315. Price as tested: $44,115. (All prices include delivery fees.)
MORE INFO: http://www.vw.com/touareg/
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Model year tested: 2004
I learned to drive on a Volkswagen 20-odd years ago, and it was a go-kart compared with VW's first SUV. Most of the body parts could be removed with a single wrench. There was no FM radio or air conditioning or rear defogger, and the "heat," if you could call it that, operated via a crusty lever between the front seats. The Touareg is a wee bit more refined. Wood trim and a power moon roof are standard. There's full-time, all-wheel drive, a dual-zone A/C system and an optional air suspension that raises and lowers the chassis like something out of a Knight Rider rerun. If your first car were a Touareg, you'd learn to drive thinking the road beneath you was made of foam rubber, not asphalt.
At a starting price of about $35,000, all this is supposed to represent a bargain. After all, as Volkswagen points out, the Touareg is the "most affordable" German SUV. Of course that's because the only other "German SUVs" are the Mercedes-Benz M Class, the BMW X5, and the Porsche Cayenne. But the comparison itself highlights Volkswagen's obvious grab for customers well above its proletarian base. That makes the debate among car buffs rather predictable: Is Volkswagen the Horatio Alger of automobiles, having risen heroically from its humble beginnings? Or has it lost focus and strayed haughtily from its plebeian roots?
That debate is somewhat academic though, since the Touareg represents a bigger phenomenon: the appeal of overkill. In ordinary driving–on roads, that is–the Touareg demonstrates an enriched version of the perky driving dynamics found on most Volkswagens. It also offers an array of features meant to make it an unparalleled off-roader. The air suspension is designed to lower the vehicle when you want more agile pavement driving, and raise it when you need higher ground clearance in the bush. An optional rear-differential lock makes the all-wheel drive more rugged by forcing both rear wheels to spin, instead of merely the one with better traction. Even the name, which translates as "free folk," goes overboard: Evidently the Touareg are a group of nomads who somehow manage to master the harsh living conditions of the Sahara desert. (Does anybody besides me sense yet another case of Westerners idealizing the virtues of a people whose shoes we would never, ever want to be in?)
I, for one, have a hard time seeing true off-roaders buying a Volkswagen. As for the rest of us, no matter how dearly we may crave the opportunity, we rarely leave the hardtop. So despite its fancy accoutrements, the Touareg seems destined to be a suburban driveway showpiece, just like most other SUVs. Nothing wrong with that: Volkswagen is probably just as capable of building a rugged imagemobile as Lexus or Acura or Cadillac. It is simply hard to get excited over yet another expensive plaything that will rarely be exercised to its full potential.
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