Experiencing the New Touareg
Adventure in Antalya
Steep cliffs and mysterious mountain passes. Antalya sits quietly proud on the Mediterranean coast of south-western Turkey, waiting to be explored. This is the perfect playground to discover the new and exciting Touareg, down to the small towns that you have to pass through to get to the mountains, where the traffic demands very quick thinking indeed!
Volkswagen unveiled the completely redeveloped Touareg to the world in February. As Touareg Brand Manager I was afforded the privilege of joining Volkswagen importers from around the world to test drive the third generation of this beloved SUV on the mountain roads of Antalya. The New Touareg is claimed to be the most technically innovative Volkswagen ever: a sharper design, with highly intelligent and intuitive driver assistance systems and a unique emphasis on being up to 20 percent more fuel efficient than the model it replaces. I couldn’t wait to test this claim for myself.
On our arrival in Belek, a humble coastal town of Antalya, Volkswagen South Africa Product Planner, Glen Elferink, and I immediately set about scrutinising every exterior angle and interior feature of the New Touareg on display outside our hotel.
At first glance
Clean lines and the new Volkswagen styling DNA present on the Scirocco and sixth generation Golf lends the New Touareg a greater presence with a wide, bold grill. The hour-glass figure of the Touareg means the shoulders and rear are apparently muscular whilst the tapering chrome outline of the side windows gives it a feeling of perpetual motion even when stationary. The headlights look more like an adornment than a functional aspect of the vehicle as they stare like an eagle at the road it is about to conquer.
The new interior has been made even more functional than before, the seats more comfortable and leg room in the rear is larger. The rear bench seat can adjust longitudinally by 160 millimetres and the backrest angle can be adjusted. And if this comfortable rear seating is not a requirement, the seats can be electrically unlatched at the press of a button (as an option) and folded down in seconds to free up 1,642 litres of cargo space. A radio-CD with 6-disc CD changer and information system is standard equipment in the base version and this is intuitively controlled via a 6.5-inch touch-screen. This was merely a hint at the list of technical equipment that we would discover on the New Touareg later during our trip.
With all the additional space, features and systems in the New Touareg it is remarkable that Volkswagen’s designers have made the Touareg 208 kilograms lighter than its predecessor in the base version. What’s more, the body has five percent greater torsional rigidity, which makes it the leader in its competitive class. The excitement to test drive the car was becoming more than I could bear!
After exhausting our first impressions of the ‘Bentley of Mud’ (as it is referred to in the German market), Glen and I made our way to the business meeting to hear from the designers themselves.
Down to the details
The New Touareg engine range includes a 3.6 V6 FSI, a 3.0 V6 TDI and a 4.2 V8 TDI. The key focus of engine development was on fuel efficiency but without sacrificing the functional requirements for off-roading. Aided by the lower drag coefficient achieved through the new design, all engines of the New Touareg come standard with an 8-speed automatic transmission and demonstrate significant fuel economy advantages over the previous model. In some cases the advantage exceeds two litres per 100 kilometres.
What is truly exciting is that the New Touareg is the first and only off-roader by a German car maker to be available in a hybrid version. Even more unique: the dual power train uses a parallel configuration as opposed to the usual ‘split’ configuration by using a disengagement clutch. The Touareg Hybrid can be driven up to 50 km/h in purely electric mode - emissions-free.
The Touareg V6 TDI with 7.4 litre combined fuel consumption now posts the best value in the segment of genuine SUVs. Both versions, the Touareg Hybrid and V6 TDI, are the most fuel efficient petrol and diesel SUVs ever built in Europe in this large vehicle class.
Also modified in pursuit of reduced fuel consumption was the standard all-wheel drive. In the base version (4Motion), all new generation Touaregs have all-wheel drive with Torsen limited-slip differential. The Touareg also has an ‘Off-road Driving Programme’, which tunes the ABS, EDS (Electronic Differential Lock) and ASR (Anti-Spin Regulator) for off-road duty, as well as activates Hill Descent Assist and adjusts the automatic gearshift points. A full off-road package with a central and rear differential lock is also available where as much as 100 percent locking and a climbing angle of 45 degrees is achievable.
The New Touareg also features a world first: Bi-xenon headlights with Dynamic Light Assist. This camera-based continuous main beam headlight actually “sees” oncoming traffic and automatically adjusts the main beam to eliminate unwanted glare. The enhanced safety and convenience offered by Dynamic Light Assist is as significant as the introduction of Xenon technology itself once was.
This was all very impressive in theory and, as one of the competitor manufacturers that was invited to drive the car put it: “An overwhelming idea to combine all this in one car”, but what does it feel like to drive the New Touareg?
On the road
The luxurious and comfortable interior immediately took my mind off the fact that the steering wheel was on the ‘wrong’ side of the dashboard – and what a gorgeous steering wheel!
Once on the road I realised just how contemporary the New Touareg is in the way it reinterprets the multipurpose SUV concept. The large variety of new assistance and safety systems made me wonder just who was executing the test drive – me or the vehicle itself.
The optional ‘Area View’ system utilises four cameras located around the car that transmit an accurate view of the Touareg’s surroundings to the screen in the centre console to enhance safety and ease of driving. ‘Lane Assist’ ensures that the vehicle does not stray unintentionally from the lane in which the vehicle is driving, whilst ‘Side Assist’ warns of vehicles approaching from the rear when changing lanes. The Adaptive Cruise Control became an amusing feature as the Touareg would speed up and slow down, even to a complete stop, depending on the movement of the traffic in its path.
Another endlessly amusing feature for me was on the BlueMotion derivative that we drove. BlueMotion is Volkswagen’s environmentally conscious technology and the V6 TDI and FSI models of the Touareg are available in Europe with this option. With BlueMotion, the engine automatically shuts off at traffic lights and restarts as soon as the driver releases the brake pedal (Stop-Start system). The BlueMotion V6 versions gather valuable kinetic energy during braking and coasting and store it for use elsewhere during driving.
Other novelties that we discovered were that the traditional oil dipstick has been retired and the engine oil level is displayed electronically. As an optio¬n, the tailgate can be opened and closed automatically and a large panoramic sunroof – the largest ever used on an SUV – is available on the New Touareg to provide maximum light in the cabin.
Moment of truth
How was the New Touareg off-road? Every bit as exciting and as effortless as before. We traversed a short off-road course just to be sure that nothing has been lost in all the technological gadgets and design enhancements that the New Touareg displays. With a maximum trailer payload of up to 3.5 tonnes, the New Touareg is still the ideal towing vehicle – even the Hybrid version.
At the end of the day we walked away from our Touareg with very heavy feet, until we spotted the R Line Touareg in the distance - another preview that left both Glen and I eager to see the amazing New Touareg on South African roads.
If you would like to read more about the New Touareg in the official press release from the World Premiere you can download this here:
View the full press release
Read a synopsis of the press release
Please note the equipment and technical data apply to models offered in Germany. South African models may differ.
