no Touareg chat here?!

The very small number of people who actually need off-road capability can find much cheaper, more practical alternatives. Those who need to impress their friends and neighbors while "4-wheeling it" to the grocery store in over-priced, bechromed, leather-clad luxury SUVs can do no better than the VW Touareg (unless they spring for the blasphemous Porsche Cayenne).

No. All SUVs suck.

I agree. If I happen to become rich, I would get the diesel if I wanted an SUV. Too bad they are not making something that would compete with the Jeep Wrangler and diesel. :)

You don't have to be rich, just a vain middle-class boomer with a steady paycheck and the burning desire to surround yourself with the illusion of affluence. $35K to start for an underpowered V6 version...$42K for a V8...$58K for a V10 TDI?!! What's most impressive about the Touareg is that the marketing folks actually convinced more than a few people to pony up this much dinero for a vehicle that they don't really need...and to dip into Junior's college fund to pay for it. Great move by the marketing folks at VW and Porsche: Porsche gets to utilize VW's vast resources to quickly provide an SUV for their lineup, while VW benefits from the panache of fabled Porsche Engineering. What's next, an $80K+ VW with a W12 engine?!!!!

You will probably find more interesting chat about the Touareg at alt.business.marketing.

I stand corrected. You are right. The V10 TDI would be nice but because it's not straight axle, I doubt I would really want to take it off roading at Moab or anywhere else for that matter. My YJ would be waiting on top of the hill watching the Touareg get tournaup...

:)

lot off-road.... But $80 grand Canadian for a top end diesel is a little above the ole' price range...

Same here can be said for the $60K USD price. Plus only 500 of them were sold in the US so far anyway and you can't get them in every state either.

It's not great. It's overpriced, WAY overpriced and it gets really shitty gas mileage. Its interior space is rather cramped and really lacks decent 'utility' space. For that sort of money you can almost get a BMW X5 (and you'd be better off).

I liked it's looks but when I drove one, did the math on it's operating costs and took a hard look at it's lack of effective usefulness as a utility vehicle I decided against it.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the Touareg cancelled mid-2005.

-Bill Kearney

Higher end T-regs and lower end X5s overlap, but similarly equipped they're a major difference in money.

A better deal would be the X3. It's more T-reg priced and has almost the same interior room as an X5 (BMW did a better job on the X3 in terms of exterior-interior size ratio than on the X5).

Not likely. VW is already working on a LWB version with seating for 7.

O.k. I'll say something about your touareg: The name is stupid. You paid too much. You're not going off-road. You could've had an R32.

I couldn't have said it better...and I tried.

Yes, the X3 has better interior space. Time will tell if the MSW plant is any good at building them.

That's a shame, yet another horrendous waste of gasoline.

-Bill Kearney

6000 pounds, over $40,000. 6000 pounds and $60,000 if your vanity forces you to get the turbo-diesel. Never, ever driven anywhere other than the local grocery. Says as much about the gullibility of the buyers as it does about VW's poor judgment.

any good at building them.

MSW?

One would think so, but given the 7-seaters out there (Land Rover Discovery, for example), it makes sense from a "gotta have what the competition has" standpoint.

Why do all Touareg owners bring their ride into the shop for service with the fuel light flashing? Makes a road test impossible!

And why is a standard incandescant running /brake/ indicator (don't exactly know what it was for... it looked like a running light tho) light bulb $36..... my service department guy at Georgetown VW came out with my $1.30 bulb (which I got for free), then handed me one from a Touareg and said "I can't wait till I get to sell these things, they're going to be my favorite item - 36 bucks and the only difference is a coating on the inside of the glass".... There was a purpleish tinge to it - looked like oil floating in a water puddle.

True of any Xenon lamp though, not just VW.