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Buy and sell nowTowing titan
James Batchelor finds much to admire in the latest iteration of Volkswagen’s trusty SUV
It’s hard to believe, but Volkswagen has been building its Touareg SUV for over 20 years. Over those two decades, it has gone from being the German brand’s only high-riding off-roader to sitting atop a whole range of them. In 2024 the Touareg is still the largest, the most expensive and the plushest SUV Volkswagen builds, and it has proven to be a favourite among caravan owners. In fact, this generation of Touareg has won a couple of class awards in recent Caravan and Motorhome Club Towcar of the Year competitions, so when we learned that Volkswagen had given the car a styling and tech overhaul, we were keen to get behind the wheel.
Comfort – 89%
Gallery
It’s no secret the Volkswagen Touareg has some very distinguished sisters. When it first launched its only other family relation was the Porsche Cayenne, but over the past two decades it has acquired siblings from Audi, Bentley and Lamborghini and it uses the same platform and some of the same tech as those cars.
For 2024, Volkswagen has turned up the style a notch with a glitzy makeover. This generation of Touareg, launched in 2018, saw the arrival of brasher styling compared to earlier models; for this update there are some more modern touches, without losing the visual impact. There’s a wider grille, new front and rear bumpers, and a very on-trend light bar that stretches across the grille; another, across the tailgate, joins together new rear light clusters. Even the VW badge on the tailgate is backlit.
All Touaregs, regardless of trim, now get Volkswagen’s ‘Innovation Cockpit’, which consists of a 12in digital instrument panel and a positively massive 15in touchscreen for the infotainment. It runs the manufacturer’s latest system and is much faster and easier to use than before, but due to the screen’s large size it does take some getting used to. Once you’re familiar, it’s a doddle.
It’s a shame that the same can’t be said about the heating and ventilation controls, which also have to be operated through the screen – tweaking the climate control while driving can be tricky, although using the much-improved voice command system can help.
The interior design is smart and the quality is good – Volkswagen has even added some extra bits of padding around the centre console. The Touareg also gets a newer steering wheel with touch sensitive buttons; it looks neat but is tricky to operate – indeed Volkswagen has resorted to traditional buttons for the forthcoming Golf Mk8.5 and latest Tiguan SUV.
Unlike its Audi Q7 sister, the Touareg has always been a strict five-seater. As a result of the car’s generous size, there is plenty of room for backseat passengers to stretch out. Kneeroom is very good, even with a couple of six-footers up front, and even though our car had a panoramic glass roof, there was loads of headroom. The back seats can also slide forwards and backwards to free up more space in the boot or promote rear legroom, and the seat backs can recline. Boot room is huge at 810 litres and when you fold down the 40/20/40-split folding rear seats that grows to an enormous 1,800 litres.
This being a Volkswagen there’s a huge options list from which to choose. From roof boxes to night vision, the Touareg can be specified just how you want it to be. There’s only one tow hook available – an electronically folding one which also comes with Trailer Assist, the latter allowing the driver to reverse the car once hooked up by using the electric mirror switch instead of shuffling the steering wheel.
A number of on-screen graphics and camera angles also assist the driver. It works surprisingly well and is a rather neat facility.
Other clever optional features include ‘Park Assist Plus’, which allows you to park the car in a space by controlling it from your smartphone while standing outside.
Driving – 87%
Volkswagen has kept a range of large capacity units for its Touareg. There’s a wide choice available, from the bread-and-butter 3.0-litre V6 diesels with 228bhp or 282bhp, right up to a pair of plug-in hybrids which include a high performance ‘R’ variant with 455bhp and an electric driving range of 30 miles.
We’re testing the other engine in the range – the 3.0-litre V6 petrol. Surprisingly it doesn’t have electrical assistance to make it cleaner and more frugal – it’s just an old-fashioned, large petrol engine with six cylinders.
While diesel would be the natural choice for towing, the petrol is noticeably smoother and more refined than the DERV units. It has a delicious creamy power delivery throughout the rev range, and a lovely sporty character. It isn’t as inefficient as you might think – while Volkswagen claims a combined fuel consumption of 25.6mpg, I routinely saw 30mpg on long-distance drives.
The Touareg handles and steers neatly for such a large car. All cars bar the entry-level plug-in hybrid get air suspension, which does a lovely job at gliding over potholes, while our car’s optional four-wheel steering gives a sense of agility on twisty roads, and aids turning in tight parking spaces.
The eight-speed gearbox can be a little hesitant at times but it’s mostly fine and, while it looks a very road-biased SUV, the Touareg is seriously impressive off-road with a high ground clearance (with the suspension in its highest setting), as well as strong traction.
Towing – 89%
Bearing in mind the collection of awards the Touareg has received in the past, it will come as little surprise to learn it’s a titan among towcars.
The best thing about the Touareg is that it has gutsy performance while at the same time providing a very stable towing experience – it’s not one or the other. We tested the Touareg during a particularly squally storm, and despite there being some pretty strong crosswinds, it just got on with the job. Aside from the odd tug on more undulating roads, you really wouldn’t know you were towing. The option to tweak the air suspension to give a more cushioned or stiffened ride was welcome during our tow test, too, and the four-wheel steering really helped during low speed manoeuvring.
With just under 340bhp, unsurprisingly the V6 pulls very strongly and gave a super-refined and quiet driving experience. Just be prepared for low fuel consumption. During our test we returned 18mpg and the car was not fully loaded with passengers or belongings.
Verdict – 88%
The Touareg is one of the finest large SUVs for towing on the market. It has gutsy performance, provides a smooth ride and it takes charge of a large caravan with ease. We’d recommend taking test drives with different engines as they all have their own individual strengths.