two for the road

AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com

VW TOUAREG
Heft & luxury + 350 horses

Talk about an international vehicle, the new Volkswagen Touareg 2 has an engine made in Hungary, a transmission from Japan, 60% of its content from Germany (naturally) and is assembled in Slovakia.

Yet, it's still a useful truck for hauling people and cargo, plus pulling a trailer, in the United States. Never mind its hard-to-pronounce name that makes people think you're choking when you tell them what you're driving.

The 2008 Touareg 2 (it's the second iteration) comes with a solid 280-horse VR6 motor standard for $39,320, or a gi-normous 350-horse, 4.2-liter V-8. That's what the silver test truck had, but that'll push it up to $48,320 for starters. Naturally, VW couldn't leave well enough alone, so it added some other goodies and packages to boost this up to a high-luxury price tag of $59,700. Remember that Porsche makes a sport-ute off this same platform, so VW likely knows it can coax some additional cash from customers looking for the less expensive version.

For this pricetag you could have most any make luxury sedan you desire, but if luxury sport-ute is you're craving, well Touareg is perfectly fine. It looks muscular and ritzy at the same time, enough so that people notice it. Plus, these are rare enough (probably due to that price), that people ask who makes it. They're surprised it comes from VW.

First off, this V-8 is a beast, pounding out an impressive 350 horsepower. Some of that power is due to the new FSI fuel management system. This may be the peppiest sport-ute for pulling away from a stop. It wants to jump off the line. In fact, VW reports the truck will do 0-60 mph in just 7.6 seconds with a top speed of 130. I doubt you'd need to go that fast, but the point is, this thing scoots.

Torque is good too at 324 foot-pounds, so pulling a two-place snowmobile trailer, which we did, was easy. In fact, this pulled easier than many full-size pickups we've used.

You might suspect there's a price to pay for all this performance, and you'd be right. We got between 9.8 and 12.9 mpg in nearly all highway driving between here and the Minneapolis area, with that trailer in tow. Unfortunately, it also drinks premium! But don't imagine yourself getting great mileage with nothing in tow. The EPA says to expect 12 mpg city and 17 highway. Remember too that the EPA numbers have been adjusted downward this model year due to a new formula to calculate mileage.

Would diesel be better? Well, VW also has a 5.0-liter turbo-diesel to the lineup that starts at $68,320. It boasts 310 horsepower and a monster 553 ft.-lbs. of torque.

Ride is excellent. The test Touareg had an adjustable air suspension ($700 extra and worth it) with three settings on the console - sport, automatic and comfort. Both automatic and comfort offer a good ride, but comfort smoothes out even the worst crumbling cement streets. There's a double wishbone front suspension and four-link rear system here.

Handling also is great, on a par with BMW. The ute is responsive and crisply turns into corners with no lean. Steering feedback is solid without being overly heavy too.

The braking is strong with four-wheel anti-locks and vented discs. A stability control program is standard, and this model comes with 4Motion, a permanent four-wheel-drive system.

Note too there's a vehicle height adjustment that you can leave on automatic, or you can manually raise or lower the vehicle. It's fun to play with, but even with the trailer, I didn't find it necessary.

VW also lets you decide if you want to use the key in the ignition, or just keep the electronic fob in your pocket and push a start button. At least it gives us traditionalists a choice.

Inside, the Touareg is as luxurious as the price would indicate. The test truck had a gray leather interior with wood and brushed metal trim generously spread throughout. Plus, the seats, while firm, are supremely comfortable and mildly contoured. I didn't tire on the trip to Minneapolis and back. The fact that both front seats are power 12-way adjustable numbers and feature five-speed heat controls is another plus. Rear seats also are heated here, part of a $3,400 option package.

Room is exceptional in the rear seat too. Five adults could ride comfortably, although the doorframe is a little awkward when getting out of the rear seat, so bumped knees are possible. The rear seats are split to boost cargo room, and the spare tire and tools are neatly stored under the cargo floor. VW also puts a 6-disc CD player in the cargo area, part of a $2,750 package. In-dash is much more convenient though.

Instrumentation is good with dual climate controls and reasonably simple radio controls. This comes with Sirius satellite radio and the test car added Dynaudio, a 650-watt system with 10 speakers. Cool! It's part of the earlier $3,400 option package.

This also had a navigation system that wasn't too hard to figure out. It's part of a $3,350 package that also includes a rear-view TV camera, especially helpful when hooking up a trailer. A power rear hatch also is standard, a nice feature when loading in bad weather.

VW puts the cruise controls, along with those for the radio and information screen on the steering wheel hub, which is convenient. Plus, overhead is a clock, compass and the sunroof. I also like that this has four visors up front, but sadly the ones that fold to the side do not slide to block side sun.

As nice as this truck is, there were a few bugaboos. First, the tire monitor was stuck on in the test truck, an annoyance. Plus, I found that VW's electrical system requires a special adaptor to hook up normal trailer lights. Finding one wasn't easy. Oh, and VW charges $500 for attaching a trailer hitch. That's high.

But, this is a fine luxury ute, good both for towing and hauling folks in style. There are a lot of others on the market that only do one of those well. I guess that makes the Touareg a twofer!

VOLKSWAGEN TOURAREG 2 V8 FSI
Made in: Bratislava, Slovakia
Engine: 4.2-liter, FSI V-8, 350 horsepower
Transmission: 6-speed automatic Tiptronic
MPG: 12/17
Cargo: 31.0 cu.ft. (71.0 cu.ft. rear seat folded)
Weight: 5,300 lbs.
Tow: 7,716 lbs.
Base Price: $48,320
Dealer's Price: $44,440
Delivery: $680
Major Options:
Luxury plus package (keyless start, Dynaudio, 4-zone climate controls, heated rear seats), $3,400
Technology package (Navigation system w/sound upgrade, rear view camera, 6-disc trunk mounted CD changer, auxiliary audio jack), $3,350
Air suspension, $2,750
Rear differential lock, $700
Trailer hitch, $500
Test vehicle: $59,700
Sources: Volkswagen, www.autos.yahoo.com