Volkswagen Touareg (03-09) - Review

Review by David Ross on
Last Updated: 10 November 2009
Volkswagen's Touareg has been a steady seller since its launch in 2003 offering a classy and comfortable car with good four-wheel drive ability. It was developed with the Porsche Cayenne, sharing much the same off-road hardware and a V6 petrol engine. However, Volkswagen has a rich diesel heritage, and the Touareg fitted with one of these engines offers the best illustration of what it can do, whether it's the hard-working 2.5 TDI, smooth 3.0 V6 TDI or the brutal 5.0 V10 TDI. Changes for 2007 included a tweaked front end, plus the availability of new technology to make it safer and more accomplished whether on the road or in the wild. There's even a Bluemotion model, offering improved fuel economy and lower emissions, although it's still far from green.
4 out of 5

Other Volkswagen reviews

1.5 out of 5

Running costs

Higher mileage drivers should opt for one of the diesels to offset running costs (they're also good engines in their own right). Service intervals are dictated by the car, but these should typically be every 18,000 miles or two years. Insurance is reasonable for the class, but pricey overall. Depreciation has been bearable so far - but values are being kept high, because most used models are within the Volkswagen dealer network.

* based on most recent data

Estimated fuel cost for 10,000 miles per year

Unleaded

£3,069 - £3,230 *

Diesel

£1,885 - £2,914 *

The estimated fuel cost figure is a guide to how much this model will cost to fuel each year, so you can compare between cars. It's calculated by using the model's average mpg (calculated from both town centre and motorway driving) and the average fuel price. It's based on the following cost-per-litre: petrol 135p and diesel 141p. Prices are updated daily.

Summary Running Costs

Servicing period

Variable according to on-board computer.

Warranty

Three years/60,000 miles.

Road tax (12 months)

£270.00 - £475.00

Vehicle excise duty (VED) varies according to the CO2 emissions and the fuel type of the vehicle. For cars registered after March 1st 2001 VED or road tax is based on the car's CO2 emissions. For cars registered before March 1st 2001 it is based on engine size.

Full running costs data

2.5 out of 5

Green credentials

  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
  • H
  • I
  • J
  • K
    219
  • L
  • M
    355

CO2 emission figure (g/km)

Fuel economy rating

The arrows indicate the best and worst CO2 bands for this model.

Emissions summary

The Touareg is a fairly polluting model, however there is the availability of a Bluemotion version. This 3.0-litre TDI emits 219g/km of CO2 and averages a respectable 34mpg (compared to 30mpg in the standard model) which is pretty good for such a heavy four-wheel drive vehicle.

Find the exact engine and CO2