• It’s not cheap to service or maintain…
• But then, you shouldn’t expect it be 
• Best fuel consumption from the eHybrid
  

The 3.0-litre diesel V6 delivers the best claimed combined economy of the regular ICE engines regardless of power output – you can expect 33.4mpg and 215g/km of CO2, on the WLTP ‘real world’ Combined test. This means a reasonably stout first-year VED car tax for private owners.

All cars come with an eight-speed automatic transmission with an Eco mode, and in gentle driving it improves fuel consumption markedly. Overall though this engine delivers lots of punch without working too hard, so you won’t need to resort to hypermiling to get decent fuel consumption out of it.

The petrol V6 performs less well here, as you’d expect, with 25.7mpg and 251g/km of CO2. While it’s the faster car overall, it doesn’t have anywhere near as much torque as either diesel, and therefore feels a bit less flexible on the road. In other words you have to work it harder, which will have an effect on economy.

129

The PHEVs give the best on paper efficiency, with 128.4mpg for the eHybrid and 122.8mpg for the R. However, CO2 emissions for both are over 50g/km and the EV range is only 31 miles. This makes it one of the pricier plug-in hybrids for company car tax.

In testing, the Touareg R never came close to matching those claimed MPG figures, but in a week of goive-and-take driving, it averaged 32.0mpg, with a peak of 39.5 on gentle motorway runs. That compares very favourably with the motorway economy of 34.5mpg we managed from the higher-powered 3.0-litre TDI diesel.

Servicing and warranty

The Touareg gets a typical three year or 60,000 mile warranty, some way off Lexus’s 10 year/100,000 mile cover. Servicing is likely to be pricey, so it’s handy you can pay up front or spread the cost.

Reliability

• Based on hardware proven elsewhere
• Performance of all-new engine will be interesting
• Historically, Touaregs are reliable and well-liked

The Volkswagen Touareg uses a number of major components that have been tried and tested across the Volkswagen Group, so reliability in that respect should be good.

The good news is that the pre-facelift Touareg has a good overall reputation for quality, and that Parkers’ readers rate it highly, with an overall score of 4.6 in the owners’ reviews section. Volkswagen will be keen to continue this good performance.