Test Drive: 2006 Volkswagen Touareg V10 Diesel
Swaying in the back seatThe Good
- Did someone say torque?
- Exclusivity
- Fit and finish
The Bad
- Exclusive price tag
- Air suspension replaces the “Sport” in SUV with “Swaying”
- Black interior on the drab side
- Clunky name
When we showed up to look at the Touareg (pronounced TOUR-egg, according to www.volkswagen.de), our salesman couldn’t help but tell us about the diesel model they had. The owner was driving it around so it had 3500 miles on it and they’d be willing to knock about $8000 off the price tag.
Curious about it, we took a look. And then we took a ride, because how often do you get to drive a V10 diesel (now that I’ve given up my CDL, not very often).
The first thing we noticed about the engine was the noise, or lack thereof actually. It reminded me a bit of my parent’s old diesel rabbit because of the timing, but sounded nothing like what I associate with diesels now, like a big Powerstroke or Cummins diesel. It was incredibly quiet; in fact once in the car with the doors shut we couldn’t hear it at all. It did have a weird idle, though. At stops it made a sort of grinding noise and we could feel vibrations through the floorboards in both the back and front seats.
I drove first, but I’m not very aggressive on test drives so at first I didn’t really understand why anyone would want the V10, even with it’s 310 hp and 553 foot pounds of torque. Chris and the salesman laughed, and told me I’d have to actually get on the gas to notice. Since they insisted… I made a u-turn and launched the car down one of Houston’s beautiful wide feeder roads. And then I understood. It felt like it took a few seconds to get going, but once it did, there was no stopping it. I got off the gas around 60 mph despite Chris’s urging to keep going (there’s a reason he drives a Vette and I drive a station wagon!).
The gas mileage was sort of a bummer, though. Since it’s a diesel I expected great mileage, but I guess the V10 part negated that. It’s rated at an estimated 17 city and 22 highway. Better than the 14/19 rating on the V8, but not by much. Fortunately the gas tank holds a gigantic 26.4 gallons, meaning that even though it’ll cost your left arm to fill it up, at least you won’t have to do it often.
Before we left on the test drive I played with the air suspension. I climbed in the car at the regular height and then jacked it up as high as it would get. Chris was outside watching and told me I just HAD to come look at it. Getting out wasn’t quite as easy as getting in – it was much higher off the ground than before. Once out, I had to laugh. It looked ridiculous up in the air with big empty wheel wells. The salesman said we couldn’t lower it back down unless we drove it. In all, the range goes from 6.3” off the ground to 11.8” off the ground. The brochure says the car lowers automatically for aerodynamics when driving fast and I assume that’s only with the air suspension, but I can’t say for sure.
Included with the air suspension is something called a “continuous damping control (CDC) system” that let the driver choose between three modes: Sport, comfort or auto. To test those, I headed down a rough road near our house. I couldn’t tell much difference between the three modes while driving and Chris in the backseat couldn’t tell at all. Maybe I wasn’t giving them enough time to adjust, or maybe the road was rough enough that it didn’t matter much, but they all felt a little floaty to me.
When Chris and I switched and I tried out the back seat, I discovered I really disliked the floaty feeling. No matter how he adjusted the CDC system, I felt slightly seasick. I couldn’t get the a/c in the back cranking enough to offset the swaying (cold air makes me feel better and more about the a/c in a moment), so I found the back seat just plain unpleasant. This wasn’t a problem in the V6 model that didn’t have the air suspension, so I wouldn’t consider purchasing the air suspension option because of my issues with motion sickness. Chris’s opinion was that I’d get used to it, but I’m not so sure.
Interior-wise, this was pretty much the same as the 2007 model, (reviewed in depth here) except for one thing: no power liftgate. We decided we’re complete suckers for a remote liftgate, especially on a VW because their design worked so well.
We didn’t particularly care for the black interior because it was a bit on the drab side; perhaps because the black was more of a charcoal grey then a rich, deep black. But the teak interior spruced up the black quite a bit and was available on both the V10 and the V8 models. There was also a grey interior and a beige interior option, although they weren’t available with all exterior colors.
This V10 was fully loaded. That meant I got to try out the four-zone Climatronic system (marketing speak for rear a/c controls). Since we had already driven the V6 with no rear controls this was a great chance to compare and I’m glad we did. I cranked up the a/c in the back seat to full blast in an effort to not get carsick, but I didn’t feel like adjusting the air flow setting did anything except make the compressor noisier. Chris even asked what all the noise was, since the vent in the pillar was right next to his head. It blew about as hard and as cold as the V6’s version with no controls did. After experiencing that, the rear air control fell from our must-have list to the only-if-the-car-is-perfect-in-every-other-way list. VW could definitely learn from BMW about rear a/c controls.
I noticed this version also had more wind noise than the V6 we drove. Perhaps it’s because it had more miles on it, or perhaps because the roof rails on the 2006 models ran sideways across the top of the car (parallel with the windshield) instead of lengthwise. The roofrails were also moveable, but the owner left them in the default position – together, at the back of the roof where they looked more like a purse handle than roof rails.
All in all, the V10 was a sweet ride, except for one thing: The price tag. This model, including the $8000 discount, was still about $60,000. Just to refresh your memory, that’s $60,000 for a 2006 Volkswagen with 3,500 miles on it. And that’s why the V6 looked so good. It had the fit and finish and most of the same features, but a price tag closer to $45,000.