Volkswagen Touareg review

Since 2003, the Volkswagen Touareg has offered buyers of luxury SUVs a less blingy alternative to the premium-badged rivals. Or rather it did. That all changed when VW launched the current generation model, which comes with more than a wee splattering of glittery chintz.

Look past the in-your-face chrome grille and there’s a very sensible vehicle underneath, though. For a start it's bigger yet lighter than its predecessor, it comes packed to the roof with tech, and it can tow up to 3500kg.

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How is all that possible you might wonder? Well, the Touareg shares a platform with one of our favourite luxury SUVs, the Audi Q7. And as that car also serves as the foundations for the Porsche Cayenne, the Bentley Bentayga and even Lamborghini Urus sports SUV, the Touareg should have the DNA to be a potential world-beater.

Okay, it doesn’t have the same level of performance firepower as the Porsche, Bentley or Lamborghini, but you have a range of engines to choose from: a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 diesel in two states of tune, and a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 petrol. And of course, being a big SUV you get four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox as standard.

But the question is: does the Touareg make the transition from an on-paper marvel to an on or off-road megastar? Keep on reading to find out, because we’ll tell you all about how the Touareg drives, how it looks after passengers and their luggage, how much it costs to buy and run, and whether it’s better at all those things than the competition. Which, by the way, includes the aforementioned Q7 as well as the BMW X5 and Mercedes GLE.

If you want to get yourself a good deal on a Touareg, don’t forget to visit our New Car Buying pages.