Volkswagen Touareg review

Whether you go for the 228bhp or 282bhp diesel engine, CO2 emissions of 173g/km are slightly lower than the Q7 but still into the top benefit-in-kind (BIK) company car tax bracket. We managed to average 33.8mpg in the 282bhp model, which is about what you’d get out of a Q7 and more than a V6 diesel Land Rover Discovery can manage. You'll struggle to get much more than 27mpg at best from the 3.0 TSI petrol.

The Touareg is a little cheaper to buy than the Q7, and even the cheapest SEL trim gets plenty of equipment, including 19in alloy wheels, leather seats (heated in the front), ambient interior lighting and adaptive cruise control, as well as the infotainment and visibility aids we've mentioned already. We'd keep the costs down and stick with that.

R-Line gets sporty styling inside and out, bigger wheels and sports suspension, while R-Line Tech adds a lot of upgrades but, for that money, we'd look seriously at a better car, like the Q7, X5 or Discovery.

The Touareg received a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, although it didn’t score as highly as the Volvo XC90. Still, automatic emergency braking, traffic sign recognition and lane-keeping assistance are standard. As for reliability, Volkswagen came in 17th place out of 31 in the 2018 What Car? Reliability Survey, which was one place below BMW but above Audi, Mercedes and Land Rover.

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