Electrification on ICE
No hybrid; no bad thing.
Everyone’s talking about EVs right now. Except Touareg salesmen.
There’s no hybrid or EV in the Touareg line-up (the 456bhp hybrid V6 Touareg R is on its way), meaning it’s still a straight fight between petrol and diesel. On the petrol side there’s a 335bhp 3.0 turbo V6, while diesel fans get the choice of 228bhp or 282bhp 3.0-litre V6 engines.
We went for a diesel when choosing this test car because, despite the exodus from diesel in smaller cars, it still makes more sense in jumbo SUVs. Or does it? We borrowed a petrol Touareg to find out.
The 53bhp-beefier petrol is quicker on paper, 5.9sec versus 6.1sec to 62mph for our diesel. And it feels quick, too, when you throw some revs at it. Both use the same eight-speed automatic transmission, but the petrol car’s application seemed less ponderous when asked to kick down, and while it makes a great noise under load, its lack of noise and vibration at low speeds and start-up was even more welcome, and a better fit to the Touareg’s role as VW’s luxury flagship.
But the diesel still makes more sense. We’re regularly seeing mid-30s mpg on our car, but the petrol is around 7mpg thirstier and costs £1010 more to buy. Most of all, though, we missed the diesel’s mammoth 443lb ft of torque – that’s 111lb ft more than the petrol can muster.
The blue SEL loaner also gave us an opportunity to find out what life is like without the wowzer-looking dual screens you see in all the marketing shots.
Usually a luxury trim on lesser VWs, the SEL was the standard Touareg model until an SE was added recently, and comes with conventional analogue speedo and revcounter dials and a smaller main touchscreen. That pairing managed to make the interior look spectacularly ordinary next to our R-Line Tech, but the joy of having old-fashioned physical buttons for functions like the heating, heated seats and menu access almost made up for it.
Almost, but not quite. We’ll stick with our diesel, and its Currys PC World’s worth of screens, thanks.