In the coming months I’m going to be buying a new to me used car. The short list has a TDI Touareg on it.
Who’s had one? Your experiences with it?
What’s maintenance like?
Real world mpg?
Everything else I need to know
I’m especially looking for a V10 because it has more power and one magazine called it the, “Meanest Vehicle for the Environment in 2007”
So talk me into or out of a diesel VW.
VW Touareg V10 TDI Vs. Chevy Duramax Bumper pull: http://youtu.be/k62gW3Se5e0
The V10 is a great engine but you’re going to deal with VW electrical gremlins and Euro pricing on repairs. If you’re comfortable with that then you’ll be ok. If you’re expecting Japanese type upkeep then it’s not the car for you. Not that every VW has issues it’s just when they do you’ll pay sweetly. You can cut a lot of the cost out doing regular maintenance on your own and having preventative maintenance done. There’s long term costs like tires. They don’t come with cheap tires. I spent around a grand on good Michelin performance tires. Touregs can cost more than that with the tires they need.
Cgrunt I’ve seen that video before and it makes me laugh every time. Diesels with stacks just scream “I have a small penis.” Sorry if anyone has a diesel with stacks.
What year and motor did you have?
I may ride a little fast and someday it may catch up and bite me in the ass but maybe not if I give it just a little more gas.
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Volkswagen/Touareg/
Although there is not much listed, I would agree that electric problems are very common with German cars.
I dated a gal in college whose father was a BMW master mechanic. He drove a Toyota and his wife owned a Lexus.
If you have to have one, then I would lease it.
I didn’t say I owned one. I’ve wanted the V10 Tuareg for a while (which means I’ve done a lot of reading fwiw), and have a couple friends with vw’s. We also have a couple we know who just both traded in their nearly new cars on a pair of vw’s. He had a 650i BMW and she had a current gen Toyota 4 runner. He ended up in a CC and she has a gasser Tuareg. I certainly understand the allure of them. Even the golf has a better interior than most domestics up into the Caddilac range.
Again I’ll say the V10 is a great engine but it still has all the stereotypes of potentially expensive repairs and buying a used one with that unique of an engine isnt likely to be like owning a Japanese car. They come with low profile tires which on that size are very expensive and don’t last that long. There’s a big difference between $1000 for a set of tires vs $500 when the $1000 tires last half as long.
I’ve had two people I know personally be burnt out on a foreign car just based on regular maintenance. One was my sister on a Saab and the second was my best friend with a Land Rover. Like I said originally if you know what you’re getting into it will be ok. If you expect Japanese type repairs it’s going to be a big shock. Not only is maintenance more frequent but it can be 2-3x the cost.
Sorry I wasn’t quite sure if you had one or not based on your post. I should have asked that instead.
Have you researched the 6 cylinder TDI? Is it more durable reliable than the v10? Why is it that you want the v10 more than the v6?
I may ride a little fast and someday it may catch up and bite me in the ass but maybe not if I give it just a little more gas.
I’m not a big truck fan, but it’s kind of unfair - the truck has way less traction than the VW does.
I rather stick a large piece of notty pine up my arse than deal with the electrical problems of a VW. My 1999 Jetta was a true horror story.
I only owned one VW and I found that it was supposedly an economy car but it had BMW-priced parts and repair bills.
Never again…no thank you.
-brickboy240
How do you figure?
The truck has got wider, bigger tires and greater than a 1000 lbs more pushing down on them. Unless the Chevy doesn’t have 4 wheel engaged and the tire compounds are way different.