A Brief Stint in a Touareg TDI

Every now and then a car just comes out of the blue and knocks your socks off. Such is the case of the Volkswagen Touareg TDI. The Green Car Journal offered a ride & drive event at the LA show to give journalists the opportunity to get behind the wheel of some "green cars." I didn't get to the event until about an hour before closing and things were in a bit of disarray. I had opted to drive the ML320 Bluetec and Volvo C30. The Mercedes folks were available, but the Volvo rep wasn't to be found anywhere. The keys were in the car, but technically the rules are that a rep has to go with you. I went back upstairs and after the Green Car people said a few choice words about factory reps, they told me to just wander around the garage and find any available cars. Since I had chatted with the VW rep already, I went back to him first and he offered a ride in the Touareg (the Jetta was booked solid).

Now I had just driven the Benz diesel and I've had some time behind the wheel of other diesel cars, but let me tell you, that Touareg was a complete hoot to drive! As the saying goes, Americans buy horsepower numbers but actually drive torque. Stomping the Touareg's throttle really pushes you back into your seat, that's what 406 lb-ft of torque will do for you. Of course, the instant mileage readout drops significantly when you do that, but you'll be having so much fun that I doubt you'll remember to look at the gauge. The TDI Touareg also sported VW's new hard drive based navigation system, a welcomed improvement over their past efforts.

While on the ride, I had a chance to ask the rep about some other Volkswagen issues. Firstly, are the rumors true about a limited edition Scirocco for the USA? Well, I can't confirm anything, but the feeling inside VW USA are that the chances are better now than they have been. The Euro/Dollar exchange rate isn't quite so out of whack and there has been tremendous push from the enthusiast community. Keep those letters coming! What about the reduction in the bumper to bumper warranty? Not so popular with VW insiders. Apparently it was a marketing decision that VW wasn't getting its money's worth out the extra year of coverage and that some money could be saved and marketing points won by dropping the coverage down to 3/36 and adding free maintenance. There has been some push back from folks about the shortened terms, but don't look for anything to change. How about the Polo as an entry level model here in the USA? It's high no the begging list for VW USA insiders, but again no real news to break here. Comfort in the knowledge that people are fighting on your behalf, but if you would like to own a Polo then you'd better drop a note to VW yourself.

Back to the Touareg: this little buggy really is a treat. You'd be doing yourself a favor to check out VW's diesel lineup. However, you might have some problem locating TDIs at your local dealer. VW USA officials complain that the good folks back in Germany don't have a handle on how great the demand here in the USA is for these models and they are having to beg for higher allocations. This will keep supplies short and prices high for the foreseeable future.