| Author | Message | ||
     George Collins (Zinhead) New Member Username: Zinhead Post Number: 4 Registered: 12-2001 |
It seems VW has the US press introduction to the Taureg in a little town in Utah. Here is a link to a write-up with pictures. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?&id=894206 Here is the text. Just got back from the U.S. Press event for the Touareg and Volkswagen put on one hell of an event. The on-road portion of the driving included areas around Park City, Utah on mountain roads, highways and side roads. For the off-road portion VW flew us down to Moab, Utah and ran us through Hell's Revenge, a 4+ rated Jeep offroad trail that winds through part of the Slick Rock mountain bike trail (more info HERE). The Touareg was not only a tremendous all-around vehicle, it was amazing in its off-road ability. Hell's Revenge is an extremely difficult trail and VW cut 2-3 really crazy parts that only heavily modified vehicles could handle (the Hot Tub, Potato Salad Hill, Hell's Gate). Our guide was Dan Mick which leads Jeep tours through that area all-year round and told us he was really impressed and surprised as hell at what the Touareg can do bone stock. There is one part called the "flip over challenge" that, according to Dan Mick, the Hummer and many other modified vehicles failed to get over. The Touareg had no problem handling it surprisingly (photo above). The whole trail was run in low-range gear and the locking differentials were left on an "auto" setting" (as opposed to manually electronically locking them). Interestingly 99% of the Hell's Revenge trail was done with the air-suspension set one notch below the highest setting which is 9.3 inches of clearance. The steel spring suspension has 9.1 inches of clearance and saves you $3,050 compared to the optional cost of the air-suspension (which also requires the HID's option - included in that price). Most of us thought the steel spring suspension was a little more forgiving on the road than the air-suspension and unless you planned on doing serious off-roading, you may not want to bother with the air-suspension. $3,000 could buy you a few other options instead. The V6 was an able performer. It isn't a rocket, but it didn't seem to be a snail either. The V8 is sweet and has a great sound and moves the Touareg out nicely. The V10 TDI *will* for sure be coming 1st quarter of 2004. Expect the price to be in the lower $50,000 range. Rumors are circulating about a new 3.0l V6 TDI as well within two years. There is also some speculation that there will be a longer-wheelbase version coming next with third row seating. Don't expect to see it for another year and half to two years. Volkswagen also dug out some trenches that they drove the Touareg into and out of which caused one wheel to lift completely into the air about 4 ft. so they could showoff the structural integrity (photo above). VW took a body-on-frame principal and engineered a unibody design with even better torsional stiffness. Even with the heavy amount of weight on the front end in the photo above, all-four doors could still be opened and windows rolled up and down with no problems. They mentioned that some "competitors" they did this test with twisted enough that you couldn't open the doors any more and even broke windows in one of them (they of course wouldn't say which one). Interior fit and finish was amazing and quality through-out was first rate. There were zero problems with any of the vehicles, even with the tremendous abuse they were put through. Hopefully for VW's sake this is a sign of better things to come. Overall all the press corps were really impressed and I don't think there is any current vehicle for sale that is a better all-around SUV than this one. There are some that handle a little better, and some with more room, and few if any with the off-road abilities stock, but as an all-around package, the Touareg is really impressive. Sure you can debate whether or not someone will actually use that off-road ability, but at the end of the day the point is that you could if you wanted to and there were no compromises in on-road ability as a result. Expect to see a lot of good reviews of this vehicle and dealers with short supplies. VW expects to sell about 23,000 for the remainder of this year and about 40,000 next year. All-in-all a very impressive first effort for VW. We'll have our full-write up later this week. | ||
| Christopher Dynak (Adtoolco) Senior Member Username: Adtoolco Post Number: 272 Registered: 08-2002 |
Based on the pics the flex looks horrible. I will reserve judgement until I test drive the V10 TDI, in reality, its the only thing appealing about the Taurag. | ||
| Christopher Boese (Christopher) Member Username: Christopher Post Number: 74 Registered: 10-2002 |
Here's more: http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=6111&sid=181&n=157. Again, you'll see how little suspension travel the Touareg seems to have. |
