Touareg Volkswagen SUV Rental
The Touareg Volkswagen radical new sports utility vehicle, is a way to attract more buyers to the Volkswagen name, perhaps some of which would have been planning on visiting Mercedes. However, the Touareg has been accordingly called "one of the most important new vehicle launches in VW history." The Touareg is surprising comfortable crawling over Buick-sized boulders as well as hurtling down the track at 130 mph; the Touareg is a milestone in sports utility design offering luxury, high performance and extreme off-road capability in a single, quite extraordinary package.
It has the new VW Phaeton's athletic stance that is accentuated by big front fender flares and muscular haunches. Combined with exceptionally short front and rear overhang, it looks like it will go anywhere. The Touareg offers generic SUV looks with familiar VW markings. However, it's loaded with engineering features almost unimaginable in a passenger car even a few years ago, including a completely new self-supporting body. The supporting framework and the body structure form an inseparable unit, providing superior static rigidity, which lends not only high speed stability but also severely limits the amount of twisting or flex experienced in extreme off-road situations.
The Touareg's all-round performance capability is nothing short of astonishing. Besides sports sedan-like body stiffness, all Touaregs come with 4Xmotion, VW's permanent 4WD, which includes low range gearing and adaptive torque distribution. An automatic center lock differential is standard. A rear-locking differential, essential for serious off-roading, is optional.
A new 6-speed Tiptronic is the only transmission available in North America, but a 6-speed manual is reportedly on the way. Both a hill climb assist and a hill descent assist are standard. In North America, the Touareg currently comes with a choice of two engines- a 3.2L 24vale V6, which produces 220 hp @ 5400 rpm and 225 lb-ft of torque @ 3200 rpm; a 4.2L 40 valve V8, which produces 310 hp @ 6200 rpm and 302 lb-ft of torque @ 3000 rpm. The V8 will do 130 mph and has 0 - 60 mph times in the mid-sevens.
With a length of 4.75 meters, a width of 1.93 meters, a height of 1.72 meters, and a wheel base of 2.86 meters, the Touareg is firmly placed in the off-roader luxury segment. The all-round specialist with a top speed of over 250 km/h is a unique vehicle. The new Volkswagen is a crossover vehicle, and will call to mind not only an off-road vehicle, but also a sporty luxury class estate car. Technically and visually, the Touareg combines the best of three worlds.