Styling
Volkswagen's main work in updating the third-gen Touareg features something we've seen plenty of on cars these days - the full-width light strip. The big VW SUV now has two of the things, one linking the headlights and the other joining up the rear lamp clusters. What you think of these is of course subjective, but in our opinion the current Touareg is easily the best-looking Touareg, and what Volkswagen has enacted in the facelift hasn't ruined the appearance. You might not be as enamoured, though, with the illuminated VW logo on the bootlid, a first for any Volkswagen. It lights up red to fit in with the bar it is sitting in, so it's not too stand-out, but it's possibly a bit showy for some.
Interior
The Touareg Mk3 has always had a vast cabin with plenty of nice technology, and that continues with the updated cars. We'll talk about the former characteristic in the next section of the review, but with regards the tech then up front are the 15-inch central touchscreen and 12-inch digital cluster, that form what is termed by Volkswagen as the Innovision Cockpit. And very nice and (generally) good to use it is too, although the removal of physical buttons from the steering wheel - and their replacement with those thoroughly awkward haptic touchpads that VW has favoured in its early ID. electric products - is a less welcome update. Beyond this, there are even more soft-touch materials scattered about the place to reinforce the Touareg's, er... premiumosity, while extra padding has been added to the centre console to prevent the painful banging of knees against it while the SUV is cornering. Overall, it's a quality place to spend some time.
Practicality
Rear-seat space in the Touareg is incredibly generous, while the boot is a whopper - OK, the usual PHEV lament rears its head here, as the eHybrid (and the R) have smaller 665-1,675-litre boots than the TDI/TSI models, which pack in a gigantic 810 to 1,800 litres of cargo capacity. But a 665-litre boot is still ginormous, relatively speaking, so that's no major drama. The Volkswagen also has lots of handy storage areas and solutions in its cabin, so it'll happily serve its primary purpose as an upmarket family conveyance very well indeed. However, families of more than five in number still can't be catered for by this big SUV, as it remains a five-seater model only across the board.
Performance
With the 231- and 286hp derivatives of the silky-smooth 3.0-litre V6 TDI units continuing unchanged, as well as the 340hp TSI V6 petrol and the 462hp PHEV R range-topper, the only new powertrain is the one installed in our test car. It's basically the same 3.0-litre V6 and 100kW (136hp) electric motor combination as the Touareg R, only detuned to a system maximum output of 381hp. It's not commonly encountered in the wider VW Group, but it has been used in vehicles like the
Audi Q7 55 TFSI e previously.
The slight problem is that, while the related Cayenne from Porsche has had its 17.9kWh battery enlarged to a 25.9kWh unit during its recent update - simultaneously significantly improving its all-electric driving range while cutting its CO
2 emissions down to sub-40g/km - the Touareg PHEV enjoys no such thing. It sticks with the 17.9kWh battery pack, 14.3kWh of which is usable, which results in plug-in hybrid figures that, these days, aren't all that impressive. It'll do up to 31 miles on electric power alone, while the CO
2 output is 51g/km and the quoted fuel economy is 'just' 128mpg... and never mind if that figure is achievable or not, it just looks low compared to most PHEVs that do 150- or even 200mpg on official published numbers. Also, the 51g/km means you don't get free VED going forward, having to pay an (admittedly nominal) £20 a year.
It's a fine enough drivetrain, this, with reasonable integration of the electric-petrol components and the eight-speed Tiptronic gearbox, but it's not flawless. You can occasionally sense the Touareg having to work everything out if you ask for a lot of acceleration when it's pootling along in electric mode, and with a hefty kerbweight of 2,443kg the pick-up of the eHybrid isn't anything to write home about when the whole powertrain does hit together. At least the V6 makes a pleasant, if subdued, growl while it is going about its business, giving the car an acoustic benefit.
Ride & Handling
Of the three specifications offered, only Elegance doesn't have air suspension as standard. And, sadly, the 381hp PHEV Touareg is only available at that trim grade. So along with its slightly underwhelming performance, we're now going to further bolster the case for
not selecting this model.
The Touareg Mk3 has always been an SUV focused on comfort way more than it is on speed and handling dynamics. It can leave that sort of stuff to the Porsche Cayenne. So it's something of a surprise that the standard, non-air-sprung suspension is a bit jittery in the Volkswagen. It doesn't help that every Touareg, even the Elegance, rolls on 20-inch wheels, and the steel springs can't quite cope with the unsprung mass of them. You feel more of the road surface than is strictly necessary in the Touareg, while the body control is a bit loose accordingly.
And that leads into handling which is so-so, even by large SUV standards. Nothing the Touareg does in terms of steering, grip and balance is particularly wrong, but there's also not much enjoyment to be wrung out of throwing the VW about. It can feel quite heavy on the brakes, for instance, which just tempers your confidence about lobbing it into a corner at pace, while the aforementioned body roll is pronounced enough that the Touareg eHybrid comes across as cumbersome on occasion.
This wouldn't be a problem, of course, as we've already said the Volkswagen has never been about the sharpest handling attributes - indeed, we drove the supposedly sporty 462hp R on the same day as this 381hp model, and we didn't find that to be markedly more fun or that much quicker in feel either, although it does at least have air suspension as standard - so it's more the fact that the eHybrid Elegance doesn't have the greatest ride comfort or rolling refinement that we're bothered by.
Value
Hmm. Another area where the Touareg doesn't fully convince. The problem is, its list prices aren't much lower than Porsche Cayennes with similar drivetrains, and while we're normally very anti the idea of badge snobbery, would you rather have a Cayenne or a Touareg for the same price? Thought as much.
This eHybrid Elegance is one of the more affordable models at £68,810 - only the 231hp TDI Black Edition costs less, for an asking price of £67,640 - but both the 286hp TDI and 340hp TSI cars, only offered as Black Editions, are the wrong side of £70,000, while the flagship R is £80,370. You do at least get a decent level of kit on all Touaregs, including 20-inch alloys minimum, Vienna leather, four-zone climate control, keyless entry, a powered tailgate, a panoramic sunroof, heated front seats, a rear-view camera system and the full Innovision Cockpit set-up, among more - oh, and another new bit of kit for the facelifted range, the IQ.Light HD LED Matrix headlamps. These feature no less than a staggering 38,482 LEDs, for the maximum of night-time illumination when you're on dark country roads.
Verdict
While the overall tone of this review might seem a bit negative, we've always liked the third-gen Touareg and the few updates done to the SUV during this facelift have hardly hurt its cause. Perhaps what bothers us is that it feels like Volkswagen could have done a bit more - maybe given some power upgrades to the carry-over drivetrains, possibly fitted the PHEVs with the bigger 25.9kWh battery pack, that kind of thing. As it is, it just feels like the Touareg is being slightly left behind by some of its highly talented, premium SUV rivals, and at the prices VW is asking for it that's more of an issue than it might at first appear.
We'll finish with, hopefully, a more positive outlook though, by saying that while this new 381hp plug-in eHybrid model doesn't quite blow us away, if you order the Touareg with the lusty 286hp turbodiesel engine, you'll get Black Edition spec with its air suspension as standard. And when it's equipped like that, Volkswagen's grandest product starts to make a whole lot more sense.
