New Volkswagen Touareg review, test drive

On the move, the Touareg is agile in a way such a big, heavy vehicle has no right to be. The steering in particular is weighty and has little slack off-centre, so you can place the SUV precisely where you want to. There’s loads of grip from the full-time four-wheel-drive system and the 255/55 R18 tyres. Even body roll is well contained. Sure, it’s no BMW X5 when you’re pelting down a mountain road, but it’s still impressive. 

The suspension offers two modes – Sport and Comfort – and surprisingly, it’s the Sport mode that’s more comfortable. When you’re in Sport, the ride is impressively flat and the suspension is pliant enough to absorb almost everything you throw at it. It’s only the sharp edges that result in thumps. Stick in comfort and even this trait disappears, the trade-off being more float and wallow at high speeds. Naturally, there’s more body roll in this mode as well.

What’s really impressive though is how tough the Touareg feels, the chassis stiffness shining through. It really feels like it can take battle-tank levels of pounding and this, needless to say, is a huge plus on our roads. In the confines of traffic, you do feel its girth, but you could say the same about a Q7, and it is not easy to judge where its extremities lie. You do end up relying on the front and rear park sensors and the reversing camera quite a lot.

Off road, the Touareg performs pretty well, the short overhangs and high ground clearance allowing you to get pretty far without damaging bodywork. We didn’t get to test it in slush though.