Quiet, comfortable, responsive ride. Very stable handling. Excellent, comfortable interiors (far better than the BMW X-3, which is difficult for me to get into, and at 6" I'm not particularly tall). Outstanding offroad capabilities--great traction through slippery, muddy hills. Cargo roof-bars handle kayaks, canoes, furniture quite well. Factory stereo system (the one with 11 speakers) has actually been quite good, and this from an audiophile.

Obviously, you are not buying this car for its fuel efficiency--, which can be poor in city driving (12-14MPG), although I've gotten up to 20MPG in steady highway driving. I've also experienced electrical system glitches, mostly in the form of annoying false alerts (tire pressure low, flat tire, engine failure). Dealer service has been underwhelming, and far from customer-friendly.

I cannot say that the ownership experience has been flawless, but I do LOVE this car. On the important stuff, it rocks. While it has had some (electrical) glitches, and the VW dealer service leaves a lot to be desired (DC area), overall I have been very pleased with the vehicle.

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Honda CR-V, Honda Pilot, Toyota RAV-4, Toyota 4-Runner, Toyota Sequoia, BMW X-3.

All of the above & deceptively fast, with very little road tyre or engine noise. Modern soft edged design, appears smaller than it is. Understated elegance.

None to date

Fully specked luxury packaged 2.5 litre turbo diesel 30 mpg, quiet,smooth as silk & tons of grunt 400Nm, & handles like a sports car, quality paint finish & 12 yr gteed galvenised body.

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Very high quality build and materials. Thoughtful standard equipment. The engine has a very satisfying sound when accelerating to speed.

It is a bit under powered for its weight and size. I think that an additional 35 to 45 horsepower for this engine would have been better choice.

I think the VW Touareg is a Great vehicle. It has panash, style, and one of a kind quality. The only real complaint that I have is that the V6 engine is a bit under powered. I wish they sold the TDI V6 here in USA.

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I also own a Mercedes-Benz ML 320 which seems almost outdated by the Touareg as far as style, equipment, and handling.

Incredible interior...you feel like you are in a luxury cigar room. Amazing handling on snow/ice.

Absolutely no weaknesses.

I just purchased a 2005 Toureg and I live in Northern Michigan - lots of snow. I cannot tell you how impressed I am with this SUV. I have driven many SUV's in snowy weather, and there is absolutely no comparison. Going around turns with 4-6 inches of snow/ice, and I felt like I was on dry pavement. Example, I was at an intersection that had an incredible amount of snow/ice, and I was next to a Volvo SUV, and a BMW SUV...When the light turned green, the Toureg just pulled ahead, and left the two SUV's slipping away. This 4XMotion, is the most incredible experience. I highly recommend this to anyone considering an SUV!

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Pathfinder/Volvo/BMW.

Stunning styling, great acceleration, beautiful interior and steering wheel controls. Extremely good handling.

Should go for the stereo upgrade. Fuel economy will have me missing my GS300 I bet.

I got what I think is an excellent deal on this car. It was a dealer buyback -- a lemon. The 2004 Touaregs have had myriad problems -- fixable in most cases. VW has had to buy some back to keep buyers happy. This one had the tire pressure problem. If you're not scared of the "lemon" label, there are probably quite a few Touaregs out there to be had cheap. I just bought this car and drove it 600 miles to get home, so I'm somewhat familiar with it now. This is my first SUV. I've always hated them because they ride so rough. This one doesn't. This car handles better than my GS300. The acceleration is unbelievable, although it does really go through the gas. Avg. mileage on the 600 mi. interstate trip was 15. My back usually hurts on a trip that long. I felt great in these seats.

good ride quiet cabin

50 thousand dollars buys crappier service than 500 dollars at the local used car dealer. The more you spend on a car or anything for that matter; the better one expects to be treated. VW has no concept of this and dont seem to care which is downright bad business. I am glad i dumped this car before something major happened and i really got screwed.

I would love to be able to recommend this car.My wife wanted a new car to haul our twin boys around. She had been driving a volvo v70r awd, and felt she wanted something with higher off the ground as we had moved from Chicago to Maine and she had gotten stuck a few times. The early press reviews on this car made it sound perfect for a thirtysomething woman who wanted to feel like she could cross the Mojave in her car even if she never would. I picked her up in the car at the airport and she raved about the styling,the quietness,and the ride quality. 2 days later the problems began. It started with her asking me to program the homelink to open the garage door. Despite following the instructions to the T I was unable to do it. I took the car in to the dealer and they were unable to program it also. After 2 trips to them i tried contacting VW; they took weeks to get back to me only to tell me they did not know how to fix the problem. The second thing to go wrong was the rain sensor wipers. They never worked, downpour or drizzle it made no difference the wipers never came on. The dealer had no idea as to why this did not work and were suprised as this was "old technology A call put into VW over this problem ws never even responded to. The third thing to go wrong was the tyre pressure gauge light would come on for no reason, and would have to be reset by the dealer. It happened so often that i learned the key sequence in order to turn it off my self, as i grew tired of having to waste a morning taking it back to the dealer. The 4th thing to go wrong was that at 17k miles after the car had been serviced at 5k,10k,and 15k as recommended my wife noted that the handling on wet pavement was poor. I went out and inspected the car and found that all 4 tires were worn bald on the inner 2 inches. So much for the inspections. I took the car to the dealer and was told this happened because the tires were soft and were out of balance because my wife sometimes drove with the wheels dirty. I told them that was nonsense and that they should check the allignment. We argued about this because they felt this was very unlikely in so new a car. After checking the allignment they found that all 4 tires were identically toed out, but that neither they nor VW was responsible because the car had possibly been driven over potholes. Their recommendation to me was to have the car alligned at least twice each year and replace tires every 15k miles if i went with the tires VW recommended. This was such BS i contacted VW once again and asked them about these issues. Their official reply was that they were researching this problem and would not even tell me if an allignment check was standard for new vehicles. I was so completely blown off by them that i went out and traded this car in for a frickin honda. VW has no idea what good service means. Most of the time in life you get what you pay for; this is absolutely not true with VW. Last but not least the fuel consumption with 85% hwy miles and speeds 65-70mph she never averaged better than 14mpg. If i drove the avg. mpg was 10.5

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Power, handling, off-road ability, quietness, body quality,

GPS has all the technology of an EZBake oven. Fisher-Price quality. Dealers don't have a clue how to maintain the hi-tech aspects of the car.

It does more things better than any other vehicle I have ever owned. Problem is, it has been in the shop about 45 days since I purchased it four months ago.

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Expedition; RX300

air supension system comfort quite cargo space hacv system

navi system

after a lenghty time of reading all the infomation and many forums about the Touareg, I decidet to test drive one, in short very impressed. Also test drive the Porsche C V8, nice, but too stiff,too loud, for an everyday driver. I purchased the Touareg with the premium package,basically all option except 4zone a/c and rear diff lock. the air supension is great for loading. the interior looks great,much more elegant than the Porsche. the hacv system works very good even whnen it is over 100 outside seats are firm and comfy vision is excelent the exhaust is quite,unitl sprited driving,then it has a unique crackling sound the nav is a disappointment although the audio system sound good for stock the fit and finish of interior appointments are not as good as Toyota/Lexus the vehicle shout more Audi than Volkswagen much better than my 2001 x5 4.4 sport not quite refined as my Lexus LX470 a kick to drive and not one at every red light gets lots of looks

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2001 BMW X5 4.4sport 2001 Lexus LX 470

Nice looks, drives nice, good safety... they sent me a cool flashlight that plugs into the lighter slot

high maintenance; 150 bucks for an oil change (jiffy lube and the like do not have the right filters); the tire pressure monitoring system malfunctions more often than it works;the airbag system malfunctioned; there was a recall for the bolts that keep the back seats on; poor gas mileage; not much pick up; awkward sterring wheel radio controls (too many keystrokes); can't see in mirror with the back passenger middle headrest up; the back door handle works poorly; and the trunk unlock via the remote key has very limited range in comparison with the door unlock, which itself has a limited range;

this is a car with potential...now many potential headaches, but in a few years it may be the car it has been cracked up top be, once they get the kinks out...i dunno, maybe i just got a lemon I am willing to eat 2500 bucks to trade it in and get a loaded Sienna, which is not as cool, but will not have the high maintenance issues and will be reliable

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It is an awesome performer that doesn't show its stuff until you hit the open road. My other cars are an M3 and a Yamaha FJR. The Touareg is their equal in its own rhelm. When consider this car's performance in the context of its purpose, it is exhilerating.

VW's befuddlement at hi-tech equipment. The GPS is less capable than a Garmin hand-held. The display--get this!--does not display street names. VW gives excuses not solutions and even threw in "It displays only those restaurants that advertise with the data supplier." That must explain why it does not display VW dealers, too. Don't buy this. Instead purchase a Garmin portable which fits nicely in the dash bin.

A gem sold sold at a yard sale. This incredible machine is supported by a dealer network not ready for it, but, to be fair, the support is no worse than BMW's, but at least BMW knows high-end customers. If only this car were supported by Lexus...

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Expeditions; RX300.