MikeinCincy said:
Great post charlier 180. I think you basically summed up what kind of SUV the Touareg really is. Unreliable, expensive to maintain, and overall a hassle.
Thanks. There were are larger than normal percentage of Touaregs sold in 2003/2004 that many people, including Touareg owners, would say were crap. Starting with some 2005 models and beyond the issues were dramatically decreased. Sadly, the Touareg got the reputation for poor reliability early on and has been facing an uphill battle against itself. IIRC, in 2004 VW sold 27K Touaregs in the USA. In 2006 they sold just over 9K and are on track in 2007 to sell about the same. The latest revision ofthe Touareg was renamed the "Touareg 2". No doubt that was done for marketing purposes to try and distinguish itself from it's past.
A long time friend of mine is a VW Tech. When the Touaregs first came out he made a statment that is sad, funny and most of all true. He said that in some cases the Touareg is smarter than it's owner. That difference in intelligence does contribute, to some degree, to the dissatisfaction that some Touareg owners exerience. He also said that if Touareg owners would take the time to READ their owners manuals some of their initial complaints/issues/questions would never come up.
The Touareg has a number of features that are needed for customers in Europe but make no sense for North America.
For instance, when parking if one depresses the turn signal stalk then shuts off the vehicle the turn signal lamps stay lit. This has to do with the narrow streets/roads in europe and being able to see the vehicle. Great for europe but this feature is the source of more than a few questions/complaints from owners who do not read their owner manual.
Another feature is the rain sensing wipers. Nice feature except when the owner forgets to turn them off and tries to clean the windshield. More than a few Touareg owners have been slapped around by the wipers when cleaing their windshields.
VW classifies the Touareg as a "Luxury" Mid Sized SUV.
Does it do some things better than some of it's other "Luxury" competitiors?... Maybe and maybe not. I suppose it depends on one's point of view. For me, the 4Runner does everything I ask it to do at less cost (both purchase and ownership) and has been rock soild reliable.
On other automotive forums, Toyotas and other Japanese vehicles are often called "appliances" and have no "soul". Funny thing is when one looks at the poster's sig they usually own a vehicle that is not known for being very reliable. That usualy makes for amusing reading.