VW Touareg (2010 / 2011) revealed

Volkswagen has revealed the 2010 VW Touareg

It’s not too hard to work out we’re coming up to one of the major motor shows on the calendar. The reveals are starting to speed up – this time with the Volkswagen Touareg in it’s new clothes. But it’s not just new clothes the Touareg is wearing, there’s lots more going on under the skin as well.

A bit longer than the original, the 2010/2011 Touareg has had a major visual overhaul. It gets the latest VW corporate grill and probably most significantly it’s 200kg lighter than the old model. That will help with VW’s claim of a 20% improvement in economy.

In the UK the new Touareg will come with a choice three of ver different powerplants. Of most significance is the VW Touareg Hybrid which gets a 326bhp 3.3 litre supercharged V6 mated to a 46bhp electric motor. When both kick in the Touareg Hybrid will have 375bhp at it’s disposal and 428lb/ft of torque. That translates to around 6.3 seconds to 60mph and yet still manages an average 34.4 mpg. It can also do the ‘Electric Only’ trick at up toi 30mph for silent running. Should be good for mowing down a few unwary pedestrians.

The first diesel option is a 3.0 litre V6 with 238bhp , and 8-speed auto ‘box and  stop/start that delivers 38.1mpg and CO2 emissions of 195g/km. The top-end diesel gets a 4.2 litre V8 with 337bhp (to replace the outgoing, heavy as a bucket of lead, diesel V10) which will get to 60mph in under 6.0 seconds and give 31.0mph.

As we expect to see when the 2011 Porsche Cayenne gets revealed, VW has dropped the low-ratio ‘box in the Touareg and replaced it with an eight-speed torque converter auto as standard. This ‘box has a very short first ratio which is supposed to give some of the grunt lost by dropping the low ratio ‘box.

However, the fact that VW have chosen to offer the 3.0 litre diesel ‘Escape’, which gets a 6 speed auto ‘box instead of the 8-speed, gets reduction gearing, locking centre and rear diffs and a traction management system would indicate that they don’t think the new setup is up for the task of being a ‘Workhorse’.

There’s a gallery of photos below of the 2010 Touareg and all the VW bumph in the Volkswagen Touareg 2010 Press Release. No word on prices, but expect the Touareg to start at around £37k when it hits showrooms in August.

By Cars UK