Thejazzpianoma about th touareg

Hey thejazzpianoma definitely keen to know anything you know about them as I have never had anything to do with VW.

All good.

Firstly VW are the biggest car company in the world (it's pretty much neck and neck with Toyota), so loads of parts are available and at a very good price if you don't buy them at the sorts of places that also sell Ferrari's.

The same apply's to servicing, it's always good with sophisticated vehicles (as all modern SUV's are) to get them serviced by someone experienced with the make/model. Luckily there are plenty of third party VW specialists around due to VW being quite popular and these are usually the best value places to use.

The other good thing about VW being so big is they invest an eye watering amount into product development and testing.

With regard to the Touareg specifically, there are several diesel options and spec will also vary. I think in your price range it will most likely come down to the R5 or the 3.0 Diesel.

The R5 is not as powerful as the 3.0 but it is perhaps the more bullet proof of the two. It should still have ample power for towing but will not give the high performance that you can get from certain Touaregs.

The other key issue to consider with the Touareg is whether you want the air suspension or not. The air suspension is definitely superior in terms of ride and levelling for towing. However, all air suspension unit's regardless of manufacturer do tend to have a fairly finite life and can be expensive to replace, especially if you don't go about it right. These units can be inspected and some idea given as to how long they may last, if they are not cleaned and the vehicle is used in the mud/dust they tend to give out earlier.

The key thing with VW's (and all modern cars really) if you want reliability is maintenance. With the R5 it is particularly important that it has been run on the correct VW spec oil. All VW's should also be running the proper pink coloured G13 coolant. If you come across one with green coolant in it, pass and move on to the next vehicle. I would also be looking for some maintenance history on the transmission and 4WD system.

Out of curiosity, how much towing are you doing?
Is this a family car that will be towing at the weekends or what is the plan exactly?

Hopefully that's enough to get you started, feel free to hit me up with questions as you go down the track. I would suggest driving one of these would be a good start, even better if you can find one where the dealer will let you try towing your loaded trailer would be ideal.

If you don't like the VW, you could also consider the Mercedes ML which has a phenomenal commercial grade diesel. The BMW may be worth a look as well. European diesel are almost all good engines. The reason is over 60 percent of their car market has been diesels for decades now. Germany in particular has had a very strong economy in this time too. Combine both of those things and you get a lot of cash available for research and development. It's no co-incidence that the modern common rail diesel as we know it today was a European invention (primarily developed by Fiat and then sold to Bosch)

Best of luck with it all.

Couple of other random thoughts.

When looking at Touareg's, if it already has a towbar fitted, check that it has the proper factory VW wiring harness. If it doesn't (and this is common place as towbar companies like to fit cheap universal bypass relays) the car won't know you have a trailer on, so won't activate the tow stability control. It can also cause some other potentially serious problems.

If you are looking seriously at one, even (especially) at a dealership. Getting a thorough inspection is pretty much a must. They are an older and very sophisticated vehicle that potentially can face some very hard work in their lifetime, so you need to get a good one. An inspection really needs to be done by a VW specialist or a VW dealer. Ideally the former. An AA or VTNZ inspection will not only be a waste of money but also potentially misleading in my opinion.

If you have any in particular on here that you have your eye on, feel free to post a link for an opinion.

I can only find petrol down here at the moment so would probably get either the 3.2L or 3.6L petrol.
I normally tow 2-4 times a week (just 10mins down tot he beach/ forest) and normally only drive 15 mins each way to work and to the horses.

you would be better off with a prado

That's weird, I can see several in Canterbury on here. I have selected VW, then Touareg then added "diesel" as my keyword. You are in Christchurch aren't you?

A prado can not tow the weight Im wanting otherwise I would just stick to my surf that I have

Yup that one above is nice. I think Im just blind. Is petrol or diesel better?

Now I know why I had my search for 3L +

You could consider petrol, I think they key advantage is potentially the purchase price and low km's. The 3.2 and 3.6 are phenomenal engines (we have a car in the family with the 3.2. The 3.6 has more torque which is what you want for towing. The R5 diesel will be more relaxed for towing though as it develops its torque at a lower rpm.

The 3.2 and 3.6 are actually very efficient engines too, you would likely be amazed at how reasonable they are on fuel, that said they will chew in to it a lot more than the diesel with the horses on.

I think I would personally go the diesel if a suitable one was available. I would also consider buying out of town if a suitable vehicle came up. Jumping on a cheap flight to look at a vehicle is well worth while when you are spending the sort of cash you are. Transport is also pretty cheap to get a car delivered and you can always get one inspected at a local VW specialist before you even look at it if need be.

Best not to engage that poster I am afraid. Sadly they just spend their days on here following me from thread to thread trying to stir. If you do a search on our two user-names you will see exactly what I am talking about.

Did you spot the one I linked to above (I ask as you posted right when I did so may have missed the post!)

well actually i have experience with a toerag as our managing director had one, cost a absolute fortune to keep on the road and nobody wants to buy or trade them, the local vw dealer couldnt fix it and it was almost given away, the vw fanboy must get $10 for every punter he stitches up

How would I find one of the vw specialists?

If you want me to continue in this thread lia20 you will need to ask cagivachick1 to leave.

Just have a google for vw servicing in your area, or you could ask the locals on here for a recommendation. Another option is to google and call the local VW club, they will likely be more in to old VW's but they should still know who is decent for late model VW's in your area.

I have a feeling one of the main Christchurch dealers is pretty good too, I have seen them advertising parts on here at very reasonable prices from time to time. Would be worth asking though as often main dealers are expensive and may not actually do that great a job.

Just as a side note, CC rating is not necessarily going to be very helpful in gauging how powerful a modern vehicle is. It depends on the technology used. To give an extreme example, we had a 1.3 Diesel Fiat car that actually had more torque and power than the 3.0 Diesel used in some early 90's Hilux's.

For your purposes the R5 2.5 should tow just fine. The 6 speed auto and plenty of torque combine well. Later european diesels tend to be smaller. For example those massive big Mercedes Sprinter vans that haul several tonnes at a time around the country are often only 2.3 litres. Likewise campervans etc hauling several tonnes.

In answer to your diesel vs petrol question, I think diesel would be my preference in a Touareg for you, but I wouldn't immediately dismiss a particularly good deal on a petrol one.

Hey OP, we have a Touareg R5 2.5 in the family. Bought with 130,000kms, now has 200,000km. Was tuned for more power when we got it. Only work it has needed is light bulbs and tyres. It is fully loaded with air suspension etc. Such a dream to drive. Tows our bloody heavy jet boat with ease. Great vehicles.

We have 3.0 v6 tdi air suspension at 145,000k and it is a amazing SUV

Jazz, go to Wordpress and start a free blog, then copy paste your VW fiat info in for future prosperity! That way you can just point folk there if they're interested and maybe avoid the bullshit here.

Op, from what read you need 3 tonne tow capacity but only short distances, not like you're towing them all over the country.
Petrol is an option, usually they're far cheaper to buy in big SUV so money saved. Whilst towing you'll use lots of gas but it only short. Rest of time you'll only use lots if you've a heavy foot. Generally cheaper to service and less to breakdown, though I'll let jazz be judge on that.
The purchase savings can buy a shit load of petrol!
I assume you'd use it as main transport rest of time? This is where a more sophisticated thing like the toureg scores hands down over Utes and SUV derivatives. Much better at being a car.
Local mechanic just bought a high miles petrol V8 BMW X5. His view is that it's open road on his commute, petrol was so much cheaper to buy than a diesel one, and much simpler to service. Helps when you're a mechanic though!

Lia20-The Touareg as a NEW vehicle got pretty good reviews and reliability stats in just about every version available.
With the dollar being so darn strong against the Euro for a year or so we were able to get second hand imports in from Europe/UK.So stuff like this has come flooding in.
The issue with UK imports is underbody corrosion. Britain uses a horrible combination of salt and grit on their roads that hammers the underside of cars driven in snow. If there is fresh underseal/paint underneath then you need to know why.
This ONLY applies to second hand imports from Europe-specifically Britain.
I would also be asking how theTouareg you are interested in ages.
What does go wrong with that model as they get a few years on.
By the number of happy owners and unhappy customers here in NZ it seems that either its a random scattering of faulty Touareg 's here in NZ (maybe even the same vehicle recycled) OR perhaps one model is an issue whereas others are reliable nails that last forever.
Cross referencing to Audi products and other VW's with the same drivetrain might help.

If want a stump puller get a V10 deisel . one

A Diesel V10 would be neat. It would need a manual gearbox conversion though.

No, pull out all the VW transmission and fit a Allison auto in there instead, a lot cheaper easier and simpler to fix than that VW rubbish.