We kick off 2024 with our experiences with the lightly refreshed Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, the flagship version of the company’s flagship model, the absolute summit of the brand. The Touareg was launched way back in 2002 to get VW into the all-important SUV sector. Now in its third generation, it’s actually designated as a ‘mid-size’ SUV in auto-industry terms, although by European standards it clearly sits at the upper end of the scale.
As it stands, the Touareg has more in common with its close mechanical cousins, the Audi Q8, Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus, than it does with any other VW, even its (smaller) SUVs. That is to say that it prioritises plushness, performance and comfort over any sense of ‘utilitarian mobility’. For instance, switch to ‘sport’ mode – which adds extra boost from the electric motor – and the interior lighting scheme transforms the cabin into a Chippenham nightclub, all lairy red and black. It’s not subtle.
In R eHybrid form, at the very top of the VW product tree, this means you’re looking at an £80,000 car, fully laden with an acronymic blizzard of options to assist with progress on and off the road, from highways to parking garages. Truth is, you need a fair bit of help to guide the big Touareg through cities with any degree of precision, such is the scale of this 4.9m-long machine (well over 2m wide including wing mirrors).
Powering all this is a petrol V6 linked to an electric motor and battery pack; the latter gives an electric-only range of around 30 miles. As with all plug-in hybrids, a projected and practical use case is to charge at home for regular short trips, keeping the ICE on hand for longer journeys. All well and good, but the fact remains that you’ll be hauling around 3,000kg of largely redundant technology on the off chance you’ll need to run to the shops as well as traverse a massive sand dune on the same afternoon.
Like many big SUVs, the Touareg offers occupants a sense of impervious detachment from the world, swathed in a layer of technology that cossets, entertains and occasional infuriates (touchscreen-only controls for the heating and aircon, for example). A power output of 455hp means that performance is never lacking, although the aforementioned sport mode ensures everyone on board is well aware of your profligacy.
The world of hybrid SUVs currently offers no half measures. In fact, it’s something of a shock to delve into VW’s current line-up and discover that the brand makes no fewer than eight different SUVs, the T-Roc, Taigo, T-Cross, Tiguan, Tiguan Allspace, the electric ID.4 and ID.5 and the flagship Touareg. Over the Atlantic, there’s also the even larger Atlas and Atlas Sport.
How much longer can this Swiss Army knife approach to car design and engineering survive? The Touareg and its ilk sit at the peak of the auto industry’s imminent tipping point; at some point in the not-too-distant future, battery tech will have sufficiently evolved to make small electric cars a truly viable economic proposition. The current glut of huge hybridised and electric SUVs demonstrates that we’re not there yet. Sure, cars like the Touareg demonstrate that you can have it all in one package, but the costs are high for everyone.
Volkswagen Touareg R eHybrid, from £80,710, Volkswagen.co.uk
