Off-Road: 2014 Volkswagen Touareg TDI on Everyman Driver

[@theactionjackman1709]

I own a 2012 TDI model. There is no comparison in towing when I think of my 2008 Avalanche LTZ. I pulled at 5500 lb cabin trailer through the Blackhills in 2011 and really struggled to just keep up with the flow of traffic (but never went past a gas station). This past summer we pulled the same trailer through the Canadian Rockies and I could not believe the power the Touareg had, it pulled so much better than the Avalanche with dramatically better mileage. I highly recommend the Touareg! Thanks for the video.

[@tedrockwell4822]

Live in Alaska where I get to drive terrain like your park all the time right here by my house just to go down fishing. I've have had two Touaregs now, first was the gas v-6 it was great and after 105K decided to replace it with a 2013 TDI. It really is a great vehicle that handles the terrain and is a safe vehicle on the road. Have driven above the arctic circle in both Alaska and Canada with them and wouldn't trade for another vehicle. Good review style, keep up the good work. Try a Golf TDI at the same park and see what happens, you may be surprised.

[@everymandriver]

Ted Rockwell Welcome from Alaska and thanks for your comments. Dave

[@Tripp55]

How was your first one holding up after 105k? Was it getting expensive to maintain or still going strong?

[@Jsailor1210]

Just bought a 2016 Touareg Executive with the VR6 gas engine. Absolutely love it! Best vehicle I have ever owned! Pulls my 21 center console with ease. Can’t wait to get it off-road.

[@dieselmutt8865]

Shame on you. I've been wanting to get a Touareg TDI for my next vehicle now you just made me want one more. This is the best off road video I've seen done with the T-Reg. Good Job!

[@evoredline]

The most informative review on the Touareg yet. Thanks for breaking down the off-road mode and actually going off roading with it. I am strongly considering one of these since I drove a few different Touregs in Europe last month. They still get air suspension and locking diffs there so I was very curious to see how well this performed off road. I am a fan for sure! Thanks again

[@onefouronezero]

The VW Touareg is undoubtedly one of the best off-road luxury vehicle money can buy. It may not be a 4x4 you would want to bring off-road all the time unless you have to. I'm amazed by the simple 4WD system where you just need to switch the knob from "On-Road" to "Off-Road" and as you said the whole system automatically adjust itself. My father owns a 1st generation facelift model with a 2.5 R5 TDI engine. He never took it off-road, not even to the beach because he's too afraid. I took it to the beach once and traveled on the loose sand without switching it to "LOW" gear. Amazingly, it was able to feed traction to all four wheels on its own with just the help of the throttle. Keep it up with the video. I'd like to see more off-road car reviews from you

[@4N2IN0JA]

That car is actually worthy of having an AWD badge! Wish I could afford it, that would be my top choice plus all that torque and towing capacity!

[@birdgeekguy]

S-U-B-A-R-U Cheap reliable, and just as offroad worthy.

[@intrepidmilotic5999]

not to mention uglier,plastic interior,and very very weak engines.

[@John-hw3ds]

Id have to say that i'm impressed at what the Touareg was able to do and do it easily at that! Tires make a huge difference off road, and that had just all season street tires. Also hard to believe that little thing can tow over 7k pounds.

[@LanceJDanks]

Most understated SUV. Solid and dependable. The diesel TDI will pull a 5 bedroom house. Recently averaged 33 MPG. Not bad for a 5000 lb vehicle and the ride is incredibly smooth. It's perplexing why one would consider a behemoth GM Suburban with 15 mpg with subpar realibilty. go figure

[@tboneone4005]

@Mr. Cairo no air suspension on 2014 tdi w/ recall for diesel issue 100k warranty engine transmission and egr dpf

[@bryanhersman4037]

@Mr. Cairo I just bought a fixed 2012 TDI and now I get 4 years 48,000 miles more warranty on that stuff from the purchase date. Adblue heater is also covered now as well. Mine as 74,000 miles on it but there were choices with 100,000 for less. That put their warranty out to 148,000 miles. That covers the engine, the turbo, the entire fuel system including injectors and high pressure pumps, the entire exhaust system including the DEF and all related components, and even the ECU. Zero deductible direct from VW.

[@anthonyblucher6865]

I’ve had the 2008 TDI with low range diff locks and air suspension. It’s was a beast. I’ve currently got the 2016 TDI with the off road mode and air suspension. Such great off road vehicles and it’s amazing how many 4x4 owners laugh at them! Their loss

[@jdogwin]

Wait you had a v10??? Especially an 08?? Do you still have it? I'd kill to get my hands on it haha

[@heymoma700]

I own a 2012 V8 touareg it’s great seeing it in action like this! This car is perfect in snow and ice it manages everything really good !

[@heymoma700]

Thanks for this excellent review ! Nice work

[@surfjacobson1]

Excellent review man. Considering the Touareg can do just about everything a Range Rover can do... $40-$58k is a great price compared to the $60-$90k for a Range Rover Sport. (Range Rover isn't offered as a Diesel in North America.) Great job on the camera angles. Really shows the vehicle's ability. With a 700 mile range, that means you could driver from Seattle, WA and almost make it to Sacramento California. Or from Seattle to LA and only have to fill up 1 time. Amazing.

[@the4ofus2023]

Very impressive and I love the way you do your presentation entertaining and informative....thanks

[@infidel24]

Dave, I know I'm late to the party on this but that touareg will handle anything you throw at it out there.

[@evaldes04]

AWESOME!!!!!! Now im dying to take my touareg up to the mountains and try the downhill thing.

[@Jollyprez]

Just using the stock tires on that?

[@ReturnCatfish]

I just got one, Haven't had chance to go off road yet. This off road review gave me a good idea of how far I can push it.

[@marky0071]

I’ve had two of these 1st & 2nd gen. Excellent car if you opt for the TDI 🎉 Excellent review, man.

[@mikeeste1513]

I`m super impressed! I`m on my 5th VW (never had a Touareg!) but would totally buy one now - definitely would be worthwhile buying 2nd hand! I never thought of them as being off road capable but this did a better job than ANY SUV you`ve reviewed, in my opinion. Plus, it`s built more solidly than most & gets great MPG`s. Awesome review Dave!!

[@kevinroberts361]

They were designed for off road !!!

[@marcant2011]

"Look ma, no hands" lol Major cool points. Awesome review

[@kayemca]

Amazing review Dave...Original..you've nailed it.

[@IndyPindy]

Great car, great test. Watch out when sticking out your tongue while offroading though. Buddy of mine lost a fair bit of his tongue while going through rough terrain :)

[@brianlee9233]

I love this car a lot (especially as a diesel, pronounced die-suhl regardless of where you live).

[@drnh4444]

It steers as well? Damn that's impressive.... I wish we had these parks in the UK... Superb video. Thoroughly enjoyed watching.

[@dchawk81]

That's a LOT of torque for an SUV. Nice.

[@johnbw2597]

11:44 and 12:13 Your reaction pretty much sold this SUV to me. I like your reviews btw. Wish you much success.

[@xxshevilxx]

All these videos of Touaregs doing great off-road have them doing it on all-season radials, I'd love to see what one would do with actual off-road tires.

[@yourfast07]

Didn't like your Honda Civic review but I have to admit this one is pretty cool, in fact, that was really interesting driving. Keep it up.

[@everymandriver]

yourfast07 Thank you for giving me a second chance.

[@eakca88]

WoW Clearly made my mind up to buy a tReg with this video of yours. Cheers!

[@TravisCyprien]

wow pretty Awesome offroading. VW has come a long way.

[@leroymatthews5482]

Not bad...even with crappy all-season tires...

[@landcruiser1187]

You need to take a 2014 Land Cruiser to that park and use crawl control. And turn assist. Multi terrain select. Demo that please.

[@consciouspirate]

I thought you were going to dig for your GoPro :))

[@pablonaracena]

The second generation Touareg is the best mid size SUV ever made

[@austinsnow5917]

Keep the off road videos going.

[@castrolgtx5064]

Thanks Dave for sharing this video

[@bighibs]

Dave is that your own personal vehicle? Also how do you think it compares off road to the 2014 4runner?

[@Moisi547]

Im gonna miss this bad boy ( touareg)

[@peterbalaoro3907]

Awesome off-road review of the TDI. Wondering if the Touareg VR6 platform is capable of doing the same. Thanks Dave.

[@everymandriver]

Peter Balaoro Good question, I hope to find out... I'll probably get another Touareg in 2015 - Dave

[@intrepidmilotic5999]

This is an amazing test as usual Dave. I just wanted to add that you did not review any of the Audi SUVs,i wonder if it is possible to Review the Q5? if you search all of KZbin there are barely any Off road tests. thanks.

[@in4chandru]

Hey Dave: did you find your lost GoPro cam at the park?

[@wagonator6891]

This was a really nice revue of the Touareg. And the facial expressions when going downhill is priceless. :-) One questions thow, do you have the off road edition of the Touareg over ther?

[@BMH-xz7nh]

no

[@ClydeGebauer]

The beast I call it

[@everymandriver]

LOL BWT I would encourage you to check out this website: quotes.everymandriver.com You can see the best deals on NEW and USED cars in your area (zip code)! They promise Insider Access to Dealer Pricing in your area! I hope you find a great deal: quotes.everymandriver.com ! 🌟

[@niuhuskieguy]

Sounds like a Subaru Forester should be next up on this course.

[@78wolfgang78]

Very nice review but aren't there any Touareg's with air suspension? I've seen some reviews on youtube and none on air suspension although here in europe almost all of them have air suspension 👀

[@Quentyn73]

I like the review with few exceptions: get someone to help you with external cameras, no need to show yourself driving in one window; the shovel stunt was useless, never tell viewers "don't go anywhere". And finally, state all the upsides and downsides, otherwise it gets your vid as just an advertisement. In this instance, the huge downside is the price, the exensive to repair common rail tuned for lower parafin and sulfur diesel fuel the EU. Other than that, a great review, good articulation.

[@RiGGyS86]

Great off road review

[@kennethrathenam694]

How much better would this car be if you added the terrain response option? what else does that option bring to the table?

[@Karlz1212]

Excellent review, I didn´t know how capable VW Toureg is in the Off-Road. Do you have a day to day review?

[@birdgeekguy]

The car was originally developed to be an off roader. People kind of forgot that, so it got put into the grocery getter category for a while. Glad they kept all the off road features, though.

[@stevecrozet306]

great car. The only reason why I am not buying it is the fact that there is not a full size spare. An off rod with a biscuit spare?

[@viktorjakobsson]

Excellent review!

[@Eliyourcarguy]

Good review! I subscribed!

[@sunsurfer7818]

Mine has been extremely reliable and I have the hybrid version with even more things to go wrong. It has not been in the shop once for anything other than oil changes. VW's have received a bad rep from years past and people should shed those notions unless they own one with problems.

[@Supcharged]

7.9 inch ground clearance? That's really low for an SUV. Does it not have air suspension?

[@jeffrogers7669]

Dave, why don't you attempt to go back up the same steep hill you went down? That would be a good indication of the Touareg's climbing ability. It did seem to do well overall, but I'd like you to challenge it way more. You should test regular gas vehicles as that is what everyday drivers would buy. I wanted you to go across the "pond" like you did in the Toyota 4runner (and got stuck but muscled you way out - impressive)..... Could you get your hands on a Subaru outback 6 cylinder to test on this ORV park. I am looking at Jeep Grand Cherokee/4runner/outback for my next vehicle so if you could test them, that would be great. Love the video's!

[@everymandriver]

Jeff Rogers I wish I had more say on the type of vehicles I drive but they're random. I'm just happy to get what I get and share my experience with hundres of thousands of people each month! Thank you for watching -Dave

[@vladsaghin7644]

The Touareg is really cheap in the US, in Europe that same model would cost about 80 000 euros (110 000USD)

[@bass3587]

Any hopes for a long term review on the Toureg? I'm really interested in it and your review has almost sold me. Just a question on reliability is my only concern right now.

[@everymandriver]

SKVP Photo VW isn't sending me vehicle right now.

[@bighands69]

SKVP Photo Volkswagen has very good reliability. Now they are not as good as Toyota and Honda but they are still very good. I currently have a Land Rover Discovery and my heart has been broken with it. I have a friend who has a 2006 and I was sorry I did not buy one of those. My next Luxury off road vehicle will more than likely be a Touareg.

[@bass3587]

bighands69 Thanks for the reply. Love the video on how well it handles off-road. I would be towing a 4,000 lb boat and trailer so I think I'm safe on the tow rating. If the reliability can come close to my Chevy Avalanche then I would be happy.

[@ChristopherWalkenPUA]

the touareg did well, but I have too many friends who have had reliability problems with their volkswagens.

[@osamaejaz5642]

The only downside is the price!! :/

[@nizarnabhan7573]

I have 2014 but I never went off road yo real make me happy I never knew does very will but at less when I pass the others look like I am in jet turbo very fast I have watch my speed all the time thanks for the tips

[@curseknight5]

auto newbie questions, why do diesel engines have almost double the torque of its horsepower, and would the performance in the video be different for the petrol version of the touareg?

[@astakutafaja]

Hi! I might be wrong, but let me explain it to you how I understand it. The torque in other words is the power/ strength of the engine. Simply put, it is the force that is required to move an item around its orbit/axis, resulting in horse power (kilowatts). This result can be thus increased by either the speed of the rotation, or the torque. Diesel engines are the muscleheads, that are pretty slow but can produce lots of torque, whereas the petrol engines are quick, however weaker in terms of torque compared to the diesels. I don't think that there would be much difference in this test if he drove a petrol powered car. Hope I helped a bit at least ;)

[@TickleFingers]

Torque is the measure of twist. Horsepower is like the measure of work. A horsepower originally is the measurement of a horses ability to lift 75 kilograms 1 meter in 1 second. Horsepower is also an equation based off of torque. Horsepower = torque × RPM ÷ 5252. Diesel engines are usually undersquare meaning they have a long stroke with a smaller bore. The different rate in burn characteristics between gasoline and diesel dictate the need for a longer combustion stroke to get a more complete burn of the slower burning diesel. Diesels compress the fuel with high compression ratios until combustion occurs rather than being ignited by spark like a gasoline engine. The long stroke and differences in engine operation dictate a low rpm red line for diesels. Since horsepower is an equation based on torque the peak hp numbers will be much lower than a gasoline engine able to rev to 6500 rpm and beyond as well as other factors. Example: this vehicle specs are 240 hp @ 4000 rpms and 406 ft/lbs @ 2000 rpms. Using these figures you can calculate torque at max hp and hp at max torque. 240hp × 5252 ÷ 4000 rpm = 315.12 ft of torque at max hp @ 4000 rpms or you can equate hp available at max torque 406 ft/lbs × 2000 rpms ÷ 5252 = 154.6 hp. For fun, if this engine still managed to make 315 ft/lbs of torque at 6500 rpms the numbers change to what you might be familiar with seeing on gasoline engines. 315 ft/lbs × 6500 rpm ÷ 5252 = 390 hp (rounded). Torque is the amount of twist and horsepower is the amount of work. The horsepower is the measure of a single horse performing 33000 foot-pounds of work per minute. I recommend you look up Watts theory of horsepower for a more detailed idea of "work". Hope this made some sense. Cheers.

[@jorgeu111]

curseknight5 this one in particular is due to turbocharging that contributes the most to torque.

[@orges2270]

how much does it cost

[@paulscape72]

Fabulous cars but real off-roading in Australia means traversing rutted out tracks, taking scratches from dry scrub branches, getting mud and sand everywhere and having the ability to add lots of aftermarket gear like bull bars, bash plates, lift kits, mud tyres etc. I imagine the Touareg would be superb on fire trails but a 4wd is not needed for most of those types of trails....so whats the point? For the heavy stuff Id rather a Patrol or Landcruiser.

[@bighands69]

paulscape72 A Land Cruiser is better but not a Patrol. The Touareg is confident on and off road but I could not say the same about the Land Cruiser. Land Cruiser is amazing of road but when on the road it is average in terms of drive and comfort.

[@fredbrackely]

paulscape72 Yep, Aussie bush travel would kill it. Low-range, diff lockers, more than 7.9" of ground clearance a must.

[@xxxxjet1982xxxx]

Did you ever get your go pro camera back?

[@everymandriver]

XJet1982 x Nope

[@BTC909]

Does it come in a Reliable trim level?

[@nayomipoturaj9063]

Assume!

[@GSDrifter]

Low millage used TDI is the way to go. 2007-2009's are better off road vehicles. If you find one with air suspension, all the better.

[@mattrussell250]

Although the air suspension is incredibly unreliable! The only real advantage it gives you is a slightly raised ride height - the standard springs are just as comfy and better for off road use.

[@ludovicklaurent1358]

I really interested with vw touareg v10 TDI

[@jamocerwin5841]

Ludovick Laurent Vw's best diesel engine is the 3.0 tdi v6, and the v10 engine says they give a lot of problems the distribution chain, it loosens. I have a 3.0 v6 tdi 240, and it has plenty of power in any situation.

[@Universal.G]

When I drive, I like to drive . Anything that does stuff for me is waste of money. Self parking, blind spot checking, self driving, etc... all for lazy people.

[@Universal.G]

Great review but I'm not a fan of the vehicle.

[@LarryRichelli]

The only downside is the price....I would love to have one but way to rich for my blood!

[@GaryParks]

Not a very demanding romp. I'll happily take any US available diesel car or sportut. Modern diesels are so much nicer than gassers.

[@LarryRichelli]

Check out the KZbin video she this car and a Chevy diesel truck are back to back in a tug of war. This thing dusts the Chevy!

[@ryanbrown6233]

If I was gonna spend 50k on an offroader I'd get a ford raptor or a jeep grand cherokee

[@ib516]

Thumbs up if you want to see Dave take the Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk through the ORV park

[@NYANPASS-CHEN]

I onw a 2015 model！

[@dchawk81]

But yeah you're still supposed to steer going downhill...

[@Galaxitylczyj]

in my opinion its too expensive car for this price , I will be afraid about something happen to his body meanwhile jumping rocks and mud :(

[@BACONSTRlPS]

not even a R-line

[@markpayne160]

I'd bet my 2wd dodge (with decent tires on it) would run the rims off that kid hauler depending on their salaries!!!

[@apd7698]

sexy

[@AdrianC12345]

Downside would have to be VW'V'S catastrophic reliability ratings... You'd never get to use it since it would be in the shop so much! LoL

[@tadam25]

Well im on my 4th VW at the moment (currently have 3) and haven't had many issues. You just need to take care of them, show up to service on time and use the recommended fuel and so on.

[@mattrussell250]

I have a 2014MY Touareg. Got it just under a year ago. No problems at all and FAR more reliable than the 2011 Mercedes which I had before!

[@rcatank]

"700 miles is what diesel will get you"...... hahaha... only if you believe in VW marketing group

[@MrTheDarku]

+rcatank Well, I've done 600 miles and I'm no light foot

[@dansodorxbfan7076]

The downside of this vehicle is it will end up on the back of a tow truck. Always in the shop and a total piece of junk after the first year. Having owned two.

[@yummy1234098]

have you owned this model year or the older ones?

[@DRAGONIKification]

VW is overpriced. Cheap. And one of the worst cars I've ever owned. Bad investment.VW SUCKS.