Volkswagen Touareg Comes In For Cosmetic Surgery

Motoring Channel Staff - 29/Sep/2006

Paris, France — Volkswagen has revealed the new 2007 model Touareg 4x4 at the Paris Motor Show, sporting a new face, revised rear styling, an updated interior and will be offered for the first time with a highly responsive 257kW direct injection petrol V8 engine.

At the front, the new Touareg features a new grille, bonnet, front quarter panels and bumper sections, plus new headlight clusters with dynamic curves and aerodynamic mirrors. The rear lights, spoiler, bumper and exhaust pipes have also been modified to freshen the 4x4’s appearance.

From the side, the most noticable changes are the new alloy wheels and the aerodynamic mirrors, and a number of new colors are also available, including but not limited to Mountain Grey Metallic, Artic Blue-Silver Metallic, Sierra Red Pearl Effect and Galapagos Anthracite Metallic.

The new Touareg will feature new and revised technology, including ABSPlus and additional ESP (Electronic Stabilisation Programme) features. ABSPlus has been developed and patented by Volkswagen and is a world first. The system shortens the braking distance by up to 20% on loose driving surfaces, such as gravel, and until now has often been the bugbear of many off-road SUVs. 

Other new features have been added to the ESP, these include Active Rollover Protection (ARP), rain brake support, fading brake support and understeer control logic, which improves the turning behaviour in the event of understeer.

The market launch of the new version of the top-selling European SUV will take place at the end of November 2006 in Europe, and will be followed by its Australian launch in 2007. Equipped with over 2,300 redesigned parts, the Touareg will also be available as the first Volkswagen with an 8-cylinder direct injection gasoline-powered engine, the V8 FSI with 257kW(350hp) and 440Nm of torque.

Two other petrol engines will be offered in addition to the new V8 FSI, and they include the 3.6-litre V6 FSI worth 206kW (280hp) and the slamming 331kW (450hp) W12 engine, which is essentially comprised of two V6 engines sharing the one crankshaft.

Three diesel engines will also be offered to European customers of the new 2007 Touareg, and these include a 2.5-litre motor with 128kW of power (174hp), a 3.0-litre V6 TDI with 165kW (225hp) and the range-topping 5.0-litre V10 TDI with 230kW (313hp). Six-speed manual and automatic transmissions will be offered.

No less innovative than ABSplus is Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) with a new follow-to-stop feature: in this combination the system is referred to as Front Scan. The radar-based distance control automatically slows down and accelerates the vehicle within a previously defined range of speed depending on traffic conditions. The system now employed in the Touareg slows the car down to a complete stop in emergency situations. 

Another assistant system in the new generation Touareg is being introduced for the first time in a Volkswagen. The lane changing assistant (Side Scan) monitors the area next to and behind the Touareg, and a control lamp in the exterior mirrors warns of a possible risk of collision when changing lanes.

Volkswagen claims the new Touareg can masters tough off-road tracks and extreme tours and yet can still offer the comfort of a sedan and remarkable sportiness. Previously, this dynamic could be increased in terms of the chassis via an optional sport chassis for Touareg models with steel suspension. A sport chassis – with dynamic response in this case – is now also being added to the models with pneumatic shock suspension. 

The "Driving dynamics package with dynamic response" adds a hard spring rate to the already existing "Sport" mode of the manually and automatically controllable pneumatic shock absorption system. This increase in dynamics and safety is achieved, among other things, via reinforced stabilizers, absorbers regulated by steering wheel movement, a modified pneumatic shock absorption system and new software. Driving comfort remains just as good in normal suspension mode as with models without sport chassis.

The new model luxury SUV from Volkswagen also includes high-end entertainment. The Touareg is the first SUV in the world that can be equipped with a sound system from Danish hi-fi specialist Dynaudio. The main features of this cost option include distortion free hi-fidelity sound, 10 high-end speakers, a ten-channel amplifier and 620 Watt total output - that's big noise. There's also a new multimeter for the multifunctional display enables a detailed and now multicolor presentation of information. The display has a clear layout and now shows navigation pictograms in 3D and new features such as the Front Scan system can be perfectly presented on the multifunctional display.

There's also two new seating systems to suit different needs and budgets: basic and comfort. The comfort seating system was redesigned for the latest Touareg and features partial leather ("Cricket") and fully leather ("Nappa") seats which can be folded down to now offer a level surface between backrest and cargo floor.