Post by CALL OR TEXT 778-712-3135 on Feb 21, 2011 15:08:23 GMT -8
2011 Volkswagen Touareg Hybrid - Short Take Road Test
Not what you’d call the most cost-effective option.
BY EDDIE ALTERMAN, PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANO
February 2011
www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/11q1/2011_volkswagen_touareg_hybrid-short_take_road_test
After a quick, horrified look at the pricing sheet, you might assume that Volkswagen wants to keep buyers away from its Touareg hybrid and steer them into a Touareg TDI. The hybrid’s base price is $12,615 higher than that of VW’s crusading, hyper-efficient diesel and just $7290 short of a Porsche Cayenne S hybrid’s. But spend any amount of time in this resculpted mega-Dub with the dual-source powertrain, and you’re left marveling at how VW has managed to integrate so much technology—the cause of many a Veyron-like moment of stupefaction—into something that costs just $61,385.
Because what the Touareg hybrid does is make good on the much-hyped but never-before-delivered promise of the performance hybrid, the ol’ “V-8 power with V-6 efficiency!” canard. Unlike the Lexus and BMW leprechauns struggling to simultaneously maximize mpg and acceleration, the VW’s achievements can be summed up concisely: 0 to 60 in 5.9 seconds and an EPA combined fuel-economy rating of 21 mpg (only 1 mpg less than the Touareg TDI’s).
Not what you’d call the most cost-effective option.
BY EDDIE ALTERMAN, PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARC URBANO
February 2011
www.caranddriver.com/reviews/car/11q1/2011_volkswagen_touareg_hybrid-short_take_road_test
After a quick, horrified look at the pricing sheet, you might assume that Volkswagen wants to keep buyers away from its Touareg hybrid and steer them into a Touareg TDI. The hybrid’s base price is $12,615 higher than that of VW’s crusading, hyper-efficient diesel and just $7290 short of a Porsche Cayenne S hybrid’s. But spend any amount of time in this resculpted mega-Dub with the dual-source powertrain, and you’re left marveling at how VW has managed to integrate so much technology—the cause of many a Veyron-like moment of stupefaction—into something that costs just $61,385.
Because what the Touareg hybrid does is make good on the much-hyped but never-before-delivered promise of the performance hybrid, the ol’ “V-8 power with V-6 efficiency!” canard. Unlike the Lexus and BMW leprechauns struggling to simultaneously maximize mpg and acceleration, the VW’s achievements can be summed up concisely: 0 to 60 in 5.9 seconds and an EPA combined fuel-economy rating of 21 mpg (only 1 mpg less than the Touareg TDI’s).
