The 2011 Volkswagen Touareg represents the luxury SUV's first full redesign since it debuted a decade ago. Under the hood, the new VW Touareg offers a choice of three engines. Along with a net output of nearly 400 horsepower that allows the Touareg Hybrid to sprint to 60 mph from a standstill in just 6.2 seconds according to Edmunds testing, the hybrid powertrain provides a combined fuel economy estimate of 21 mpg. The 2011 Touareg's exterior styling is taut and crisp, with more pronounced character lines and wheel arches.
Body Styles, Trim Levels, and Options
The 2011 Volkswagen Touareg is a five-passenger midsize SUV that's available in four main trim levels: Sport, Lux, Executive and Hybrid. All but the Hybrid can be had with either gasoline V6 ("VR6") or turbodiesel ("TDI") V6 power.
The Lux adds 19-inch wheels, a huge "panoramic" power sunroof, heated sideview mirrors, walnut cabin accents, leather upholstery, 12-way power front seats (with power lumbar support for the driver), driver memory presets and power rear seat releases.
Moving up to the Executive adds a corner office (just kidding), 20-inch wheels, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, keyless ignition/entry, rear park assist and a Dynaudio premium sound system.
The Hybrid comes loaded with all the aforementioned along with a power-adjustable steering column, passenger memory presets, passenger power lumbar seat support and metal door-sill plates.
Powertrains and Performance
An eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive are standard on every 2011 Volkswagen Touareg. The Hybrid features a supercharged, direct-injection 3.0-liter V6 gasoline engine paired with an electric motor. EPA fuel economy estimates for the VR6 stand at 16 mpg city/23 mpg highway and 19 mpg combined, while the TDI is rated at an impressive 19 city/28 highway and 22 combined. These represent improvements of 2-4 mpg over the previous Touareg VR6 and TDI. The Hybrid rates 20 city/24 highway and 21 combined.
Properly equipped, the Touareg (any trim level) can tow 7,700 pounds, which is more than most competitors.
Safety
Every Volkswagen Touareg comes standard with antilock disc brakes (with brake assist), stability and traction control, hill hold assist (to prevent roll-back when you stop on a steep incline), front-seat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags.
Most surfaces in the Touareg's interior are soft-touch, and the hard surfaces feel smooth and substantial. Cargo capacity is 32 cubic feet with the rear seats up and 71 cubic feet when they're folded.
Driving Impressions
We recorded a good 121-foot stopping distance with the heaviest Touareg, the Hybrid.
That said, we've always enjoyed the Touareg. Now we've driven our first example of the new, second-generation Touareg, this time with VW's first hybrid powertrain.
Doesn't VW already have a high-mileage powertrain option for the Touareg? Yes, it does: in late 2008, VW introduced the current 3.0-liter V-6 TDI engine, which provides the outgoing Touareg with much more impressive fuel economy, lower emissions, and a more reasonable price than the outrageous V-10 TDI. Until VW releases EPA fuel economy numbers for the hybrid powertraink, we can only guess about the second half of that claim, but we're in agreement about VW's V-8 power claim after some time behind the wheel of the 2011 Touareg Hybrid in Italy. VW chose to pair the formidable 3.0-liter direct-injection supercharged V-6 engine we've recently come to love in Audi's S4 and A6 models with an eight-speed automatic transmission and an electric motor for the Touareg Hybrid. Since the electric motor is mounted between the engine and transmission in a parallel system, there's never an electric whine when the Touareg is moved by the motor alone. 400 pounds lighter
Aside from the slightly perceptible shift from electric to gas power, we only noticed one other flaw with the Touareg.
