Used 2013 Volkswagen Touareg Consumer Reviews
2013 Touareg TDI
cambino123, 10/09/2012
TDI Executive 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
38 of 38 people found this review helpful
I purchased the Treg TDI 2 weeks ago. I was looking for a high performance machine (240HP 406lb torque) that returns high MPG. I just returned from a 400 Mile road trip and still have more than half a tank to empty. The engine makes a brilliant rumble and the turbo sounds so nice at low speeds. I have the saddle brown leather which is like a baseball glove. The dashboard wood grain is so luxurious and classy, it makes my previous Lexus GS seem like a toy. This car is very well built and the construction is solid. It stands out on the road in a sea of RX350's. This is truly a dreamy SUV. Looking forward to reviewing it again 1 year from now.
I like it better than my ML350 and Q5
tvevans1, 09/24/2012
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
41 of 42 people found this review helpful
I have about 2000 miles on the vehicle and I am very pleased to date. I hope writing this review doesn't change things! I have owned numerous Audi's (A6 and Q5) and still have two Mercedes (M Class and E Class) but this is my favorite vehicle so far. Probably because it's my first diesel and I am averaging over 30mph with 70% non-highway and 30% highway driving. The power is awesome and the engine is very smooth. It is unbelievably quiet inside, no road or wind noise. It drives more like a SUV than a crossover but still has a car feel. Steering is very tight, turning radius excellent, handling outstanding. The brakes are good but have a little spongy feel. Not sure on reliability.
Love my Tourareg Executive!
vwbmwmbguy60, 03/26/2013
VR6 Executive 4dr SUV AWD (3.6L 6cyl 8A)
18 of 18 people found this review helpful
This is my 2nd Tourareg, my first was a 2007. I bought the overloaded Executive V6 White/Cornsilk. I love all the enhancements they have made since 07. The build quality is exceptional and I have actually used most of the gadgets it comes with. It has a nice sporty look, 20" tires and it gives you great confidence while you drive, I feel safe and sound and in great comfort at all times. It feels like a completely different vehicle from my 07, much more refined and diginified. I just came out of a 2012 BMW X5 Diesel which I loved (this is my 60th car). I also have a 13 MB C63 Coupe and 13- BMW Z4 2.8 and I find myself driving this car as my daily driver. Huge bang for the buck! $$
Best SUV Diesel in North America that provides excellent gas mileage.
flatbudget, 02/01/2013
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
17 of 17 people found this review helpful
Purchased my 2013 TDI LUX a week ago. Been very pleased with the truck. Traded both my 2005 F250 Powerstroke truck and my VW JSW TDI. The torque is phenomenal and it tows my 2005 Custom Laser Boat with 496 HO mercruiser stern drive. ~5000 lbs. boat and trailer combined. I love every feature this SUV offers. Towing my boat on Sport mode keeps the RPM in its maximum torque values. Again, another german engineering at its best. The mileage per gallon either towing or around town beats any gas engines out there. Reliability and longevity of a diesel is absolutely uncontested.
Steering Wheel Shake
shakytouareg, 08/27/2013
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
23 of 24 people found this review helpful
I bought a 2013 Touareg TDI Lux a month ago and it has been in the shop for 17 days with an irreparable steering wheel oscillation. It is still in the shop. So far VWoA has advised the local dealer to try the following: road force balance all wheels, swap wheels from another car, change all four tire to Michelin Latitudes, replaced front drive shafts and replace steering rack. None have remedied the problem. Other owners have reported the exact same issue and have had difficulty getting satisfactory resolution. Search for "Touareg steering problem" to find more. Or go to ww.touaregsteeringshake.com. I don't any more hassle, I just want a new car.
VW should be selling more of these ...
early74b, 12/14/2012
VR6 Sport 4dr SUV AWD w/Navigation (3.6L 6cyl 8A)
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
Getting this Touareg was a big step up from the '09 VW Routan SEL that I traded in for it as I no longer needed the 3rd row but wanted something a bit more luxurious, etc. and this SUV fits the bill! Very solid build quality, exceptional navi/voice controls, upscale digital info screens (both between the front gauges and main screen) and VW's leatherette 'feels' and acts just like real leather although perforated to be cool during summer. Tons of room in rear seats (slide back 6" for more leg room) and ride, power, smooth 8-speed trans all excellent. Executive class cruiser! Test drive other mid-size SUV's and then drive one of these and you'll see the difference --
Lots of Car for the Money
tx_reg, 12/12/2012
TDI Executive 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
18 of 19 people found this review helpful
I'm not gonna lie...$60,000 is not a cheap car by any means. However, when you stack it up against its competitors such as the BMW x5, Mercedes ML, Range Rover Sport, etc. it turns out that the Touareg has value on its side. Each of those can easily cost $10,000+ more that than the Touareg. I have owned several Acuras, BMWs and Lexus models over the years and this feels like a more solid car than any of them. Everyone that has ridden with me since I bought it comments on how heavy, solid and substantial that it feels. That said, it is still pretty nimble for an SUV of its size and weight. It is a little bumpy around town (but hey, it's an SUV) but it's like a dream on the highway.
Flawed Beauty
Alemaine, 03/09/2016
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
9 of 9 people found this review helpful
Review is for my 2013 TDI LUX: Took a while due to its numerous quirks, but I love this vehicle. This vehicle has a personality; the way you're zany friend has personality, the one with the full lips and incredible body. The athletic one who can beat you to the top of the hill in a foot race without breathing hard, and best you in a swim out to the old raft moored in the middle of the lake. However, this friend will sometime confuse Thursday for Friday, or give you the wrong time and the wrong address for the party thrown in your honor, tell you they absolutely can install the new software upgrade you need, and on the day tell you they don't have it and you don't really need it. But hey, isn't this a beautiful day? In other words, ...the entertainment system is pretty dismal. Most of it works albeit a little clumsily. Streaming music via bluetooth works well with Android an iphones, but what a pain in the ass to connect an ipod; it's like 6 steps, and 6 more steps as soon as you turn the engine off. counterintuitively, you do this through the PHONE soft keys. And your HDD and SD inputs store music alphabetically, and there is no way around that other than to mix. This means you cannot listen to albums in original order. You cannot search for artists or genres or albums, but only for songs, and then limited to just the 5 listed on the scroll bar on the touch screen. If you have an extensive collection of tunes, you won't be saying, "Hey, I'm gonna play "Black Dog" by Zeppelin," because there's no way to find it. No itunes interface, no play lists or any kind, just the very strubborn German rule of A-Z only. Don't understand why VW doesn't get the importance of this kind of thing, but they don't. Also, the amplifier is vastly underpowered and the speakers are below average for what in all other aspects is a luxury vehicle. I spent $800 on an after-market amp, and I'm very happy now with the sound. Not over the moon estatic, but very happy. So, I like my friend, but some days I wish they were more thoughtful and less selfish and would actively search for ways to make nice and try harder to gain my admiration. On the other hand, my friend is very good at what they're good at, such as: The fit and finish is superb. Solid. Touareg LOVES it some highway. Quiet Very surefooted in the rain and snow. Warms up quickly. Wonderful torque. Extremely comfortable seats front and rear, lots of leg room. Corn silk beige in mine is beautiful, easy to clean. Decent gas mileage. Current price for diesal at Costco is $1.83 a gallon. Range is almost 700 miles to a tank. Car is understated but beautiful. Deisal engine should last half a million miles, if California and the EPA lets me keep it. Yeah, I coulda bought a Lexus or a Merecedes, but I don't think I'd be this enamored.
- Safety
- Technology
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
- Value
Mixed Bag (II)
cpmariner, 02/06/2014
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
12 of 13 people found this review helpful
Overall, this excellent car is very comfortable (plenty of room for a 6' 4" man), amazingly powerful, highly maneuverable, great fuel economy, and really fun to drive. My wife fell in love with it, and her Lexus 350 GS is rapidly gathering dust in the garage. However, at 3,000 miles I'm beginning to worry about reliability. The first to go was the power seat memory -recently fixed. More serious, though, is an intermittent "roaring" noise from under the hood. To me, it seems to be the engine cooling fan running at 100% for no apparent reason. But the dealer's techies are sure that it's power steering-related and requires no "fix". Sounds like code for "we don't know" to me. We'll see. (Later, after 10,000 miles) Obviously, the thing most on my mind is the resolution of VW's emissions cheat. Apparently settlements are in progress for the 2.0 liter diesel models, but for the 3.0 liters - like mine - the jury's still out. I hate this, because the more I drive the car, the more I like it. But I fear that any "fix" VW might come up with will affect performance, mileage, or both. (If not to improve performance/mileage, why else would they have done it?) Likewise, I can't reasonably imagine that any cash compensation will really cover the loss of value, no matter what VW says. In any event, I'd hate to give up the car... unless a "fix" results in a poor performance, low mileage Panzer. Otherwise, that roaring noise I previously reported turned out to be exactly what a commenter on my previous review pointed out: a normal and necessary filter cleaning apparatus. I'm just surprised that none of those "VW Certified" technicians at the dealership were ignorant of it. Minor electronic glitches persist. The most annoying - although it sometimes makes me laugh when it happens - is that the automatic driver's seat retraction (the seat's supposed to move backward automatically when the engine is shut down and the driver's door opened, to allow for easier exit) sometimes gets "confused", and moves forward instead of backward. It's comical, really... like the car is annoyed with me and wants to crush me up against the steering wheel. (It's easily stopped by hitting #1 setting on the pre-set seat positions panel.) I've also come to be less pleased with steering performance. It's not quite as stable as I'd originally thought, particularly during long, sweeping curves at medium speeds. I do have to "saw" the steering wheel a little bit during such curves to stay on track. Some have said that the Touareg is a "Cayenne in drag", and that's true in many respects. But I recently had occasion to drive a Cayenne, and the better steering performance was noticeable. However, I don't think an extra $5K to $10K for better steering through sweeping curves would be approved by my wallet. In city driving, the Touareg's steering is fine, with an especially tight steering radius for getting in and out of parking spots. (All that said, my wife recently bought a 2016 Mercedes GLC but still "steals" my Touareg whenever she can :-) So overall, I still enjoy the Touareg enormously and look forward to driving it. The highway gas mileage is "as advertised" (close to 30mpg, as measured) and it's a very, very comfortable vehicle for long distance driving, particularly if you're tall. Occasional back seat passengers often comment about the extra leg room as opposed to the competition. The passenger seat back goes down almost to a sleeping position (almost flat), and that's a bonus for shared long distance driving. All-around visibility is very good. Stability in windy conditions is very good. Pick-up is very, VERY good... particularly helpful for passing, highway entrance ramps, and for a short burst to escape those "awkward" high speed traffic situations created by the crazy zoomies we all know about. If I were the "protestor" sort, I might put on a sandwich board saying "Please Don't Take My Touareg Away!" and march outside the EPA headquarters.
- Performance
- Interior
- Comfort
- Reliability
The Curious Case Of Diminishing Milage
claudestouareg, 01/26/2014
TDI Lux 4dr SUV AWD (3.0L 6cyl Turbodiesel 8A)
10 of 11 people found this review helpful
Our bran new 2013 Lux TDI gave us astonishing 33 mpg trips on secondary highways at around 60mph. Now with 7,000 miles on the odo we can't get even 28mpg under the same conditions. When we started noticing the loss of mpg we started taking extra precautions not to waste diesel but to no avail. This car is getting at least 10% less mileage at 7,000 miles than it did bran new. Anybody else experience this??