Who Has a Touareg?
 

Anyone?
Thinking about picking up a used one.

John

Heard nothing but bad things.

+1. They're pretty much all that is bad with VAG autos.

I keep hearing nightmare stories about VW/Audi vehicles. I have owned/leased 4 VW's and 2 Audi's and have found them to be great cars. I currently have an 03 Audi A4Q that is proving to be a great car through 66,000 miles. i had an A6 previously that ran 200,000 miles and needed no unusual service work, just oil changes and some wear parts.

A few negative experiences seem to be made into a huge problem. I know all car makers buils some lemons and some dealers are less than qualified but by doing almost EVERYTHING to my own cars most of these "Dealer Problems" are avoided.

I tend to agree. If you start looking at actual complaint reports you find people bashing a car because the outside temperature gauge is broken, or a normal wear item "wears out"... Some cars, like our Land Rover Discovery, have legitimate problem areas, but we avoid the dealership in favor of an independent shop who seems to fix things right the first time. YMMV.

On that note I personally know only one guy who owned a Touareg. He had so many issues with it the first 6 months of ownership, issues the dealer could not set right, the dealership let him exchange it for a Jetta wagon. He's had no problems with the Jetta so far (1+ year).

used VAG are a nightmare. Avoid at all costs!!

just turned in the wife's at the end of the lease. i freaking miss that vehicle. no problems to speak of other then early tire/brake wear(could be her fault). i expect gas prices to rise so we got a tiguan

One of my neighbors has a 2004 Touareg that I work on occassionally for him. He has about 80,000 miles on it so far. The only things that have come up so far is the alternator bearings went out and just recently he is getting bad MAF sensor codes. I think that is because he took it to the last Burning Man festival when it was one big dust bowl. Other wise just normal maintenance like brake pads and rotors. He tows a 2500-3000 lb. trailer with it almost daily too.
His previous car was an Audi All Road. What a P.O.S. that was! The dealer bought it back from him because it was such a lemon.

Volkswagen needs to get it's scheize together. I have a '97 Jetta that I bought two years ago with 80,000 miles. Within the first three months of ownership I spent $2200 on repairs! The engine blew an oil seal and lost all the oil, the heater core BLEW UP in traffic, the electric engine cooling fans died....

VW's are basically plastic crap. Very nice driving plastic crap...but plastic crap nonetheless. I like VW cars, and I will consider one in the future, but listen: after this latest experience with this Jetta...I will pay a LOT of attention to Consumer Reports magazine. They rate the Toureg as probably the WORST car that Volkswagen has ever built! That doesn't make total sense. VW built a plant in Pennsylvania and started making Rabbits in 1980; almost immediately the quality dropped. No rust problems, but the cars weren't as good as the real Rabbits [Mk 1 Golf] from Germany. Eventually VW sold the plant to Chrysler, and opened a plant in Quebla, Mexico. From 1988 on, the Jetta's that this place produced were ATTROCIOUS! Peeling paint, doors that didn't work, ceiling panels that fell down... the cars were terrible! On a par with a typical American car. Not a good German car-

Touregs are produced in Leipzig, Germany. This is East Germany, but the factory is the place that produced the Carrera GT. And it is the place where the Cayenne is produced, along with the Audi Q7 SUV. I don't think there is a problem with morale or motivation among the workers at this plant; yet the Cayenne and Q7 don't seem to have the same quality control problems.

?

N!

I'm not sure about the quality but the V10 TDI sounds like it would be a brute.

+1 :d

The V10 TDI is an animal. A friend of mine has one as a company car with which he commutes between Zurich and Munich.

He averages 220 kmh on those runs (early in the morning and late at night) and I have accompanied him once or twice. Rock solid. Ridiculous power and torque. As comfortable as an expensive brothel. I have no idea what the complaints are about. It's basically a Cayenne with a better (diesel) engine.

Wife has a 2006 Mark 5 Jetta, 42K miles with absollutely no problems. Fit and finish are first rate. She loves the car , maybe better than the 1983 Audi Coupe GT she put over 200K miles on.

Stay away from the 2004 model as there were quite a few first model year issues. We had a 2004 Touareg that VW ended up replacing with a 2006 which has been trouble free.

We bought my wife's 2003 New Beetle Turbo new. Other than some nagging headlight/tailight issues, it's been rock solid.

And the turbo's nice! :)
-Z-man.

But you're still driving a beetle. Do you keep flowers in the vase?:D I kid, I kid.....

I have not owned a Toureg. I currently own a 1 year old 2008 GTi 4 door with a 6 speed. It has given me NO greif over 10,000 miles. In fact, it is a very well appointed, practical, fun, sporty car.

I have owned scores of water-cooled VW's over the years starting with a 1975 Scirrocco. They have ALL been fun, ultra reliable, and safe.

Some people have "bad luck" with Volkswagens. I don't.

Mike

Says the man with the mini van...:p

Absolutely! Actually, there are three plush flowers -- one on the dash, a big flower "sitting" in the back seat, and one on the rear deck looking out the back window. If you'd like, I can take pictures of these...

Further, there are flowers and lady bugs on the decorative license plate front and back.

Um, did I mention that this is the wife's car? Yeah, I did mention that.

But you're still driving a mini van. Do you have like 10,000 cup holders for all those sippy cups? Is there a built in diaper changing station and a holder for all the soccer balls? You must be the life of the party when you pick up your kids from school - bet you're the envy of all the other ladies there... Must make you feel totally emasculated. :D I kid, I kid.

-Z

Z, why not see if you can pluck out the flower and replace it with a mini torque wrench. Ya never know when you need to tighten a nut. ;)