Volkswagen Touareg 2021 review: Wolfsburg Edition

Volkswagen's current styling is an object lesson in how to do a family design. It doesn't stand out too much but you know one when you see it. The front has a lot of horizontal lines to broaden its stance but being such a big car it also lowers it, visually at least.

The test example is very black. It reminds me of the description of Hotblack Desiato's ship in The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and has some real stealth bomber vibes. Sadly matt black isn't an available option to get that idea over the line. It's clean and crisp and very, very elegant.

Volkswagen's current styling is an object lesson in how to do a family design.

The Touareg Wolfsburg is limited to 'Pure White', 'Deep Black Pearl Effect', 'Antimonial Silver Metallic' and the Wolfsburg-only 'Midnight Blue Metallic.' All but white cost $2100.

The cabin is awash with premium materials and with that giant touchscreen, has a proper from-the-future aesthetic. Again, there's no avant-garde in here, it's just clean and straightforward and everything looks right. I'm wracking my brains for a criticism, but I can't even find a trivial one. 

The Touareg is a big boy, but surprisingly, only seats five. I say surprisingly because I confidently told my mother that I would pick up her, my father, my sister, her husband and their two kids from the airport. Something made me go and check and I quickly retracted the offer to move my sister's family. 

The five seats it does have are very comfortable and the wide back seat is a boon for the middle passenger because one can actually fit. If their feet are small enough, the flat-topped transmission tunnel means the footwells don't have to accommodate extra extremities. The back seats also get their own vents and various controls.

You get cupholders front and rear, bottle holders in the doors and a big console box.

The boot is a massive 810 litres (VDA) with the back seat slid all the way forward. Drop the seatbacks and you have 1800 litres. With the seats in 'normal' mode, you have somewhere between 500 and 600 litres, which is a lot.

Yes, it's big, but there are lots of things to make life easier. For a start, the air suspension can lower the car at the touch of a boot-mounted button to make loading/unloading easier. The million cameras and sensors also make it easier to get it in and out of tight spaces (or any space, really) and all the doors open wide for easy entry and egress. 

Lots of glass means lots of easy sight lines, so despite its near five metre length, it doesn't feel that big to drive around.

As my colleague Richard Berry sagely noted in his review of the V8 R-Line last year, the Touareg might be pricey, but it's stacked with more safety gear than the Bentley Bentayga with which it shares a lot of its underpinnings.

The Touareg scored a maximum five-star ANCAP assessment in 2018, and you get six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB, reverse AEB, reverse cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera, around-view cameras, blind-spot monitoring, lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control.

The Touareg might be pricey, but it's stacked with more safety gear than the Bentley Bentayga.

The forward AEB works at high and low speeds and also detects pedestrians.

There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether points for baby seats.

The V6 turbo-diesel's official combined cycle figure comes in at 7.5L/100km. In a week of mostly urban running we got 10.1L/100km, which isn't bad going and lands just outside my seat-of-the-pants 30 per cent rule. From its 90 litre tank, you'll still get over 850km between fills on those figures and if you drive it less enthusiastically than I did, you'll probably get closer.

The V8 will clear the tank (officially) at the rate of 8.7L/100km and Richard's similarly urban week with that car yielded 11.6L/100km.

The V6 turbo-diesel's official combined cycle figure comes in at 7.5L/100km.

Volkswagen has a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty and an assured price servicing regime. When you return the Touareg every 12 months/15,000km, you'll pay between $499 and, er, $1252 per service. Over the first five services you'll pay $3619 for an average of $723. Ouch.

If, however, you pay up front, you'll reduce the overall cost to $2600 for five services (averaging out at $520, saving $1018 over the period) or $1600 for three (saving $267). Still not cheap, but a solid improvement, especially over five years.