Volkswagen Touareg 2021 review: V8 TDI R-Line

The V8 TDI R-Line (you’ll also see it called the 310TDI, too) is the king of the Volkswagen Touareg castle, the mothership of the fleet and also the most expensive at $136,490 plus on-road costs. 

That’s about $55k more than the entry Touareg, which makes it sound overpriced, but it’s not - not when you consider the V8 TDI R-Line shares so much with the $340,000 Bentley Bentayga, which is overpriced and has way less standard features and advanced safety tech than the Volkswagen.

Let’s talk about those standard features. For starters, the V8 TDI R-Line is fitted with two big packs. 

There’s the Innovision Package which brings the giant 15.0-inch media display, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, head-up display and 30-colour ambient lighting. 

Inside is a 15.0-inch media display and 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster.

Then there’s the Sound & Comfort Package which adds surround-view cameras, electric steering wheel adjustment, 18-way power front seats, heated front seats and outboard rear seats, four-zone climate control and a 14-speaker Dynaudio sound system.

The V8 TDI also comes with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, R-Line Soul Black Savona leather upholstery, privacy glass, LED headlights and an auto tailgate with gesture control. 

Those 21-inch wheels are standard, too, and so is air suspension, drive modes and of course all-wheel drive.

The V8 TDI R-Line comes standard with 21-inch alloy wheels.

Then there’s the night vision – also standard.

As far as options go, there are only a couple for the V8 TDI R-Line: a panoramic sunroof ($3000), which was fitted to our car, and metallic or pearl-effect paint ($2100). Our test car had the standard white paint. 

Rivals? Yep, the Land Rover Discovery SDV6 HSE Luxury, the BMW X5 M50i and the closely related Audi Q7 50 TDI.

I always want to give Volkswagens a friendly punch in the shoulder and tell them to lighten up – they always look so serious, but also sporty, refined and they’re probably really organised and have done their Christmas shopping already, even for for next year.

The Touareg’s size means the seriousness borders on menacing – it’s not a small SUV at 4878mm end-to-end, 1984mm wide and 1686mm tall. That’s not all that giant either, but the wide body with the relatively low height makes it look planted and athletic. That bonnet is so flat and broad you could play table tennis on it.

The Touareg's wide body with relatively low height makes it look planted and athletic.

The R-Line body kit adds to the beefy, serious and sporty appearance with tough-looking front and rear bumpers.

Inside, the R-line treatment extends to the steel scuff plates, sports steering wheel and embroidered R-line logos in the leather seats.

I was stunned when I saw the cabin for the first time two years ago with its expansive screens and minimalist design. Even now I think it’s one of the most modern and aesthetically pleasing interiors on the market.

The cabin is one of the most modern and aesthetically pleasing interiors on the market.

It’s a premium setting made more so by the ‘Silver Wave’ metallic trim highlights to the dash and doors.

Oh, and Volkswagen fans will notice that this latest Touareg also has the new VW logo on the grille and tailgate. 

Up there with Area 51 and Big Foot is the mystery as to why the Touareg doesn’t have a third row of seats or even the possibility to option one. 

So, it’s a case of: yeah, nah, the Touareg doesn’t have seven seats, only five of them, which is bonkers because there’s plenty of room. If you’re looking for a seven-seat SUV and you want it to be a Volkswagen, then the only choice is the Tiguan Allspace, which a great SUV but a much smaller one than the Touareg.

The Touareg feels like you're sitting in an empty stadium.

Or there’s the Volkswagen Multivan, which is what I’d get if I had an army of kids.

But for a little family like mine which has just one child, the Touareg felt like we were sitting in an empty stadium. If you have three kids (and I bow in respect to your next-level parenting skills), then it’ll feel like a full house and friends looking for lifts will have to look elsewhere.

Legroom in the second row for adults is outrageously good.

That said, legroom in the second row for adults is outrageously good, and even at 191cm tall, I can sit back there like I’m lounging in a limo.

The second row slides to expand the size of the boot to a maximum volume of 810 litres, and – I’ve tried taking a picture of it but you might not be able to make it out – there are buttons which raise and lower the load height using the vehicle’s air suspension system.

Cabin storage is excellent with large door pockets, a big centre console box and four cupholders (two up front and two in the back). 

For charging devices, the second row has the two Type C USB ports which made my son happy because he could play on my iPhone while it charged (don’t judge me), while up front there’s a Type A and B port along with a 12V outlet and a wireless phone charger. Another 12V outlet can be found in the boot.

From a parent’s point of view, those large rear doors make helping children into and out of their car seats easy, while the entry height is low enough for a five-year-old to climb in on their own.   

The V8 TDI R-Line has a 4.0-litre eight-cylinder turbo-diesel engine making an earthmoving 310kW and a 900Nm. 

This is the same twin-turbo V8 found in the muzzle of the Bentley Bentayga and can throw the Touareg from 0 to 100km/h in 4.9 seconds. That’s a tenth of a second less than a Golf R, from a 2.4-tonne large SUV.

The 4.0-litre eight-cylinder turbo-diesel engine produces 310kW/900Nm.

Shifting gears seamlessly is a ZF eight-speed automatic.

As I mentioned before, the Touareg is all-wheel drive, and all have a braked towing capacity of 3500kg.

There will come a day when big V8s making colossal torque will be outlawed, I’m sure of that. So, whenever a beast like this comes my way, I savour the experience knowing that it won’t be around for ever. Think about this if you’re weighing up the V8 with the V6.

The numbers are big: 310kW and 900Nm from a twin-turbo diesel V8. The same engine in that’s in the Bentley Bentayga. 

And it’s bloody near-perfect. The V8 is not a hyperactive, hard to control, pit-bull-dragging-its-owner-on-a-leash engine. It’s a smooth, always under-your-foot force field ready to nudge you closer into a parking spot or throw you towards the horizon with sledgehammer oomph if needed. There’s a slight lag sometimes as the turbo wakes up, but that’s nothing major.

Smooth is the word for the steering, too, and also for that eight-speed transmission.

The Touareg is 4878mm long, 1984mm wide and 1686mm tall.

Yes, the Touareg is large, but some fun country road corners proved it to be dynamic with good handling and excellent body control for something this size.

For the most part, I rode it like an elephant around our suburb, happy knowing that there was 900Nm curled up inside it, but not having to use it unless I wanted to.

Yes, it’s large but auto parking will nail parallel and perpendicular spots, and the manoeuvre braking and surround-view cameras provided great reassurance during the school drop offs. 

Better yet, it's easy to drive and superbly comfortable on the air suspension despite the giant wheels.

Volkswagen says that after a combination of open and urban roads, the V8 TDI R-Line should use 8.7L/100km of diesel. My fuel test took in 147.3km of living with this Touareg every day doing ordinary stuff like the school drop-offs, shopping trips and motorways. 

After starting with a full tank (90 litres), at the end of my time with the V8 TDI R-Line I filled up with 17.06 litres of diesel to bring it back to full. That’s 11.6L/100km, which isn’t bad considering how addicted I became to the 900Nm of catapulting torque.

The V8 TDI R-Line has every piece of safety tech in the Touareg armoury. There’s AEB which can detect pedestrians, front and rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring with lane-keeping assistance, auto parking (both parallel and perpendicular) and adaptive cruise control. 

The manoeuvre braking is excellent at low speeds, there are front and rear parking sensors, clever LED headlights, surround-view cameras and the night vision system.

For children, there are three top-tether anchor points which I used for our son’s car seat, or two ISOFIX points across the second row.

Under the boot floor is a spare wheel which can be inflated with a small electric air compressor.

The Touareg scored the maximum five-star ANCAP rating for 2018.

The Touareg is covered by Volkswagen’s five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended annually or every 15,000km whichever comes first. A typical service costs upwards of $400, with the four-year service being most expensive at more than $1200. Volkswagen does have a three-year plan for $1350 and a five-year plan for $2500 – you’d be wise to pick one of those.