Vokswagen Touareg 2009 Review

The front runner for Volkswagen Group’s hybrid program will be the Touareg SUV — chosen because it could result in the biggest fuel cut. But a brief test drive of the prototypes showed it hasn’t cut performance or ability to achieve economy.

The petrol-electric hybrid version of the Touareg had plenty of go, especially when you floored the pedal at about 100km/h — producing the ‘boost’ effect from both engines working together, and it climbed to 160km/h easily.

It can drive off at start on the electric motor alone quite capably, although it was a little disconcerting to suddenly be hearing all the peripheral noises that are usually masked by combustion engine sound. Instrument graphics show the battery’s level of charge and the driving state: petrol, electric or combination.

The hybrid Touareg is due to hit the European saleroom floors in 2010, with price yet to be decided, but there is no confirmation of it arriving in Australia and at this stage there is no right-hand drive development under way. However as Volkswagen spreads their Bluemotion program throughout the range and around its global markets, it’s likely we will see the vehicle or something similar in the SUV’s future.

Drivetrain

In Europe it arrives with a 245kW/440Nm 3.0-litre V6 engine (used in the Audi S4) married to a 38kW electric motor — developed in tandem with Porsche who will use it in the Cayenne hybrid. The latter can power the Touareg by itself up to about 60km/h, and can hold it at 35km/h for about 1.5km.

Shifting the gearbox to Sports mode, or giving the pedal a kickdown hint, puts the drivetrain into temporary ‘boost’ and pushes the outputs to 275kW and 550Nm with the two engines working in tandem, but only if the battery is holding more than 40-50 per cent charge..

Regenerative braking capture charges the 288-volt nickel-metal battery, with its 67kg weight carried at the rear and contained in a metal case for protection. A DC/DC system converts the output to 12v to power airconditioning and other peripherals.

The e-motor replaces the starter motor, and in normal driving the torque converter opens for initial acceleration then closes when the SUV is running along. In stop-start driving the clutch restarts the action.

A new eight-speed automatic transmission from Aisin has been developed to cope with the torque and give a more definite response than would be possible with a continuously variable box.

The 4XMotion all-wheel drive system in the current Touareg — with its two-stage transfer case and lockable diff — has been replaced by the lighter Torsen permanent all-wheel drive from the Audi Q7, which is biased 60 per cent towards the rear, but will be able to send 100 per cent of drive there when needed. “For 90 per cent of customers, the Torsen will be enough,” says VW’s head of powertrain development, Dr Bernd Stiebels.

Performance and economy

Under boost, the hybrid drivetrain can get the Touareg to 100km/h in 6.8 seconds — no mean feat for a vehicle that will be well over two tonnes. The prototype test cars we drove at Volkswagen’s test facility in Wolfsburg, Germany, were even heavier, as they were developed using the current Touareg body.

Considerable work has been done to lighten the new one, and this — along with extras like stop-start, regenerative braking capture and low-friction tyres — will help the hybrid SUV to a fuel figure Volkswagen says will be ‘significantly lower than 9.1L/100km’.

It’s also going to be about 25 per cent lower than the comparative petrol engine in the Touareg range in city driving, and 17 per cent lower in the combined city/highway cycle. A priority for development was to have identical capability to the standard Touareg, and the hybrid promises the same 3.5 tonnes towing capacity and the same ability to climb slopes under full load.

Equipment and features

The hybrid will have specific technology that caters for the system, with the ESP cutting off regenerative braking when needed. But apart from special badging, there will be nothing much to visually set the hybrid apart from the normal Touareg. But there’s been a compromise that won’t please a lot of Aussie drivers — there’s no spare wheel. Not even a space saver. Instead, you get a tyre sealant kit. And not even an optional wheel cover to bolt to the rear door, because ‘the marketing department said it doesn’t look nice … so we don’t have one’.

The marketing department have probably not spent much time on Australian rural roads, let alone going offroad. And VW admits the omission is ‘possibly not good for the Australian market’. Why that engine?

Despite having teased previous motor shows with a hydrogen Touareg concept — and rumours that the SUV could go hybrid diesel — the motivation for targeting the Touareg for the hybrid project is that greater fuel savings could be made, says head of powertrain development, Dr Bernd Stiebels.

“Smaller petrol cars and diesel engines are already very economical in any case, so the savings are not so great,” he says. “And the extra cost of adding a hybrid to a diesel engine is also a consideration at the moment." "More is to be gained right now by developing hybrid for petrol engines." "And we recognise that in this class of vehicle, there will always be people who will want a petrol engine.”

Logically, they are working on some projects for small cars, but are reluctant to give details. But there’s a good chance we will see the powertrain spread to Volkswagen’s Touareg SUV — and possibly into their light commercial range of Transporter, Multivan and Caravelle — if the reaction to the Touareg is good. “It depends on the market,” Stiebels says. “If everyone wants a hybrid, we will react.”

Volkswagen Touareg hybrid
Price: TBA
Engine: 245kW/440Nm 3.0-litre V6 engine plus 38kW electric motor.
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Performance:
Economy: about 9L/100km