2.5TDi

[Big_Dan]

Any one got / driven one?

Any comparisions to a Discovery TD5, for example?

[shao_khan]

Hi Dan,

Not had the please of a drive, although have had a quick ride and I was quite supprised, thought it would be a LOT slower than it felt.

Think that struck me though was the build, seemed a lot better and nicely fitting than a lot of cars of late, and dare I say better finish in some aspects than a cayenne I was in recently.

[Prhim]

Likewise, I haven't driven one, but there was a Manual 2.5 on the 'Touareg Unlimited' driving day I attended recently. The engine did sound a little rougher than the petrols and it didn't seem to have quite the get-up-and-go, but it certainly handled all the mud-plugging with aplomb.

Totally agree with previous post re quality. We have a Porsche ourselves, and so have ridden in a couple of Cayennes recently, and the interior quality certainly does not seem on a par with Touareg.

Personally, the bit that I like least on the Touareg is the sunglasses holder, which feels very plasticky. Now imagine a whole cabin like that, and you've summed up the Cayenne...

[bulldog]

I did have a lengthy test drive in a manual car. You can try to find my post early in the forum named "R5 test drive".

Really wanted the car based on economy and torque hopes. Declined due to a complete lack of refinement (noise and vibrations at idle, unpleasant noise under heavy acceleration, quite narrow power delivery) just not in the same league as modern common rails. To sum up R5 may be not very slow overall (and can be chipped) doesn’t suite a nice relaxed feel of the car. I get V6 instead. Moreover I have heard from VW people that auto slows the car a bit (too many changes to sit on the torque hill?)

[Big_Dan]

I'd read the Autocar test and wondered if it was as bad ... I take Autocar reviews with a pinch of salt when it comes to VAG reviews, as they don't have that magic blue and white propeller

Trouble is, what are the residuals going to be like? With a Disco the V8 is a nicer engine, but it's value drops like a stone compared to the diesel.

[Prhim]

Of course, it's way too early to tell how the Treg residuals are going to hold up generally. But from speaking with other owners and dealers, the V6 petrol and V10 diesels are expected to be the most popular second-hand. Out of the current bunch anyway.. A new diesel between then 2.5 and 5.0 would probably be very popular.

[bulldog]

I take all motopress reviews with salt. However, you can find my first impressions on 2.5 car in the “Touareg upgrades” thread ages before Autocar did their test. I was than surprised to find them being so close to Autocar's. Information that 2.5 auto is slow is from somebody I know who used to drive and now missing V6.

Another reason why I didn't go for 2.5 TDI is a prospect of VAG eventually putting into touareg a new 3.0 common-rail TDI from A8. It will likely to hurt 2.5 residuals in a higher specs packages. I think 2.5 in manual form no options will be a good investment though. (you would need to sell it to countryside folks looking to tow 3.5 tons in style)

To sum up my view: If you a farmer - 2.5 is fine. If you are after technology and refinement wait for 3.0 common rail. If you want the car may be V6. (IMO V8 is overpriced it should be only 5000 more than V6) I suspect there is somesort of a marketing deal with Porsche to allow room for V6 Cayenne to fit between V6 and V8 VWs.

[Munki]

[ QUOTE ]

Any one got / driven one?

Any comparisions to a Discovery TD5, for example?

[/ QUOTE ]

I can tell you that it is a LOT sportier than a Discovery TD5, I am not too impressed with the the Discovery, but it is probably a lot heavier than the VW, which has a lot more fire in it's belly.

Edit* I was on about the Phateon BTW.

[Big_Dan]

What sort of mpg do you get from the V6?

[Prhim]

lol.... or rather you will when you hear the answer. I get about 18mpg from my V6 Sport (and heavy right foot). Don't know anyone (in Europe) who does better than 20mpg.

Still, apparently the 2.5 diesel isn't hugely better - around 23mpg if you're careful, so I hear.

[bulldog]

My V6 after 4 days of use and 300 miles is at around 18.6mpg average including some very short trips. The best I had on mix 25% city 25% B roads and 70mph motorway on gentle Sunday morning was 21.5 mpg. To sum up I see between 17 and 21 depending on use of the car. I use BP ultimate. I remember that during test drive (mixed) 2.5 tdi consumption (at close to V6 pace) was around 23mpg... V6 is so far much better than I thought. I am certain the car will get better once it is run in.

[bulldog]

My V6 after 4 days of use and 300 miles is at around 18.6mpg average including some very short trips. The best I had on mix 25% city 25% B roads and 70mph motorway on Sunday morning was 21.5 mpg. I use BP ultimate. I remember that during test drive in the city 2.5 consumption (at V6 pace) was around 20mpg... V6 so far is much better than I have hoped. Should get even better with more miles

[nazca]

Just ordered an R5 TDI.

I made my decision after test driving it and several of its competitors. I test-drove the Jeep Grand Cherokee, the Mercedes M, and the Volvo XC90. All were diesels (I'm quite a high-milage driver so petrol was not really under consideration).

My impression was that the Touareg R5 TDI was, by far, the quietest, most refined, smoothest driving vehicle of all. In addition, the cabin blows away anything else in its class in terms of quality and elegance (with the exception of the BMW X5, perhaps). The decision was really not hard for me to make.

[bulldog]

This is a matter of opinions, of course. I suspect VW can have a better diesel than Volvo and Jeep. I am not sure about ML270, if they use now an advanced 1600bar pressure engine version; the rest of ML though is very old now. I was comparing VW to BMW new 3 litre diesel and did find beamer to be better in terms of noise and sound when driving (I just prefer to hear rrrr not bzzz when flexing my right knee). BMW was a lot more elastic too.

I am sure though that R5 will be a wonderful car in all respects. (if you feel it is slow you can get some pretty serious tuning to get it on the par with new BMW diesel)I enjoy my V6 every moment. (By the way I did find that my car (November) interior quality was an improvement (if that is possible) over the test cars built early this year) - really top marks!

[nazca]

Although I have't driven the new X5 yet, I have heard great things about its new diesel engine. However, I was told by a couple BMW dealers that the waiting time for these will be around 12 months(!), which is completely unreasonable in my opinion.

With regards to the Mercedes, although in theory its engine may be quite good, I was very disappointed in how unrefined it felt when driving even rather tamely. I also felt that buying an ML now when a brand new version is supposed to come out next year would be a poor investment.

[shao_khan]

just been doing this comparison and found the X5 interior pretty average to well less than everage, my favourites have been VW and ML with the ML being noisier and not quite as well fitting.

[cnixon]

I test drove a 2.5 Tdi Tiptronic a week ago and was really impressed. I expected less performance but was quite happy with the take off etc. I drive a 3.7 A8 so it had some way to go for flat out accel. I drove about 15 miles on reasonably fast roads and was close to the proverbial signing on the dotted line until.... the "luxury car manager" said "put it into sport mode and give it some revs. All of a sudden it turned into an oil burning 1995 Ford Transit (sorry Ford). On returning to the dealer another punter said a new 3.0l tdi engine was soon to be announced. I walked out with hope in my heart but have heard very little since.

[marcon]

I am currently thinking of placing an order for 2.5tdi toureg for january.I drive a saab 2.0 T estate 2002 230 bhp.I want to go for jeep/suv as roads in Ireland are not suitable for 17" wheels on saab and also the saving on fuel by changing to diesel.

The V10 is not an option for me at over 100,000 euro and 2.5 with leather and a few extra bits is about 67,000 euro.I would not consider petrol as running costs are too high,and after reading some of the posts here I am put off the 2.5 tdi ..........is it really that badly under powered,would i be making a mistake in buying Toureg at this point(if 3.0 tdi is on the way)maybe new Disco would be a better option.Any advice would be apreciated.