VW Toureg - £15k - £19k. Any good, anything to look out for?

[heisthegaffer]

I am losing my Co car soon and was mulling over getting a golf Gti but thinking about the next few years with a tall 11 year old plus a dog and elderly parents, I am considering a Toureg.

Max budget £20k but would like to spend a little less. Looks like I can get a 7 or 8 year old one with sub 60k miles.

What are they like? Any fundamental issues?

[ZX10R NIN]

They're a pretty decent car, they're spacious & are pretty reliable.

R Line+:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406140...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202404198...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405189...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406190...

Another good VAG option is the Arteon:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406130...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308140...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406060...

Alltrack:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405219...

Passat estate:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406130...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406030...

SUV wise the Edge:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406010...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407091...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202405310...

Kia Sorento:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406221...

Santa Fe:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406251...

XC60:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202401085...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202406170...

All are good alternatives.

[ChocolateFrog]

Well I tried to reply but kept getting a 403 Forbidden.

[heisthegaffer]

Cheers both

[clockworks]

I had a Touareg 3 litre diesel R Line. Great car - comfy, well-built, fast enough, reasonably economical. The only issue for me was the sheer size of the thing. It's very wide, which was a problem on the narrow country lanes and village streets. Even supermarket car parks could be a struggle.

The only mechanical problem I had was with the ad blue system. Be very careful to follow the refilling procedure to the letter. Getting it wrong means it doesn't recognise the refill, and it carries on counting down until it won't restart.
I believe that VW issued a tech bulletin for a software update to fix this.

Edited by clockworks on Monday 15th July 08:46

[Rowe]

They're pretty hardly to be honest. The internet suggests that rear main seals can be an issue, but I've never seen one personally. Nevertheless, it's worth just popping your head underneath to see if there's any moisture between the block and bellhousing. Along with this, is the EGR cooler failing and passing coolant into the oil. Again, I've never actually seen this happen.
Thermostats can leak, and it is a bit of a crap job to do as it's in the centre of the V.
DRL's can fail on the 2015+ cars, which means a new headlight assembly.

There's alot of them out there which were very poorly spec'd from the factory. If I were getting one, I'd definitely try and find one with air suspension (but they're pretty rare), and xenon headlights if you end up buying an earlier one. Dynaudio is also a great option.

I'm on my second 7P now, my first was a 2011 SE with air, factory towbar, and dynaudio (I should have never sold it). My latest one is a 2016 Escape model, which trumps the above in terms of offroading capability as it comes with locking differentials, but lacks by having the standard audio (which is pretty toss to be honest)

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks. Really useful.

I quite fancy the air suspension but wonder if it's reliable?

RE the audio, this is a big deal so have seen Focal amp and replacement speaker kits.

[sunnyb13]

Very wide maybe consider a Tiguan

[BertBert]

I'm on my second Touareg and love it. I don't have a problem with the width at all. It's a 2017 model that I have had for 3 years, not done huge miles since covid. I think it's a great car.

The previous one I took from 35k miles to 190k miles. In that time (10 years) it had a water pump fail, leak in the power steering pump, centre driveshaft bearing, pre-heater coil fail and a broken rear spring. All in the last 40k miles. So on the whole, felt pretty reliable to me

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks people.

Sounds a good reliable car.

Must admit, I am looking forward to something nice and comfy with plenty of room for people, dogs and holiday gear.

[jjr1]

clockworks said:

I had a Touareg 3 litre diesel R Line. Great car - comfy, well-built, fast enough, reasonably economical. The only issue for me was the sheer size of the thing. It's very wide, which was a problem on the narrow country lanes and village streets. Even supermarket car parks could be a struggle.

The only mechanical problem I had was with the ad blue system. Be very careful to follow the refilling procedure to the letter. Getting it wrong means it doesn't recognise the refill, and it carries on counting down until it won't restart.
I believe that VW issued a tech bulletin for a software update to fix this.

Edited by clockworks on Monday 15th July 08:46

Could you let me know what you are supposed to do?
The wife has a Cayenne and after refilling the tank the warning light will not go off and it is still counting down

[Register1]

heisthegaffer said:

I am losing my Co car soon and was mulling over getting a golf Gti but thinking about the next few years with a tall 11 year old plus a dog and elderly parents, I am considering a Toureg.

Max budget £20k but would like to spend a little less. Looks like I can get a 7 or 8 year old one with sub 60k miles.

What are they like? Any fundamental issues?

169,000 miles.
I had the power steering pump changed, about 10k ago.
About 15k ago, I needed a new injector.

I would say the newer, post 2012, are very reliable.

[Register1]

BertBert said:

I'm on my second Touareg and love it. I don't have a problem with the width at all. It's a 2017 model that I have had for 3 years, not done huge miles since covid. I think it's a great car.

The previous one I took from 35k miles to 190k miles. In that time (10 years) it had a water pump fail, leak in the power steering pump, centre driveshaft bearing, pre-heater coil fail and a broken rear spring. All in the last 40k miles. So on the whole, felt pretty reliable to me

I had the power steering pump replaced at about 160k

[nobrakes]

A bit left field, but have you thought about one of these?

2019 E220d SE 26k miles, £19k

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407131...

[Rowe]

heisthegaffer said:

Thanks. Really useful.
I quite fancy the air suspension but wonder if it's reliable?
RE the audio, this is a big deal so have seen Focal amp and replacement speaker kits.

I had a leak on the rear of my first one. I ended up replacing the entire strut assembly for ease which was around £350. I could have removed the strut and replaced the offending o-ring, but I was being lazy.
My sister has a steel sprung one, and whilst it's not bad, I still prefer the air suspension. For me, the benefits outweigh the potential for maintenance.

Another thing I forgot to mention, is that the all you'll see throughout the internet/various forums, is people harping on about servicing the gearbox with fresh fluid and a new filter. This isn't limited to Touaregs - It's exactly the same over on the BMW forums. I wouldn't let this put you off.



Mine lugs my track car around the country and over to the Germany a couple of times a year. I'm probably tempting fate, but it's been completely reliable.

[ChocolateFrog]

heisthegaffer said:

Thanks. Really useful.

I quite fancy the air suspension but wonder if it's reliable?

RE the audio, this is a big deal so have seen Focal amp and replacement speaker kits.

My 2012 7P had air. It had 125k on the clock and the air suspension worked fine. I had the V8 model, very rare but generally well specced unlike the V6's which from what I can see rarely have decent spec.

The V8 Touareg was comfortably the most expensive model VW sold at the time. The engine alone was something like a £15k option.

[ChocolateFrog]

They're tough old cars but they are wide as suggested. One of the main reasons I got rid of mine. Once had a coming together of mirrors between mine and a transit van in the lakes. The van's mirror exploded, mine needed a bit of t-cut and the glass putting back in.

They're also not that big inside. Like a Golf+20% in dimensions is how I thought of it. Not comparable to something like a Discovery.

[heisthegaffer]

nobrakes said:

A bit left field, but have you thought about one of these?

2019 E220d SE 26k miles, £19k

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202407131...

Thanks mate.

That looks good value but one thing I'm mindful of is my elderly parents getting in and out. They struggle to get in formentor so I'm hoping a bigger SUV which is of course raised up will be easier for them.

Thanks again though - always happy for suggestions.

[clockworks]

jjr1 said:

clockworks said:

I had a Touareg 3 litre diesel R Line. Great car - comfy, well-built, fast enough, reasonably economical. The only issue for me was the sheer size of the thing. It's very wide, which was a problem on the narrow country lanes and village streets. Even supermarket car parks could be a struggle.

The only mechanical problem I had was with the ad blue system. Be very careful to follow the refilling procedure to the letter. Getting it wrong means it doesn't recognise the refill, and it carries on counting down until it won't restart.
I believe that VW issued a tech bulletin for a software update to fix this.

Edited by clockworks on Monday 15th July 08:46

Could you let me know what you are supposed to do?
The wife has a Cayenne and after refilling the tank the warning light will not go off and it is still counting down

The important thing (and the bit I missed!) is to turn on the ignition to the "accessory" position, and then wait at least 30 seconds before starting the engine. Apparently the ad blue system needs to recalibrate before you start the engine.

Unfortunately, you only get one shot at this. Get it wrong, and it's a trip to the dealer.

When mine went wrong, the dealer tried resetting it with the diagnostics, to no avail. They wanted me to book it back in for several days, so they could remove the ad blue tank, etc.

Luckily I found a post somewhere about a software update that fixed the problem. A VW technical service bulletin had just been released about it. I convinced the dealer to find the TSB. Took less than 2 hours to fix, once they knew what to do.

My car was a 2015 with the 260bhp engine, with the adblue filler under the boot floor.

Edited by clockworks on Tuesday 16th July 08:01

[heisthegaffer]

Thanks again all, really appreciate the feedback.

The air suspension models are incredibly rare. Annoyingly, there is a well specced one for sale at the moment right in my mileage /cost sweet spot but I'm buying on the back of a role change and pay rise which won't take effect until August pay so will need to wait to make sure my maths is spot on