Cars - Volkswagen Touareg

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	Cars - Volkswagen Touareg

The Volkswagen Touareg is an automobile manufactured by Volkswagen. It is a luxury 4x4 (US: SUV), the first ever produced by Volkswagen.

The Touareg was co-developed with Porsche, who was also looking to add an SUV to their lineup, as a cost-sharing initiative. Porsche shares this chassis to underpin their Cayenne SUV, although there are numerous styling, equipment and technical differences between the two vehicles.

The Touareg was Car and Driver magazine's Best Luxury SUV for 2003, Motor Trend magazine's Sport/Utility of the Year for 2004, "Four Wheeler" magazine's Four Wheeler of the Year for 2005 & Overlander's 2003 4WDOTY

The following engines are available:

174 PS (128 kW, 172 hp) 2.5 L diesel I5
225 PS (165 kW, 225 hp) 3.0 L diesel V6, 500 N·m (369 ft·lbf)
240 PS (177 kW, 236 hp) 3.2 L gasoline V6
310 PS (228 kW, 305 hp) 4.2 L gasoline V8
313 PS (230 kW, 308 hp) 5.0 L diesel V10, 746 N·m (550 ft·lbf) (2004 only)
450 hp (331 kW) 6.0 L gasoline W12, 599 N·m (442 ft·lbf) (limited-edition, EDM/Middle East only)

The twin-turbocharged diesel V10 engine pushes the Touareg from 0–62 mph (100 km/h) in 7.9 seconds, and on to 130 mph (209 km/h) maximum. The Diesel V10 was offered in the United States for a limited time in 2004 and 2005, but — emmissions regulations forced it off the market for a temporary period. Volkswagen is working on fixing these issues, and will return the V10 to the US lineup in 2006.

The W12 version should reach 100 km/h (60 mph) in 5.9 seconds. Production of the W12 Touareg is limited to 500 units. Of these, 330 are slated for Saudi Arabia, with none going to the United States.

Despite the misconception that the Touraeg and Cayenne are "soft-roaders" with little or no off-road ability, Porsche/Volkswagen jointly did extensive off-road testing with test mules and both vehicles are in actuality extremely capable off-road, all that is really necessary are more aggressive tires. Volkswagen, for instance, entered a modified Touareg in the Paris Dakar. Both vehicles come standard with four wheel drive, a manually lockable center differential and a "low range" setting that can be activated with in-cabin controls. Options to make the vehicles more capable off-road include an available air suspension system which can raise the car's ride height on command and an interior switch allowing the rear differential to be manually locked along with the center unit. At maximum ride height, the air suspension system gives 10.7 in of ground clearence.

The Touareg name is derived from the nomadic Tuareg tribe. The name of the vehicle is frequently mispronounced; the proper pronunciation is TOOR-eg (like 'tour' and 'egg' and the "a" being silent).

Environmental and health concerns

The diesel version of the Touareg was named "meanest" or least-energy-efficient 2004 car by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for its fuel economy of 17 miles per US gallon city (7.3 km/L) and 23 mpg highway (9.8 km/L). This, along with the Touareg's emissions and their estimated impact on global warming and health, earned it the low "Green Score" of 9, as compared to the Honda Civic GX, which was the "greenest", at a score of 57.

The Touareg has become controversial in Australia. Former Australian Rugby Union captain, Phil Kearns was provided with a V8-powered Touareg as an ambassador for the vehicle. On October 22, 2005 an incident occurred in the driveway of the Kearns' family home whereby the 19-month old daughter of Kearns was struck by the vehicle in forward motion not reverse, leaving her with very serious injuries. Road safety advocates in Australia have pointed to the poor visibility from the drivers' seat of the Touareg, and of SUVs generally, as the cause of the accident. An Australian National Roads and Motorists Association study has revealed that a child needs to be 7.8 metres from the rear bumper of the vehicle in order to be observed by the driver. This fact has led to calls for reversing cameras to be made compulsory on all SUVs sold in Australia.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Volkswagen Touareg ]

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Cars - Volkswagen Touareg

Environmental and health concerns

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