Remember The Time When Volkswagen Put Crazy Engines In A Touareg
The Volkswagen Touareg on paper is a normal SUV but there was a time when Volkswagen went absolutely crazy and gave the Touareg some crazy engine options.
The Volkswagen Touareg in reality is a mundane daily SUV. There have been a few generations of the car now and it gets less recognition than it deserves. Crazily enough, the Touareg went through a ruckus phase when Volkswagen shoved a V10 diesel and a W12 engine as well.
The First Generation Touareg was the biggest and baddest SUV that the German brand had to offer when it came out at the time. They did not hold back with all the options and the crazy engines. It was also a pretty capable off-road vehicle which could be optioned with both front and rear differential locks which is crazy to think because the Touareg was never seen as a off-roader.
The base engine in the Touareg was nothing to write about. In petrol form, the base engine was the 3.2L VR6 engine which was later changed to a 3.6L VR6. There was also a 4.2L V8 engines which is a brilliant engine as well and is known to be one of the best sounding V8’s of all time.
The diesels were also similar, the base diesel engine was a 2.5L 5-cylinder unit and then there was a 3.0L V6 TDI as well.
The Crazy engines are the V10 TDI and the W12 which was also offered in the first generation of the Touareg. Lets talk about the specs of this piece of heavy machinery. The 5.0L V10 diesel produced 309 bhp but a massive 750 Nm of torque.
The V10 diesel famously pulled a Boeing 747 and then there was the R50 version. This was a special edition model which debuted in 2007 and featured the same 5.0L V10 diesel which now produced 345 bhp and 850 Nm of torque. There was a different body kit and 21-inch wheels as well to set it apart from the regular V10 diesel cars.
Surprisingly enough, this is not where it all ended. Volkswagen went even crazier with the W12 version of the Touareg. The 6.0L W12 engine produced 444 bhp and 600 Nm of torque. Initially, Volkswagen planned to make only 500 units of the W12 Touareg with majority of them going to the middle east while the others were slated for the European market but Volkswagen eventually made it an option and not a limited run thing.
All the engines in the Touareg were mated to a 6-speed torque converter automatic but there was a 6-speed manual option available with the base VR6 and the base diesels as well.
Volkswagen’s era of putting crazy engines into their cars is long gone.This was just the Touareg but they once also shoved a V12 TDI engine in an Audi Q7. Due to stringent emission standards and a massive shift towards electric cars, Volkswagen has barely anything interesting in its portfolio. We only wish that they would come up with a new interesting engine option which would again interest enthusiasts around the world even about a massive family SUV.