Volkswagen Touareg R50 Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Volkswagen Touareg R50
Prices: £62,160 - on the road
Insurance Group: 19
Emissions: 333g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 6.4s / Max Speed 146mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 16mpg / (extra urban) 29.4mpg / (combined) 22.4 mpg
Safety: Twin front/side/curtain airbags / ABS / ESP / Brake Assist/ hill descent assist / hill start assist
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height mm [air suspension], 4754/1928/1726

HARD TORQUE

Our Rating: 8.1 / 10

Volkswagen’s Touareg 5.0 V10 gets even more presence, power and torque in special R50 guise. Andy Enright reports

Quite who the people are who felt that Volkswagen’s V10 TDI Touareg was a little shy of attitude and engine is open to interpretation, but the R50 model has had the options list thrown at it and now fronts up with 347bhp from its 5.0-litre diesel engine. Crikey.

It’s rare that we have faceless European bureaucrats to thank for anything, but the backroom machinations in Brussels have, rather inadvertently, given us one of the most extreme luxury 4x4s ever to hit British roads. Emissions regulations drafted in the bowels of the European Parliament mean that the 5.0-litre V10 TDI engine that has powered the range-topping Volkswagen Touareg for some years is not long for this world. To re-engineer this engine to conform to these stringent laws was apparently prohibitively expensive. Rather than meekly bow to the man, Volkswagen has stuck one to him in a quite extravagant manner. The Touareg R50 may be the V10 TDI’s swansong, but it’s quite a spectacular exit. With even more power and torque and available for a limited run only, the R50 is a car that does excess extremely well. You can almost hear teeth grinding in Belgium from here.

The Touareg R50 is a vehicle that benefits from certain frames of reference. Its torque figure of 627lb/ft for example. Compare that to the Ferrari 599 GTB’s 6.0-litre V12 that manages 448lb ft or the Bentley Continental GT that can struggle to 479lb/ft. Need something a little more comparable? Try the most powerful diesel engine in a Mercedes M-Class and you’re still 111lb/ft shy of this mighty Volkswagen. This translates into an ability to jet from standstill to 60mph in just 6.4 seconds. Sheer frontal area limits top speed to a ‘mere’ 146mph, but that will be more than enough for most.

Even more remarkable than the time in which it gets there is the manner in which the Touareg V10 TDI accelerates, the six-speed automatic gearbox slurring rapidly through the gears as the four-wheel drive system and massive tyres seek out every scrap of purchase on the road surface. Couple this with a very effective stability control system and putting big numbers on the speedometer is frighteningly easy. Somewhat astonishingly, Volkswagen’s sister company Audi has developed an even more extreme engine that it ha

The R50 differentiates itself courtesy of a set of 21-inch ten-spoke alloy wheels as well as the Touareg ‘R’ design package. This includes at the back a body-coloured roof spoiler, restyled body-coloured bumper and oval tailpipe trims.  Wheel arch extensions and blue brake callipers enhance the distinctive wheels, while at the front, the R50 gains a matt chrome radiator grille and louvres as well as honeycomb-style inserts in the air dams. Inside, and on top of the Altitude V10’s specification, the R50 has ‘R’ logos on the pedals, door sill protectors and Nappa leather sports seats, as well as heated outer rear seats, a ski sack and a net partition. 

The Touareg never feels less than well built and although the dash is a little overloaded with buttons, the controls are solid to the touch. The interior doesn’t have the elegance of a Range Rover’s or the slickness of Audi’s Q7 but it certainly isn’t put to shame in this illustrious company. The display screen isn’t well integrated with the rest of the centre console and the control interface for its various functions isn’t particularly intuitive. There’s the feel of a car that has had lots of equipment and classy trim inserts thrown at it to liven-up an otherwise ordinary interior. Of course, it’s only ordinary in comparison to the rest of the luxury 4x4 elite, cars with some of the most opulent cabins anywhere.

Although prices for the Touareg range start at around £30,000, you’ll need significantly deeper pockets to land the R50. It commands a £3,900 premium over the V10 TDI Altitude model which, when you tot up the amount and cost of the additional kit, doesn’t represent too catastrophic a value proposition. The only problem with the R50 is what may well attract certain buyers to it in the first place. It’s hardly subtle. The massive wheels, the aggressive front end treatment and the low profile tyres all shout of a vehicle that’s never going off road and there is an argument that it’s all just a little bit cras