Test drive Volkswagen Touareg 2002 - 2007 SUV

Great economy

Until recently, Mercedes-Benz possessed the most powerful and progressive diesel engine. And then a new favorite appeared - V10 TDI production of Volkswagen. This miracle of technology is established so far only on Touareg.
 
We will not delve into the study of the car itself, because we have already done this (see No. 3, 2003). We will immediately move on to the engine. We pull the handle in the cabin and raise the aluminum hood. Yeah, botanists have nothing to do here: the power unit with accessories adjacent to it is covered with a huge false panel, and it is impossible to determine where what is located.
 
It's a pity. I would very much like to look at the motor - to find out how the engineers managed to place drive belts at the same level, and even separate them from the engine with a noise -absorbing cassette. Or estimate to the eye, whether the collapse of the blocks really is 90 degrees relative to each other, so that the height of the motor is minimal.
 
However, even if you remove a beautiful casing, you still can’t see how the balancing shaft installed to maximize the vibrations rotates in the opposite of the crankshaft or how two turbines change the angle of attack of the blades depending on the engine speed. You can only feel the result of this work, so we start a motor.
 
He is very quiet. If it is somehow heard from the outside, then in the cabin - complete silence, in any case, at idle. In this mode, the noise background is even lower than that of the gasoline unit. However, drive an idle V10 with a capacity of 313 hp. - Let him consume only 1.2 liters of diesel fuel per hour (according to the on -board computer) - blasphemy. We set off on the road.
 
The fact that diesel engines is our future was said by many, but no one suggested that it will come so soon. The question is, why continue to puzzle over the efficiency of a gasoline engine, if he already has a great alternative?
 
Only 7.8 seconds are required by a new Touareg to play the speedler with a hundred. At the same time, neither a tearful howl, nor a black train behind the stern. We will also take into account the insignificant consumption of cheap fuel: in the city mode, 16 liters per 100 km. Someone will say - nothing is insignificant! But let's recall that the Touareg with gasoline V8 in the same conditions retains 20.3 liters of a more expensive AI-95. The difference is evident.
 
V10 has the largest torque for today (among private vehicles) - 750 nm. For comparison: KamAZ with a 260 -horsepower turbocharged engine is 785 nm - not much more. But this truck can take up to 10 tons of cargo on its shoulders, while Touareg is just an SUV, albeit very advanced.
 
We check what the car is capable of off -road. A huge margin of traction is disposed of wisely. He has one row of cylinders a leading, the other led, and both have their own air filter and their turbine, and coordinates the actions of the entire system 32-bit microprocessor.
 
Most of our tasks Touareg performs, if not perfectly, then on a solid four. Take the slope with storm - please crawl along the unsteady sand - without problems. But all this has to be done from the accelerator: the machine is shod into road rubber, which in the blink of an eye is clogged with dirt, turns into a semblance of slick and slips.
 
A couple of times it comes to the point of absurdity: electronics does not allow the wheels to rotate with a gas pedal completely recessed into the floor. Against this background, a six -speed automatic gearbox also behaves incorrectly. In general, in some places you have to retire. Despite this, Touareg is on a serious off -road.
 
Of course, if there were a reliable mechanical gearbox, the result would be even better. But the current KP so far, alas, does not withstand record torque - it simply breaks it. Therefore, lovers of rally-raids will have to wait for modification with modified mechanics.
 
The impatiently, we strongly recommend, before leaving for the wild, to re -take Touareg into rubber later. Then he certainly will not be equal either on the road or on the road.
 
Technical characteristics VW Touareg 5.0i V10 TDI
 
The body is a bearing, all -metal.
Number of places, people. - 5
Equipped mass, kg - 2524
Complete mass, kg - 3080
Dimensions (length/width/height), mm - 4754/1928/1703
Base, mm - 2855
Maximum speed, km/h - 225
Acceleration time to 100 km/h, s - 7.8
Control consumption of fuel, l/100 km:
- City cycle - 16.6
- Zagorod - 9.8
- mixed - 12.2
Engine:
- Type - V10
- working volume, cm3 - 4921
- Power, L.S. at MIN -1 - 313/3750
- torque, NM at min -1 - 750/2000
- power supply - pump -record
Transmission - Automat., 6 -Test., 4 Motion
Tire size - 255/55R18
Wheel suspension - independent, on pneumo elements, with a variable clearance
Brakes:
- front - disk, ventilated
- rear - disk
Steering - gear -rake, with gur
Price, $ - 75000
 
Text: Oleg Kalaushin
 

Source: Magazine 5 wheel [07/2003]