2017 & 2018 Volkswagen SUV Reviews & Ratings

Volkswagen have not been in the SUV market for such a long time, with their first model, the Volkswagen Touareg, being first developed and put into production in 2002. Its name is derived from the North African tribe called the Tuareg and the SUV itself made its way into the Guinness Book of World Records for pulling the heaviest load by a passenger vehicle, a Boeing 747. The idea behind the conception of the vehicles was to combine the flexibility of an off road vehicle with the performanc... (full review continues below)

Volkswagen have not been in the SUV market for such a long time, with their first model, the Volkswagen Touareg, being first developed and put into production in 2002. Its name is derived from the North African tribe called the Tuareg and the SUV itself made its way into the Guinness Book of World Records for pulling the heaviest load by a passenger vehicle, a Boeing 747. The idea behind the conception of the vehicles was to combine the flexibility of an off road vehicle with the performance of a sports car, and to that end Porsche was also involved in its development.

The market for SUVs is enormous, particularly in North America as it competes between the sedan and truck categories. As a result, the competition is intense and direct competitors to the two Volkswagen SUV brands include the KIA Sportage, Nissan Juke, Ford flex, Maxda CX-9, Jeep Grand Cherokee, GMC Acadia, Audi Q5 and the Volvo XC 60. Porsche have even entered the crossover market with their Porsche Cayenne.

At the lower end of the Volkswagen SUV range is the Tiguan which comes in 3 different trims, the S SE and SEL. The basic model Volkswagen Sport S starts at just under $23,000 and features a 2 liter turbocharged engine with 200 horsepower at 5,100rpm and 207 foot pound of torque at 1,700rpm providing a fuel economy of 18mpg in cities and 21mpg on highways. The upper end model, the Volkswagen Tiguan Sport SEL, starts at $34,000 and has more features as standard. It contains the same engine as the S trim but a better fuel consumption of 22mpg in the cities and 24mpg on highways.

The second model in the range of Volkswagen SUVs is the Volkswagen Touareg 2 which comes in 7 different trims including a hybrid and 3 diesel versions in addition to the 3 regular ones. The diesel version of the Toaureg 2 VR6 Sport Utility starts at just over $43,000 and has a 3.6 liter V6 engine putting out 280 horsepower at 6,200rpm and 265 foot pound of torque at 2,500rpm. Fuel economy is not great at 16mpg in cities and 23mpg on highways. The top end of the petrol Touareg 2 is the VR6 Executive Sport Utility starting at $55,000 and performance wise, it is exactly the same as the VR6 Sport Utility.

The lowest diesel model is the Touareg 2 TdI Sport Utility with a 3 liter V6 turbocharged engine putting out 225 horsepower at 3,500 rpm and 406 foot pound of torque at 1,750rpm. Fuel economy is only 19mpg in cities and 22mpg on highways. The upper end diesel model, the Touareg 2 TDI Executive Sport Utility, starts at $59,000 with same performance as the TDI Sport Utility, just more luxury extras as standard. The final version is the Touareg 2 Hybrid Sport Utility starting at $62,000 with a 3 litre engine, 380 horsepower and 428 foot pound of torque managing 20mpg in cities and 24mpg on highways.