Volkswagen Touareg dimensions

Delivering a surprising level of luxury, the 2012 Volkswagen Touareg is a serious rival among more established high-end marques. Volkswagen Touareg Diesel offers the following pros: Confident driving dynamics; high-class interior; cool equipment roster; comprehensive and economical motor options; high towing capacity. Volkswagen Touareg Diesel drawbacks are: No third-row seat; spongy brake pedal feel; upper trims get costly.

The 2012 Volkswagen Touareg is a five-passenger midsize SUV that's available in four main versions: Sport, Lux, Executive and Hybrid. All but the Hybrid can be had with either gasoline V6 ("vr6") or turbodiesel ("tdi") V6 performance.

The Sport comes well-equipped with 18-inch wheels, bi-xenon headlights, foglights, roof rails, a performance liftgate, cruise control, dual-zone automatic conditioning, eight-way power/heated front seatings, leatherette upholstery, Bluetooth and an eight-speaker audio system with touchscreen control, a Six-cd changer, radio and Ipod integration. Adding the auxillary navigator also contains a rearview camera.

The Lux has all of the above equipment plus 19-inch wheels, a panoramic sunroof, heated sideview mirrors, walnut cab accents, leather upholstery, 12-way performance front seatings (with performance lumbar support for the driver), driver memory presets and performance back bench releases in the cargo. Moving up to the Executive adds 20-inch wheels, a heated helm, heated back seatings, keyless ignition/entry and a Dynaudio luxury audio system.

The Hybrid comes loaded with all the aforementioned along with a power-adjustable steering column, back parking sensors, passenger-seat memory presets, passenger performance lumbar bench support and metal door-sill plates.

Features are few and include a Towing suite, carpeted floor mats and the Protection suite (which consists of rubber floor mats, a rubber trunk space mat and mud guards). .