Nigerians can easily make or mar a car brand and or model. Many brands and models have suffered this fate.
Some of these victims are Range Rover models, Volvo models that are not in the 240, 244 or 760 models, BMWs, Volkswagen Touareg, Subaru, Isuzu, Nissan etc.
For today, i will talk about just one of such victim models that is a big casualty of this negative positioning – the Volkswagen Touareg -aka, Type 7L.
Maybe they are right because it apparently the model was built way ahead of its time. Hence it seemed like many mechanics/electricians for it were not very available or trained or experienced for the SUV and its idiosyncrasies in its early years. What many people do not know is that even Volkswagen improved most of the shortcomings of the Touareg from the first facelift which started from 2007 till the transition 2010 model. The Touareg, a mid-size luxury crossover SUV model had been produced by Volkswagen AG from 2002 to date (though it was briefly discontinued and replaced with the Atlas).
The first generation which ran from 2002 to 2010 offered an I5, a 6 (with an optional hybrid version), 8, 10, and 12-cylinder engine choices, a V10 R50, and an option of petrol (gas) or diesel engines.
When in 2021 i needed to replace my erstwhile Volvo XC90, i did a little research on a worthy and better replacement that also won’t break the bank for me before i narrowed down to it.
I have now decided to give a summary of my 4 years of usage of the ‘dreaded’ SUV revealing the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the 4 years relationship especially after reading a recent writeup on Facebook.
I have had to privately answer many people who started with; “come, wetin make you buy this car wey people de run from?”, then some will still say, “come, this car never kill you, you still de drive am or how you de cope?”
I always also enjoy their initial looks of pity now to looks of happy survival they give me. I probably was also lucky to have gotten my particular car which I bought from an American auction house, processed and imported it.
Infact, the same luck also helped me miss buying a full option V8 with air suspension and 3 locking differentials that was the same model year and the same colour, with less initial damages. I only missed buying it because during the live auction, I refused adding the extra $50 dollars the winner used to beat me.
Today, I actually feel I took a better decision because, this V6 with its offerings and with regular shocks is not allowing me miss the V8 spec with the air shocks.
My model Year via the VIN number is officially a 2010 (a transition year – this is because the body type is mostly for the older model and the engine is also for the older model but was used to introduce the newer model so in the Nigerian market, most parts sellers and mechanics refer to the 2010 model year to the newer model so if you want to easily relate with them, tell them it is 2009 model year).
Below is a short summary of mine:
Fuel Type is petrol (gas).
Engine capacity is 3.6l.
Number of Cylinders is 6 (V6).
Power output is 276hp of horsepower and 360nm of torque.
Number of gears (6 automatic with steptronic).
Drivetrain is 4 wheel drive with low range selector and rear locking differential.
Fuel tank capacity – 100l but sometimes in Nigeria depending on the fuel station, between 110 and 120l. With an official range of about 810km but I have seen 900km range on mine during a fill-up.
Current mileage is 286,964km (179,352.5). Bought mileage was 242 282 km (150 547 mi).
Total mileage covered in 4 years is 44,682km (27,926.25 mi).
Number of long-distance trips – Several.
Number of times serviced (engine oil/oil filter – 3 /brake pads -1).
Notable repairs from usage – 1 change of PCV, 1 change of top cylinder gasket, 1 change of front suspension including shock absorbers (which i have now realized was a bit premature). 1 change of rear suspension excluding the rear shock absorbers. 1 Change of Propeller due to premature clanging noise, window winding cables like twice each, 1 change of boot shock, 2 changes of 100amps batteries. 1 change of alternator, 1 change of the audio system amplifier (because water leaked into it), parasitic drain of the electrical system that led to the installation of a battery cut-off switch. 1 change of a set of plugs, 1 change of the fuel regulator under the rear seat behind the driver. The total amount spent on all these is well below N1.5m in 4 years.
Pending problems – digital instrument cluster display working erratically suspected to be the cause of the parasitic drain, yet difficult to fix in Nigeria unless i change the speedometer, a leaking wiper water hose inside the bonnet frame, 1 bad front proximity sensor (which i mistakenly caused), broken moonroof spring.
Notable irritations – active HID Zenon headlights that are very fanciful both day and night but do not illuminate as exceptionally as they look. Window winding cables that cut above whenever it feels like, weak roof liner material and installation, the extra time it takes to inflate the factory pancake spare tire and the delay before the reverse camera comes on when the reverse gear is engaged. The problems with the propeller, rear boot shocks, the digital display on the instrument cluster, weak roofliner are all reportedly factory defects.
Strong points – evergreen handsome presence, all round personality (blends in and does great in whatever capacity that is demanded of it), great ground clearance, great approach angle, great departure angle, great stability on low & high speeds that inspires confidence, very great steering with a very tight turning radius and manoeuvrability, nice front room, large boot space, great AC, great 620-watt Dynaudio sound system (that can be greater with those equipped with the boot subwoofer), great comfort features-heated seats, multiple driving positions, awesome 4 wheel drive system with rear locking differential (one of the best 4WD vehicles, and if equipped with the air suspension and the 3 locking differentials, among the very best), great quality interior leather and luxurious soft-touch plastics except the button for the windows, great top end and passing speed, great braking capability, great dual zone (can be upto 4 zone in the V8 model) climate control system, a tire pump can serve the owner in many other purposes apart from pumping the spare tire before each use. And the car has a commanding driving presence and good visibility all round. I also love the fact that it does not have electric steering so i don’t fear wading through flooded areas (wade with sense though).
The car also has a function called Rest. This allows the AC or heater of the car to remain working for a substantial amount of time even after the engine has been turned off. This helps the car maintain the same temperature per adventure the occupants stopped briefly and had to turn off the engine. That’s why the fan remains on for sometime even after the engine has been turned off. Also the red ambient lighting gives the car a warm illumination at night. This is in addition to the fact that each footwell has lights that can also be turned off on demand including the lights on the buttons on the steering.
There are some hidden functions the car also posseses. For instance, the headlights are permanently on once the engine is turned on as the single bulb serves as both the Daytime Running Light (DRL) and the headlights. So one downside is that if the car is stationary and the engine is running, there is no button to turn off the headlights, thereby blinding whoever is in the front of the car.
But there is a trick on turning this off, by engaging the gear to Park and engaging the foot parking brake. Equally the car has incorporated bulbs in the active headlights that turn on at night once the steering is turned to either right or left to illuminate the corner the car is heading into. This is in addition to the headlights swinging left and right, up and down with each start of the engine to find the correct level to stay on.
Also, the remote can be used to wind down or up all the windows of the car including the sunroof when needed. And I love the boot being able to open only the rear windscreen only if one just wants to drop off light items into the boot without opening the whole boot. And opening the whole boot only when needed.
There are two cases i can use to summarise the Touareg, on a recent trip to the Eastern part of the country, for the first time, my brother took over driving after Ore, heading to Edo State, effortlessly, the speed got to 100 and he was crossing it when i alerted him that the 100 is actually 160kph. That was an innocent error because the speedometer of my model is calibrated only in MPH with no KPH like most other American Spec cars. Though last year i once had cause to hammer it down to 170kph. This shows how easily the car can get up to speed and maintain such speeds in a relaxing and comfortable manner.
The second story is that the V10 TDI Touareg was the first car to tow a Boeing 747-200 weighing over 155 tonnes without any modifications apart from adding a few bags of stones to increase the weight at the back of the car to improve traction. This was way back in 2006. This shows how well built the engine, transmission and the whole car was.
So after reading the recent article by a popular Nigerian auto blogger on Facebook and seeing the comments from readers, i realized that the scars from the past still haunt the ‘innocent’ Touareg.
But if given the same opportunity again, will i buy this same model again, a resounding YES will be my answer!
