The Volkswagen Touareg: SUV of the Year

Recently introduced in the Philippines, the VW Touareg luxury off-road vehicle represents a vehicle concept, which blazes new trails at the high end of the SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) market. Unlike the familiar vehicles of this segment, it combines the features of a high-quality off-road vehicle with the comfort of a luxury saloon and the dynamics of a sports car in a new vehicle philosophy.

The Touareg is available with a 3.2-liter V6 petrol engine which achieves 162 kW / 220 bhp and develops up to 305 Nm torque; and the 4.2 liter V8 with a power of 228 kW/ 310 bhp.

This off-roader has already received numerous awards from the automobile experts and continues to collect more and more international awards. In the US, the Volkswagen Touareg has been honored for its qualities: "Motor Trend", the best-selling car magazine in the USA, voted the Touareg Sport/Utility Vehicle of the Year for 2004. This is one of the most significant honors of the American market. Each year, "Motor Trend" evaluates vehicles in this important vehicle class in the USA. Assessment is based on three key categories: significance, superiority, and value.

The Touareg was selected from a field of 13 vehicles to win its second prestigious award. The magazine "US Car and Driver" also named the Touareg "Luxury SUV of the Year".

This popular off-road vehicle was also able to convince the Australian experts. After winning the "SUV of Texas" award from a Texan automotive expert jury in the autumn of last year, "Overlander"–the best known Australian off-road magazine, presented the Touareg with the "2003 Overlander 4WD Of The Year Award". The Volkswagen SUV prevailed against 23 other competitors in many tough (jungle) tests in the Australian Bush. According to the jury, "every manufacturer of off-road vehicles should dismantle a Touareg and find out how it works, so to be sure that some good lessons can be learnt from it."

In the Off-Road category the Touareg was chosen for the car of the year by a jury of 23 journalists from leading automotive and economic publications, newspapers and magazines, as well as TV and radio stations in Portugal.

The Volkswagen Touareg is readily available through its authorized distributor Autostadt Philippines Corp. To find out why the Touareg has been receiving very positive feedback internationally, visit Autostadt at 2304 Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City with telephone numbers 888-6561/62.