New Tribe in the Block. Locally assembled VW Touareg launched in Malaysia!

March 25, 2024 benautobahn Off Volkswagen,

For the longest time, Malaysians don’t get to buy VW’s flagship Touareg SUV: over a decade in fact. So it was a bit surprising when VW Malaysia recently unveiled the latest facelifted Touareg in locally assembled form, a first outside of Europe. Naturally, we have plenty of questions, but let’s first have a closer look at the SUV itself!

While the facelifted model was globally unveiled about a year ago, the current generation Touareg was launched way back in 2018 so it’s not a new vehicle by any means, but still not as old as the Audi Q7 launched in 2015 which shares the same platform. Thankfully, the updated looks make it look fresh today despite its age and we’re glad VW was able to assemble the latest iteration, as the planning must have started months, if not years prior.

The Touareg we get comes as standard with the sportier R-Line kit which means a sportier look and gloss black details at both the front and rear combined with the usual chrome bits. The facelift also brought in the trendy full-width front DRLs and rear tail lights with a twist that is a lit-up rear VW badge. The rims are 20-inch in size but the huge Touareg makes it look tiny.

If you like your screens, the Touareg will not disappoint. Sit inside the driver’s seat and you will find yourself staring at a 12.3 inch instrument display and an even larger 15 inch center display. That center touchscreen is one of the largest in an SUV when it came out and it’s still huge today. While it looks impressive when stationary, we hope to one day test out its user-friendliness on the move.

Elsewhere inside the interior, you will find that VW Malaysia went with the safest color option which is black on black on more black and without any form of glass roof, which doesn’t help with the airiness despite its huge interior space. Lack of glass roof aside, we get the Touareg pretty much fully loaded so both front leather seats are heated and cooled with all the memory functions and adjustments you can imagine. Even the steering wheel is heated and electronically adjustable instead of manual.

A possible first within the segment locally is the inclusion of night vision capabilities for night time driving, which is something usually reserved for flagship models costing nearly twice as much. Music lovers would also appreciate the 13-speaker, 730-watt Dynaudio sound system, not to mention standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which would no doubt look great on the huge center display.

Speaking of fully loaded, the Touareg comes with self-levelling air suspension that keeps the car level no matter the load, and of course providing that extra few inches of ride height for the occasional flood at the press of a button, or a toggle in this case.

The updated headlights also brings you much more advanced “IQ LIGHT” which is VW speak for matrix LEDs specifically 38,432 micro LEDs acting as individual pixels of light for very precise lighting. There’s also a headlight washer system to keep dirt away from the fancy lights.

Safety wise, you get what you’d expect from a fully loaded flagship SUV. Adaptive cruise control with stop and go, 360 degree camera, automatic emergency braking, front cross traffic assist, rear cross traffic alert, lane keeping feature etc is all there.

Under the hood is where is gets more interesting. With a 3.0 liter turbocharged V6 shared with the much pricier base model Porsche Cayenne (also locally assembled), the VW makes 340 PS and 450 Nm which is only a touch (13 PS and 50 Nm less) below the Porsche which shouldn’t be too noticeable in real world driving. All power goes through VW’s 4MOTION AWD system paired with an 8-speed automatic gearbox, propelling this SUV from 0 to 100kph in just 6 seconds with an electronically limited top speed of 250kph.

When asked about the decision to locally assemble such a low volume seller, VW responded by saying that the factory will be supplying the Touareg to other markets in ASEAN. This should also explain their decision to locally assemble the Golf R which has yet to officially launch.

At the starting price of around RM454k (2 year unlimited mileage warranty) or RM472k (5 year unlimited mileage warranty + 5 year maintenance package), the locally assembled Touareg offers a lot of car for the money if you compare its on-paper specification to its closest rivals such as the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE, or even the Porsche Cayenne sibling. Time will tell whether the market will accept the less premium VW badge at this price point. Either way, more competition is always welcomed.

What do you think?