Despite being excellent products in many aspects, like the aforementioned ones, Volkswagens are so alike that each one’s individual qualities tend to get undervalued. The cheapest ones surely benefit from resembling much more expensive cars, but this is actually as good as the other way around is bad. It gets even worse when we consider similar-priced models, because sharing most of powertrain and equipment options is like choosing between several units of the same present, only with different wrappers. This is one of the reasons why Gol is managing to climb a step above the entry level without losing sales, while Phaeton will have a slight downsize. VW’s best-seller, on the other hand, is Golf, which sits exactly in the middle of the lineup. Coincidence?
Changing that panorama is the last of this facelift’s concerns, but we could have seen this coming by not one, but two reasons. The first one is the fact of being a simple mid-life update, whose expectations don’t go further than keeping the same car’s sales in a nice pattern. The other is that as long as people are willing to buy Volkswagens, regardless of describing ratios like a hundred Golfs for each Phaeton, the automaker simply won’t ever need to change. Touareg’s update stands for a perfect example of that because it only intends to give some refreshments to the same car whose current generation debuted in 2010, without any attempt of driving it away from the path which has rewarded it with a very stable sales performance over the latest years.
The entire front fascia was redesigned with the intention of making it look wider, along with sportier. The upper grille’s chrome lines are now extended by the bi-xenon headlights’ internal design, in order to create one single bigger visual element. The lower grille, in turn, features an “A” shape inspired by the renewed Scirocco’s, which sits between two additional air intakes and above the new, smaller fog lights and a matte-chrome lower line that circles the entire car. Sides and rear were kept pretty much untouched, with the latter section having received a redesigned bumper in order to repeat the “illusion of width” started up front. The powertrain received even fewer changes, and carry over the 3.6L V6, the turbo-diesel 3.0L and the hybrid engines.
Entering the car reveals new chrome accents around the central console’s controls, more sophisticated-looking switchgear and some additions to the list of interior trims: leather upholstery can now be asked also in Bonanza Brown and St. Tropez, while wooden inserts can be ordered in Engineered Ebony and Sapelli Mahagoni. Other list increases regard safety, with 17” aluminum wheels, adaptive high beams, all-wheel-drive, stop/start system and the entire package of electronic systems now coming as standard. Non-hybrid versions will also feature an eight-speed transmission as their only option, while the exception added a coasting function which decouples the engine from the gearbox when the throttle isn’t pressed, in order to save fuel.
Lançamento no Brasil (12/04/2015)
Agora já se pode configurar o novo Touareg no site da Volkswagen local. O SUV de luxo estende ao país seu mais novo facelift em duas versões. A primeira custa R$ 248.800 e utiliza o motor 3.6 V6 FSI associado a um câmbio automático de oito marchas e à tração integral 4Motion: seus 280 cv de potência e 35,7 kgfm de torque o levam de 0 a 100 km/h em 7,8 segundos e à máxima de 228 km/h. Sua lista de equipamentos inclui ar-condicionado bizona, bancos em couro, controles de estabilidade e de tração, farois de xenônio, iluminação diurna em LEDs, hill holder, seis airbags, bloqueio eletrônico do diferencial, central multimídia com comandos de voz, freio de estacionamento elétrico, navegador GPS, e rodas de liga leve aro 19”, entre outros.
Passando à versão R-Line, o preço de R$ 298.800 começa a se justificar com o motor 4.2 V8 FSI. Com os mesmos câmbio e tração, ele leva aqueles números a 360 cv, 45,4 kgfm, 6,5 segundos e 245 km/h, respectivamente. Já a sua lista de equipamentos adiciona ar-condicionado de quatro zonas, bancos com aquecimento, suspensão pneumática e o kit de acessórios esportivos que dá o nome à versão: parachoques com estilo mais agressivo e maiores entradas de ar, defletores laterais, bancos dianteiros esportivos e rodas de liga leve aro 20”. Como opcionais, ambas trazem câmeras 360°, controle de cruzeiro adaptativo, sistema de som Dynaudio e teto solar panorâmico, o que pode elevar os preços em cerca de R$ 40.000.