You can dish it out to VW's Touareg

The Touareg is a thoroughbred, sophisticated and extremely comfortable and competent SUV.

Obvious choices include the Audi Q7 (R855,500 - R1,055,000), BMW X5 (R877,400 - R1,657,159), Mercedes-Benz ML (R826,000 - R1,694,206), Porsche Cayenne (R852,000 - R2,255,000), and Range Rover (R1,479,378 - R2,798,625).

But there is one glaring omission on the above headline list - the Volkswagen Touareg which (at between R709,100 and R990,600) is now arguably one of the best value for money options in this segment. Somewhat overlooked by the snob-set (probably because it has remained largely unchanged for the past five years until its recent mid-life make-over) it has still sold more than 2,800 units to savvy value-seeking customers.

A little facelift goes a long way

The most recent make-over cosmetics include snazzy daytime running lights, a new four-slatted grille, reshaped fog lights and lower air intakes to pretty up its front end while a new bumper, a redesigned diffuser and two big-mouthed exhaust outlets add their own sporty touches to the rear.

It is perhaps not widely known and appreciated but the Touareg has strong blue-blooded family ties, armed as it is with a smattering of bits and pieces from both the Audi Q7 and the snazzy Porsche Cayenne and the threesome even share the same platform.

The Touareg has strong blue-blooded family ties.

My wife and I recently spent nine days in the 3.0TDI V6 Luxury version on a return road trip between Hout Bay and the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and we fell in love with the big German from the minute we began hauling all our assortment of self-catering kit aboard without even having to fold the rear seat down.

Making ourselves comfortable in the spacious cabin posed no hardship. The seats are extremely comfortable and fully adjustable, as is the steering wheel. The newly upgraded instrument lay-out now sports pretty splashes of chrome and aluminium to brighten up the living quarters while the combination of acres of glass and high seating positioning makes for super game-viewing.

Well equipped

In addition to its rich standard spread of fancy onboard kit our test car was equipped with a number of optional extras such as climate controlled seats, air suspension, panoramic sunroof, roll-up screens for the rear side-windows, adaptive cruise control and satnav. Other journey-pleasing additions include a heated multifunction steering, lane assist, an ambient light package, chrome and style package, rear view camera assist and a few more.

It has bags of room.

The eight-speed Tiptronix auto shift is slick and thanks to permanent four-wheel drive power is distributed smoothly to all four wheels. The system has a self-locking Torsen differential as well as a package made up of low-range gearing and centre and rear locking differentials which we didn't have to use once, thanks to its good ground clearance and standard assistance equipment which make up more than enough armament to cope with general off-tar conditions.

It just keeps going

On the tar we cruised comfortable and quietly, thanks to one of the best, smoothest, quietest diesels on the road today. The two oil-burning V6 powered-Touaregs are the most popular in the range mainly because of the punch of 550Nm it produces from as low down as 2,000rpm and the 180kW it kicks out at 4,000rpm.

The cabin insulation is of the same top quality German finish as the rest of the furniture and fittings. We clocked up close on 3,000km, varying from fairly high cruising speeds on motorways to slow crawls along secondary roads, gravel stretches and sand tracks in temperatures of up to C41°. We even drove through two torrential storms and yet the Touareg, (or the Kalahari Ferrari, as we dubbed it on the second day of our trip), took everything in its stride.

The Touareg boasts one of the best, smoothest, quietest diesels on the road today.

VW claims a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 7.8 seconds, a top speed of 218km/h and fuel consumption of 7.2-litres/100km for the Touareg. Our vehicle consumed between 7.3 and 9.1-litres/100km on the trip which included long stretches of smooth black top (where I was quite heavy on the pleasure pedal), plus lots of lower geared gravel and sandy roads and tracks, numerous rest and photo breaks and even two torrential storms and flooded roads, none of which disturbed the Kalahari Ferrari's equilibrium.

The Touareg is a thoroughbred, sophisticated and extremely comfortable and competent SUV armed with a delightfully sporty V6 engine and decked out with an array of fancy equipment one would normally expect to find on the more expensive vehicles in this segment - which makes it a strong contender for the wallet of common sense buyers who attach more value to bang for their bucks than the snob value of a badge.

2015 Volkswagen Touareg Review | 2015 VW Touareg Test Drive | Chicago News

2015 VW Touareg

2015 VW Touareg (Off-road)