Matt O.

Bottom line: love they Cayenne but can't afford two... Thinking on an 08 Touareg as the price and quality is great. Anyone have this stepsister suv?

Posted this to a VW forum but wanted to get the opinion of those who drive the Cayenne.

touareg

I had an 04 for 10 years from new, and found it to be a great reliable truck, other than the cat flex pipe rusting out, and replacing a stepper motor, those were my only two out of warranty items. Everything else was regular maintenance. I had the V6, as I bought it when gas was hitting 1.50 a gallon and thought it might go a little higher

I was considering a V6 Cayenne at the time, but I found the Touareg had way more options for much less price.

In 2010 or so I bought a 05 Cayenne S. Cars looked the same for the most part, but the handling was light years ahead of the Touareg. Both had steel springs. I thought the Touareg handled well and was firm for an SUV (I came from Jeeps and Rangerovers) but the Cayenne was way ahead.

I think if you can find a well cared for one go for it, they are great rides, just missing the prestige if that matters to you. At some point, like the Cayenne, the low transfer case was dropped, so you might want to check into that. Been a while since I looked but I believe the V6 might still be the same as the Cayenne, just tuned differently.

wrinkledpants

I'm not really sure how you can afford an 08 Touareg, but not an Cayenne. You can pick up well cared for Turbos in the low teens. Only major problem (and it is an major one) with the 08 Tregs is the cam chain tensioners tend to fail on the V8s. Since the cam chain is on the back of the motor, it's a motor out job. No real way to fix it for under 5-6K. It's the same motor that's in the B6/7 Audi S4, and it's why a lot of people dump them at about 100K miles.

The 04-06 Tregs have a timing belt, and it's a bomber motor. No "gotchas" if you will. But, then you'll be dealing with the fact that it has the button pealing problem on the interior. Easy to fix, really. Just find door cards from an 07 or newer.

But, back to my original point - gas is going to cost the same, chassis maintenance is the same, burns through tires and brakes just the same. The only difference is about 15-25 a month in insurance.

If you can't afford an Cayenne, then you can't afford a Touareg. Don't let the cheap entry prices fool you - they're just as expensive to maintain as a Cayenne, and you'll find far more of them neglected than you will a Cayenne. I had an 06 Treg fully loaded with 4-zone, locking rear diff, backup cam, park sensors, etc. I really liked it, but I went through the same cardan shafts, control arms, brakes, etc as I do on the CTT. The price you pay for the car is going to be small compared to the annual out of pocket to keep an older one up to date.

Plus, the CTT comes with air suspension, and IMO, it's far superior to any steel sprung Cayenne or Treg. Even the Treg TDi's get mid 20's for gas mileage, and with the uncharge for the car, compared to the increases price for diesel, you're still out of pocket more than a 955 Turbo.

Don't just look at the purchase price. When you extrapolate gas, maintenance, insurance out 5 years, the purchase price is going to be quite small compared to the other things.

endless_corners

I think a 15k turbo is a no brainer... SO MUCH value for the money. Only reason to get a facelifted touareg is to get a cheap ticket into a v6 tdi.

Matt O.

Thanks for the info. I have one Cayenne, just don't want two. My Cayenne was 19 and I think I can pick up this 08 Treg for 11.

Thanks,
Matt

wrinkledpants

I'd skip the V8 in the T2. Do some research on the timing chain issue. You might want to look at the B6 and B7 S4 Timing chain issues as it's the same motor.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...cussion-Thread

Matt O.

Thanks. Odd that I can't find that issue on VE forums, only the one you posted. It is the same engine?

wrinkledpants

Here you go.

http://www.clubtouareg.com/forums/f9...lp-105546.html

I think when you combine the lower Touareg sales figures with the fact that most of them are just starting to creep up on 100K miles, it somewhat explains why you don't see a high prevalence of this issue like you do on the S4.

The TDi is a great motor in that Touareg, but it's almost 2-3 times the price. The T1 Touareg, specifically the 2006, was a great year. Very little issues, that motor is awesome for longevity, and the only problem is the pealing buttons. But, spend some time at a salvage yard, and you can get the head unit, HVAC control unit, and the door switches swapped out with T2 unit for pretty cheap.

16vsilverstreak

I had a 2006 Touareg V8 purchased it with about 75k on it. The only non maintenance item that failed was the carrier bearing on the drive, prop, cardan shaft at about 80k. I performed all maintenance on the Touareg. Great vehicle! I would buy it again.

AussieInLA

I had a 08 Touareg V6 with the Lux package. It had 70k miles on it when I sold it to a friend for $13k and bought myself a 08 Cayenne GTS with 65k miles on it for $25k. If you are on a budget get the Touareg. You get so much bang for your buck! Porsche parts and repairs are much more expensive from my experience, even when you source parts yourself. I loved my Touareg and will own another one in my life time however I always wanted to own a Porsche before I was 30 (that was fast, but could still take my surfboards, snow gear and bikes).

In a nutshell. If you are looking for price & practicality in a pretty darn nice SUV get the Touareg. If you are looking for fun, fast and prestigious but functional SUV go the Cayenne GTS or Turbo. If you are looking at the base model or S cayennes the Touareg wins hands down.

thats my 2 cents.