jlturpin

Not to step on any toes, but from experience I can tell you that the Touareg is one hell of a towing machine. I have owned a few V8 Touaregs and pulled my enclosed 22 ft trailer with Autox car inside. At 80mph the V8 searched between 5th and 6th gear, I would just put it in tip mode and leave it in 5th.

With the v10, the ONLY reason I know it is back there is that I see it in the mirrors. Set the cruise at 80, and it never even grunts going up inclines on the freeway. Trailer and Car weigh 7000+ lbs. I also get 25-26MPG on with mixed driving, mostly highway with cruise set. 30+MPG has been commonly reported on the VW forums.

I think that the Cayenne and Touareg share most of the running gear including transmission, transfer case and differential. The V10 does have higer geared Diffs, vs. the V6 and V8.

Not knocking Porsche, it is a great product, and I understand not wanting to pay 65-70K for a VW, especially after owning a Phaeton and taking the deprecation hit when I sold it. I will buy another, they will soon be in the high 20's or low 30's. By far the nicest car I have ever driven (salon/sedan).

I would have probably purchased a Cayenne back in 03-04, but the closest dealer is more than two hours away........