Diesel and performance cars go together like oil and water. But there is at least one notable exception and it’s not a sports car.
This most unlikely creation is based on Volkswagen’s luxury soft-roader, the Touareg, which first went on sale in 2003. It was developed in conjunction with Porsche and is named after a nomadic Saharan desert tribe, the Tuareg.
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For some reason, VW chose to spell the Touareg name differently, and it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue either: “too” “ah” “reg” is the most common way to say it, “twah” “reg” is the Mosman way. In the US, VW ran a television advertising campaign just on the pronunciation of the thing.
The Touareg name is designed to conjure up images of great desert treks and at least one foreign journalist sought to find a Tuareg tribe in a Touareg.
The R50’s engine is a tweaked and tuned version of the regular Touareg V10 diesel but with 12 per cent more power (230kW to 258kW) and 13 per cent more torque (750Nm to 850Nm). Incredibly, maximum pulling power is achieved at just 2000rpm.
The result is breathtaking. It makes light work of the Touareg’s considerable 2.5-tonne weight, trimming the 0 to 100kmh acceleration time from 7.4 to 6.8 seconds. More importantly, though, is the improvement to acceleration once you’re already on the move.
Thankfully, VW has seen fit to equip its most expensive and most powerful car with big brakes that have excellent stopping power, performance tyres and sports-tuned suspension.
The R50 is no slouch and it steers predictably and feels secure in corners but the Cayenne GTS certainly has a sharper edge.
It’s interesting we’re even comparing handling characteristics of 4WDs at all but it’s a sign of the times. It’s well documented that most buyers rarely venture off the beaten track.
According to marketing experts, most people buy 4WDs because of the commanding view and tall driving position, the practicality of a wagon and, apparently, because a 4WD looks cooler than a people-mover at the hardware store or the kids’ football match.
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