Is The VW Touareg the Ultimate OFF-ROAD SLEEPER? We Claw Our Way Up Moab's Slick Rock to Find Out!

[Music] this is a 2004 first-generation Volkswagen Touareg and in this video series we're proving that this vehicle is the ultimate off-road sleeper and today we're going to put it to the ultimate off-road test [Music] welcome to Volkswagens moonshot because the Touareg is not your typical SUV Volkswagen saw what the German competition was doing and said I think we can do absolutely everything better [Music] I do here in Moab we see a lot of Wranglers and this vehicle could have come equipped with everything that a reindeer rubicon has which is crazy right yeah I mean to think about the fact that you can get not only a center lock by the rear lock a front lock and a discus able sway bar Tommy puts this in a class all of its own in other words it makes it the most off-road worthy sleeper that I can think of and that's what we're trying to prove here to see just how well Volkswagen is able to combine two things that don't go together right on road and off road the two are at the opposite ends of the spectrum to prove that in fact this is the ultimate off-road sleeper we've only done one modification to this Volkswagen that's right here tire so we've got a set of 32-inch BFG ko2 tires but other than that this is exactly how this car would have come out of the factory bone-stock this is fins and things of perfect and difficult test of a vehicle's off-road ability and over the years we've named some these obstacles the tests different aspects of a vehicle's off-road ability and today we're going to do them all to see just how good that Touareg is offroad so we have the buck country which is a straight downhill the tests just how much adhesion the tires have we have my favorite one Tree Hill a very steep uphill in the sand to see just how well it could climb we have the buttscratcher testing its approach and departure angles and of course there is the chassis bender a straight down hill with the stuff in it the tests how much ground clearance it has so those are all coming up right now and I can't wait to do them because I think that the track is gonna just ace this test [Music] we call this the v-notch as you can tell a lot of vehicles will either drag their butt or scratch their chin here and what it does is a test of vehicles approach into part triangle so if you don't have enough approach angle you'll hit over here if you don't have enough departure angle just scrape your butt on that part so let's see how the Tuareg for all Europeans does all right Tommy there's a test of departure nothing unbelievable this particular one even has the air suspension which means in Max offered height we should have 12 inches of ground clearance but no no because we've got these 32 inch tall tires we now have 13 inches of ground clearance and max off-road height which is almost three inches more than you find in a wrangler rubicon yeah and let's face it the Wrangler we love yet but there is an extreme compromise for bond road comfort right you're basically taking and break into the wind yeah and you're taking a break with solid axles right body-on-frame construction yep and very knobby tires making for well not the most comfortable of on-road drives yeah for sure this one has adaptive suspension with three different comfort modes we have five-position heated seats in four of the five seats we of course have satellite and navigation I mean parking sensors v8 that's got a v8 good luck finding a Wrangler from the factory with a v8 you're not gonna do it 310 horsepower I this car was such a piece of these distance of technology of just over engineering and yet nobody remember that for that yeah and time to get this we even have onboard hair yeah we do actually have a factory onboard air for inflating and deflating the time if you want that in the Wrangler you got a knock on air V's door yep so to give the Touareg the best chance of making it up some of these difficult mobiles we're gonna air down the tires using our little boulder tools Pro tire deflator kit so check this out I've got these little deflator 's and how they work here is I actually just screw it on to the tire valve and then they use this knob on the back end to adjust how far I want to tie to the plate so this ledge is the chassis bender why does it call that because look there is someone's hitch cover what happens is the vehicle comes and basically drops down this ledge and you know knocks the chassis or if there's not enough departure angle the vehicle hits on its hitch if it has water on its butt once again you can bend the chassis but you know what we're not going to do this part we're not that crazy we're gonna do it over here it's still really hard still really steep but yeah at this point this is you know just a little bit of damage we could do a lot more than that really don't want to bend a chassis [Music] alright ready I'm ready on ok just like raisins not all to rags are built alike and okay seriously three years for us to find this one with the rear diff lock is extremely doing that slick beam in a Brookstone massage chair came an extra mode 13h of the grandparents oh yes 13 inches of ground clearance and no maybe spoke too soon there it's like being at the Brookstone massage chair now this car has hill descent control which is automatic and comes on when you're descending steep grades and definitely come on there [Music] nice work Tommy the Tuareg made that look easy One Tree Hill is next yeah this is one tree hill it's a test of a vehicle's adhesion it's very steep very slippery eater Walker and we're using the RAM rebel rouser as our support / chase vehicle so let's see how Andriy that's coming up come on up Andre let's talk about those numbers because the approach angle is 28 degrees the departure angle is 27 degrees and the break over is another whopping 27 degrees and that was before I put these massive tires on this vehicle now the tour it gets no respect by the off-road community even though underneath this car is extremely similar to something like an L f3 think about it it's largely unibody it's got four corner air suspension except on this vehicle you can get to eight walking dips that you can activate manually which I'm going to do now up One Tree Hill we round the other three it's all automatic soap if I mess this up I'm gonna skin into this tree but I am aired down with the Walker engaged so feel the weight there five thousand pounds work of this man all right let's do book venture [Music] this is but clincher and the reason if the buck puncher is because it's so steep that when you're going down on like a 200 degree angle you feel like you're on a roller coaster ride about to take the plunge down the first and steepest incline so Tommy gets to do this by himself I'll just watch and have them have all the fun [Music] come on Volkswagen let's not flip over the nose into the slick rock so yes an extra suspension setting I have the most grass beds but I also have the least amount of articulation and the ride is just so for its way to her extra mode whoa guy this is real steep while these brakes are amazing them come on grip oh wow there's just so much weight it's just fine the Volkswagen is good at this well Andrea wants to try it as well so I go for it Andre [Music] [Applause] [Music] we affectionately call these two obstacles the mini and of course the big chin scratcher you can also call it a scratcher because you'll hit both the nose and the tail of the vehicle so Andre is rolling on the RAM rebel rouser which we've leveled off at about two inches of lift thirty fives and of course it has all the truck goodies including a custom Teraflex lift so let's see if he hits his nose and his butt and then we'll see how a standard from the factory OEM track does that's just rolling out a little bit bigger tire all right Andre I hear you dude you're eager to scratch your butt come on down [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] you know Andrea the problem is the wheelbase is just way too long yeah you lost your spunk just the little things all right Tommy he's right pitch this chin and scratch this bud and plowed the front let's see if the track can do better so as amazing as the ground clearance and the approach and departure angles in the locker are the turret does have one pretty fatal flaw and that's the fact that it runs doesn't have underbody protection actually two flaws it doesn't have tow hooks either but if you look at the underside of a Touareg everything is super tucked in to the body so there really is no low-hanging fruits and I've jacked up the suspension to extra mode so I've got max approach departure and break over angles and I mean the amount of ground clearance in extra mode with these bigger tires is just absurd sliding down as Mitch what other vehicle can you put a tire that's two point six inches larger in diameter and really have to do no modification to whatsoever I had to bend in the inner fender well just a little bit in the front but we're having no clearance issues whatsoever after that and now I'm gonna be really impressed if the bumper doesn't fall off because I don't really have a hitch protection so let's see how we do in the front go first gear control active okay so the front end on these cars is a little bit ugly from being honest but it does mean that I have an exceptionally good approach angle okay what about the but this is gonna be where it's gonna get real ugly Wow [Music] no drama whatsoever what the heck dude are you serious you didn't touch the front didn't touch the rear I can't believe it Volkswagen power right there yeah toerag I think that's the holy vehicle we were taken down this and we've done a lot no that hasn't touched anything yeah that was pretty incredible I mean we didn't touch anything at any part of the trail I know I mean well I think we need to close this video because I've got some interesting thoughts about this beast okay [Music] [Music] what their wall [Music] unfortunately it was our support truck that got damaged and not the Volkswagen take a look at this we've got a little bit of fender rash down here and then the exhaust is not looking particularly factory anymore and the Volkswagen well how did it do it did incredible Tommy you know we saw punch or anglers on the trail and at the beginning this video I said it's really hard to do two things right to make a really comfortable on road car at the same time make it really off-road capable and yet that's what Volkswagen is done as I think we proved today so if you guys want the ultimate off-road sleeper I think there's only one vehicle for that it looks like it yeah first Jim and I discovered something pretty cool we'll play it in the little closing box as always this is Tommy and this is rhomin saying thanks for watching remember check out the TfL Tufte series and go to TfL car come for more news views and of course off-road real world reviews see you guys next time okay now check this out Ian pop in the back there this car has a secret weapon it sounds pretty darn cool [Music]

Channel: The Fast Lane Car

Views: 180,386

Rating: 4.8761663 out of 5

Keywords: touareg, offroad, moab, review, off-road, vw, volkswagen touareg (automobile model), volkswagen touareg, vw touareg off road, toureg, touareg rear diff lock, volkswagen touareg off road, volkswagen, volkswagen touareg off-roading, road, 4x4 offroad, touareg v8, hell's revenger in moab, touareg v8 hill climbing, hells revenge moab, tough t, fins & things, fins and things, trail, hells revenge

Id: dS2vUaGthUo

Length: 17min 17sec (1037 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 14 2019