Range Rover vs Touareg Part I

[Urodock]

I do not change cars very often, I tend to buy a car and drive it until it is
Just to hard to repair. A 1979 f-150 4-wheel drive base model lasted me thru 2
Engines and 180,000 miles, it in fact still runs but is no longer street worthy
And I use it around the farm only. In 1996 I bought a range rover, it lasted
190,000 miles and was traded in on a 2006 v-10 Touareg which now has
19000 miles. I am going to compare the egg to the rover, in a totally
subjective manner. And by the way I cannot type, or spell, my punctuation is
horrible, and I hate word processors, don’t tell me I should learn, in real life it
is more efficient to hire folks to type things.

OFF ROAD- I do a lot of off road driving, duh why else own a 4 wheel
Drive. Around here off road means on mud and frankly neither the egg or
Rover are too good in mud. The egg was awful with the stock tire, I mean
Pitiful, my first trip to a spot I regularly went with the rover ended with it
Sliding sideways along a hill damn near hitting a tree, and unable to climb the
Small red clay hill. I have replaced the tires with all terrain, and learned to cut
ESP off, and it does better, I do not have the confidence in it I had in the
Rover. The rover is smoother in pastures, 30 miles a hour across a pasture and
not spill a drop of scotch on the dash that the egg spills at 10. Now wadding
water I must call it a tie or give the egg an edge. There is a creek I have to
wade to leave my place sometimes and the egg really feels stable in running
water crossing the creek, I often cross 50 yards of up to 12 inch running
water and Feels a little more stable than the rover.
Off road rover wins easy

BRAKES- both are good and stop the cars good, Eggs seem slightly better,
Both make so dam much dust on the wheels its pitiful, eggs seem to make
Slightly more dust.
Tie

ACCELERATION HANDLING- No contest, my wife’s suburban could
Smoke the rover. The 4.0 v8 model was just grossly inadequate in pickup,
Once up to speed it was nice, (if driving a tank is nice) you were stable and
felt Safe, the ride was very comfortable, but non responsive, it cornered like a
tank It did stop well, but then took 5 minutes to get back up to 80, for cruising
a Interstate it was ok, otherwise it sucked. The egg handles closer to the wife’s
Trans am than suburban (yes its true we are southern trailer trash at heart and
Have a black trans am) I just dam well Love driving the egg, just think go
Faster and it does, I never understood torque, never even asked how much
Torque a car has, but I always will now. It feels faster than it is, and feels like
It corners better than it does, it’s as quiet as the rover, depending on what tires
Are on them they seem about equal in road noise. The egg just blows the rover
Away on road, not even close.
On road egg by a ton

INTERIOR- well the rovers seats and leather were nicer. British just seem
To understand leather. The seats were much, much more comfortable, now in
fairness my wife Feels the eggs seats are more comfortable. The rover’s wood
was a dam sight Nicer and looked like wood not plastic. However the rovers
excellent leather And wood were seemingly glued loosely to each other in a
shop full of Retards, the glove box never closed right, there were gaps
between panels, the Headliner came loose. The eggs materials are not as nice
but they fit much Better.
Tie

[Urodock]

Part II

STEREO- The touaregs stereo is not nearly as good, not close, on the other
Hand the rovers broke a lot. But really adding a XM scab on, poor sound, egg
Needs serious upgrade.
Rover wins by big margin (well when it works)

TOWING- who knows the dealer cant get the eggs plug to work properly, this
Has been the most annoying thing so far about the car. It’s just pitiful how
Clueless the dealer seems to be on this, gonna give um another try at 20k.


SERVICE- now we are talking quality of service not reliability. Here the
Rover wins hands down. They have nice dealerships, try and not make you
Wait, treat you well and try very hard. Volkswagens take care of to many bug
Owners and have real problems here. They do not charge as much, seriously
I read about how much they cost to service and laugh, get a rover and find out
What tires brakes and tune-ups can really cost, 450 dollars for a door latch,
5000 for a master cylinder, 2000 to fix air bags over and over. Bills regularly
4 to 5k a trip, but while VW doesn’t charge as much they really don’t treat
you as well and don’t seem to try as hard, and are seemingly clueless.
Dealer’s advantage to rover

RELIABILITY- so far the egg has been great, really no problems other than
The tow package won’t hook up right. Now I read about problems with 04
Eggs and laugh. I honestly think the worst egg stories are average for rovers.
190,000 miles, and dozens of tries to fix, but the rover always leaked
A small puddle of oil. It was towed 150 miles to the dealer at least 12 times,
Everything on it broke, why I didn’t sell it at 100k I have no idea, I loved the
Car and I just seem to keep cars forever, but I have a 1inch stack of repairs
And could have easily paid for a new car in repair bills. Engine problems
Electronics always broken, air shocks replaced over and over (finally changed
To Springs) I just always seemed to have faith it would work better, I take
care of It still looked good and got 7k trade in, but it never worked and cost a
fortune To repair. An alternator cost more to replace than an engine on the
f 150.
Big advantage to egg here (might be different with a 04)

This was to much typing, and probably to much to read, could say more, but
Going to stop. Unfortunately I cannot say overall which car I like best. If they
Cost the same I might go for the rover, maybe, but I would not pay a penny
More for the rover, and currently it cost more so I have to say the Touareg
Wins. In addition its only 60 miles to closet VW dealer and 150 to rover so
That Helps. I like the egg, prefer it on road, but miss the rover going across
The Pasture. Unfortunately it was broken too much and to slow on road. So

Winner-Touareg v10

[nltomba]

I guess you do not know what a new alternator on the V10 costs?

Reason why your egg performed so poorly in the dirt were the tires.
The V10 TDI was designed to go 120+ on the autobahn and has v rated tires to do that. Do not know what tires you have currently but nitto terra grapplers among other tires are pretty off road capable.
I think with a Touareg you get the best of two worlds excellent on troad and excellent off road. Of course it can always be done better but you would sacrifice something else.
There are lots of things I disagree on but then everybody is different.
I too drive things till the wheels fall off. My expedition currently has 206,000 miles on it on the first engine and is still very streetworthy

[Rickanns]

Don't apologize for your style, it is real Texan (a compliment from a native). Enjoyed your whole write up. I have never owned a Rover, but have had several Blazers and Jeeps. The Touareg blows them away hands down. With the V10, you cannot get down to 17" rims, or I would tell you the get a set of BFG All Terrains. Rocks don't cut the sidewalls and mesquite doesn't puncture them either.

Even with hunting and mountain 4 wheeling, I probably don't get off road more than 2-3% of the miles, but I wouldn't trade for the Touareg when I do. Knock on wood, I haven't even stuck it in the sand hills around here although quail and pheasant seasons are upon us.

I bought an early 04 with the full intention of trading before 50k warranty( actually 54k because we had to order one properly equipped). My 07 should last many, many miles unless I get the uncontrollable urge for a V6 TDI.

Rick

[ania]

WHat kind of sound system do you have?
My T2 with Tech Pkg has an upgrated sound system that is simply AWESOME!

My advise to all potential buyers: Unless money is no problem, FORGET the leather interior, 99% of people won't be able to tell the difference anyway. Go with Tech Pkg, so much more fun!

[Doudodat]

Had a 96 Range, loved the truck. Not to many issues untill the motor blew. I am not a hard driver and never in my life blew a motor. The Range is designed to do some kool stuff off road, but it is a truck. I love my new 08 T2, sport utility. It does every thing the Range did, faster and more nimble. And the motor in my 05 never blew. Anyway truck vs suv can you really compare?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by nltomba

I guess you do not know what a new alternator on the V10 costs?

$5000 installed and 3-4 weeks in rental.

[kh500]

Thanks for the article.

It's just what I like to hear Rover vs. Touareg as I currently own 2000 Discovery 77K miles (and struggle to keep) and just purchased 2005 Touareg last week! (and very excited. )

[jwestpro]

Originally Posted by Doudodat

Had a 96 Range, loved the truck. Not to many issues untill the motor blew. I am not a hard driver and never in my life blew a motor. The Range is designed to do some kool stuff off road, but it is a truck. I love my new 08 T2, sport utility. It does every thing the Range did, faster and more nimble. And the motor in my 05 never blew. Anyway truck vs suv can you really compare?

These comparisons are a little unequal though... an 08 T2, we have one now, is more comparable to a modern Range Rover. I had an 07 RR supercharged last year and let me tell you, for what it was designed to be, it's an amazing vehicle. No it doesn't handle like this V10 T2 cornering at high speed however it is so smooth on the hwy and feels very solid and safe. It was WAY quieter inside the cabin due to 3x layer front glass and 2x on the side (most other cars are maybe 2x front and 1x side). While the T2 feels so incredibly sporty and tight handling as well as it's cockpit, which I like, the RR was plush yet refined and solid. I'd give some aspects to VW on interior fit/finish but the RR is well done.

The interior space is much better in the RR than T2/ I am pretty sure our bmw 328 wagon will hold as much stuff as the T2 and you can still access the 2nd row footwell for gear whereas the T2 blocks the way with the 2nd row seat bottoms. Sure, the RR seats fold down, then forward as one unit but they are super easy to move and do not get bound up by the back of the front seats rear face.

If you are like me and desire to remove the rear seats every once in a while for big trips where the rear seats are useless, the RR seats come out with simple tools and maybe 4 bolts easy to find. The VW is a maze of bolting and weird foam that I would be hesitant to remove and replace too often.

The T2 has more comfortable front passenger seats though, to me, if you are on the narrower side rather than wider side which the RR is more suited to The RR seats are good but nothing will beat the BMW X5 lux plus level seats with upper articulated back, power side bolsters, multi-forming head rest, etc. ...and they only cost $6000 per seat if you can get a BMW dealer to sell them to you without a bmw vin.

OFFROAD: well, the RR and LR3 are likely better if you are looking for the most rugged of terrain however if we were racing across firmer terrain, I'd choose the T2 V10. However, the T2 with air suspension only has 5.5" of wheel travel which is limiting regardless of locking middle and rear diffs. The LR3 has 13" travel which helps keep tires contacting the surfaces longer, thus providing more traction and power in more situations. The T2 appears to have more clearance overall than the LR3 but really the lr3 weak point is it's very low rear diff. When the lr3 goes into extended mode (higher than the user selectable "high"), it is quite high, nearly at my knee cap at the bottom of side sill which is higher than the T2. The T2 does not have the low area under the rear diff though and allows user to access the highest setting manually.

The T2 is just plain cool though - getting better mpg, way more ooomph in accelerating, etc. It's more "fun" to drive but I think the lr3 would get "through" more rugged stuff.

The RR will do everything the lr3 will do but it's just a sweeter ride however a gas guzzling beastie. The T2 is just a great blend of many things and better at some of them over the newest Rovers and darn near in the other areas.

[Doudodat]

It's a Ford!!!!!!!!!