On my current car I have the original Goodyears, nice quiet tyre, can't comment on tyre life as I purchased the car at 11,000kms, they still looked pretty fresh, I suspect the car wasn't driven much in 2 years to rack up 11k.
anyway, previous experience with my Q7 (Bigger and heavier car) was It had Cooper Zeon LTZ's on it when I bought it, they had done about 30,000km and were looking a bit down, but not worn out, they were however very noisy ( could have been wheel alignment problem previously). They were however quite good off road for a 20 inch tyre. They did get to the stage where they lost most of their grip in the wet and also didnt seem to be wearing out any more....
I replaced them with Nexen Ru5 tyres on recommendation from a tyre dealer. I was hesitant at first as I have always gone with the Michelin/Pirelli/Continental brigade but found them to be outrageously expensive for 275/45/20 with the right load rating for the Q7.
At $220 per tyre I didn't expect much but was pleasantly suprised, they were quiet, lasted 45,000km(which is more than can be said for most tyres on Q7's - usually about 30-35k does them in) and gripped well in both wet and dry. I will certainly look at them again when the time comes to replace the goodyears.
Whether they will perform the same on the Touareg as the Q7 I don't know but I would regard them as a good tyre.
( also never needed rebalancing during their life unlike some tyres)
Matthew
