Do you still wonder why NA lost the Touareg?

Spiegelglatt said:

It does suck they stopped selling them here, but in all fairness they neutered it first with the 2011 on…so not missing much.

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My first 2005 T1 had diff locker, air suspension...all the tricks....sweet Reed Green paint even. I get what you're saying.

IMHO, though, the 'neutered' 2011-2017 delivered a big improvement to the platform. Quieter, better handling, roomier, a relatable diesel. No 4X motion, no air, no piano hinge rear seats...but in simplicity, I think VW delivered much better reliability.

The T1 was an amazing, unique vehicle.....SUV of the year even....that - in my experience was also a POS that left me stranded three times. At 11k miles, I'd had enough. Hell, the shop even REMOVED the engine once to fix whatever (typing this just triggered that memory) . In the end, VW rewarded my patience with a sweet 'equity transfer' deal that put me into a later build 2005.

They got the second one right. I put 125000 miles on it (thank you VW Driver warranty purchased thru this site from a kid in NJ) before trading it in on a 2013 TDI Exec. 36000 miles later, I flipped that in on my current 2016 TDI Exec.

Soooo....mileage may vary....but 135000 T1 miles v 145000 "T3" miles has me tipping my hat to the later models in terms of performance reliabily and value.

I always considered the Touareg to be an Audi Q6....slotting between the Q5 and Q7.