[Dannyboy485]

Generally, North Americans want armchair seats, 7 seats and cup holders. Doesn’t matter what is under the skin and how well it’s designed, built, etc… hence not enough people want the Touareg here. Different in Europe.
Uneducate the person on the street and they will expect less!!
Look at the pickup as an example! It was a utilitarian workshorse! Now it’s an overweight , too soft suspension with comfy interior, aircon and that couldn’t pull skin off rice pudding! With antequated running gear and brakes, massive V8 with horsepower and very little torque!!
The Touareg was always understated and not marketed properly, couple that with techs not properly trained to deal with this and VW America or VW Canada denign everything that is a problem and people will go elsewhere
That was part of its appeal, very few people knew what a good design it was.
Long live the Touareg…!
Anyway… rant over!

“I wonder what I would buy next?”
Porsche, Aston…?

Pretty much to the T.

Most North Americans buy on looks rather than practicality. Some buy them to keep up with the "Jones" neighbors. Some are terrible with financial decisions and live beyond their means. Hell some some of mechanics that I work with don't know their ass from their elbow when it comes to their own vehicles. Even asking a simple question like fuel consumption is met with an answer like $100 per week.
Sigh....

The only regret I have with my Treg is that I wished I'd got one in a bit better condition but for $13k cdn what do you expect.

 

[Dannyboy485]

I could but unfortunately the examples here are not really that much better and overpriced. Going futher afield costs time and money. So I'll consider that I got a good deal considering that it was a mechanic special and eat my cake.

Considering I got mine from a Ford dealership I'm not surprised about the traded in condition. The work order didn't even diagnose the DPF was hooped. And ford wanted to charge $500 to change a sunvisor clip which they failed on safety inspection.

Even the cheapest TDI here is a 2011 with 240k going for $15k. God knows what mechanical condition it's in....

 

[Dannyboy485]

A friend around then got an alltrak for ~18 new as they were so desperate.

I got my wife hooked on a exc line alltrack, difficult to find now that aren't overpriced.

 

[Dannyboy485]

ID4 is for people that spend most of their time in city traffic, which is the perfect place for them. Not like the 10% or less of truck owners that actually use their trucks for their intended purpose instead of being pavement queens.

Test drove an ID4, while it isn't an exc line touareg comfortable, it's not trying to be. Because it doesn't come with touareg price point. It's an affordable daily for the vast majority. And running costs are next to nothing. A big plus for the vast majority.

I'm a heavy duty diesel mechanic and I welcome change such as electrified cars.

 

[Dannyboy485]

I'd rock (and could easily get by with) an e-golf or ID4 or whatever for my daily commute\routine\majority of needs..... they just aren't financially feasible so I stick with 2 ICE vehicles in the driveway instead.

Had a 2018 E-golf for 5 days while my jetta was getting damage repaired from a hit and run which I asked very nicely as a loaner. Only option it didn't have was the digital cockpit. The heat pump is soooo nice in cold weather and it was quite peppy for a small single motor. Only thing I didn't like was the usual mk7 fat ass compliant base seats. Zero support

 

[Dannyboy485]

I could live with all that eco feel stuff.... I just can't see ROI on a 50k EV...... ever....

Holy... they were selling them for $30k with 20k on the clock here. After the pandemic it shot up

 

[Dannyboy485]

E-golf was $30k , yes ID4s are $50k.
VWs only saving grace is they have nowhere near the same amount of battery fires as Tesla, GM and Hyundai/Kia. They've got that right