VW
What's up with the
No air suspension
No blind spot warning
No Dynaudio
No radar cruise
And no marketing of the otherwise awesome and loaded t3 hybrid

Load it up, add the sport suspension and sell it for $65k. They will buy.

BTW noobs they should hire you for the test marketing panel for the T4 development. Something tells me it would come out looking like a diesel powered T1. It's like you're allergic to the T3 and it's awesomeness.

 

VW
What's up with the
No air suspension
No blind spot warning
No Dynaudio
No radar cruise
And no marketing of the otherwise awesome and loaded t3 hybrid

Load it up, add the sport suspension and sell it for $65k. They will buy.

BTW noobs they should hire you for the test marketing panel for the T4 development. Something tells me it would come out looking like a diesel powered T1. It's like you're allergic to the T3 and it's awesomeness.

I know you think I rubbish the T3, but it is a very good car [and I've now driven 6 including the Hybrid] albeit not as capable in its totallity as the T1/2, but I'll come back to that if you will bear with me.

What I rubbish is not car itself, but VW's approach to the now well known NVH problems that afflict SOME T3s and for which there seems to be no coherent strategy by VW to a] acknowledge the problem if an owner complains and b] find and implement a fix.

I think VW could generate more goodwill and a better image by being honest rather than offering the duplicitous excuses that have been wheeled out by by VW corporate and, in many cases, their dealers too in different countries that include, from my observation of various posts, Germany, UK, America, Canada, Australia and, I think from memory, Singapore too.

If I knew for sure that VW would replace a Rampant Rabbit car without any of the nonsense they currently force unhappy owners to go through, then I would happily recommend the T3 though I would be far happier if we knew for certain there was a surefire, 110% fix for existing cars and that no more would come off the production line with the problem.

However the problem persists, cars are being lemoned, cars are being returned and VW continues to lie, and that's why I warn people off the T3 at this time as I don't think it's worth the aggravation if you get a dud.

Going back to the capability of the current standard T3 versus the T1/2, as a T1 owner whose car is off road every day and who has never used the gizmo knob for low ratio or diff lock because the car is so capable when just left in D to point and squirt wherever I want it to go or when I can use Tiptronic to hold a low gear on an awkward slope, I personally have no problem with the deletion of the low range, after all, 99.9% of Touaregs never cope with anything worse than parking in a wet field at a gymkhana or mounting a 5 inch kerb to park on the pavement [sidewalk].

Having said that I can see some would like the air option with the 8 speed box and others would like the high/low/locking diff with or without air so those options should be available worldwide.

As for me, my T3 spec would indeed be the 3 litre Tdi with 17 inch wheels, cloth seats, no sunroof [no surprise there!], TWIN headlights with separate xenons for low and main beam, and the rear tailgate glass would still be an opener too!

The one thing I really don't like about the T3 is that grille.

I know why they have done it - it's the current VW house style or design signature or whatever else they like to call it - and there I think they have gone wrong: I think they have demonstrated that they do not understand the premium 4x4 market sector that they seek to be in, a market sector that is a significant cut above their high volume Polo/Golf/Passat models.

Most people who have paid 60,000 and more of whatever currency [US dollars, euros, GB pounds] they have dug deep for want a car that looks what it cost.

It's one of the reasons Range Rovers sell so well. The people who buy them aren't buying them just because they are so damned capable and a very nice place to be transported in, they are also buying them because the car says on their behalf "Look at me - I' ve made it."

Now a lot of us like the Touareg precisely because it IS discreet. I've seen posts from folk saying they get away with a Touareg in front of their clients whereas they couldn't turn up in a Cayenne or a Range Rover, and I understand that.

But I still think it is possible for the car to continue being discreet without looking like a bloated Golf.

So my T4 would probably look much the same as my ideal T3, but the grille would not repeat VW's current "silly grin"!

 

No Lambo doors
No under car lights
No cherry bomb exhaust
No convertible option
No color changing paint

Come on VW

You forgot the 24 inch chrome wheels!

Come on VW

 

Nice, lol!
The one thing I've noticed about Treg drivers is that they actually show some restraint with the mods

There are some serious abominations that have been posted on the porsche cayenne forums

Wonder how these two vehicles divide owners in terms of common sense / taste?

 

Noobs
From what I gather the T1 was at least as problematic if not more so than the T3, with widespread issues from mundane to major. Still one of my favorite SUVs of its vintage. Don't have any reason to think VWoA was any more generous or accommodating at that time. Not to minimize the inconvenience to the current T3 owners affected by such issues-- but unless you have objective data that there are universal unfixable design flaws then I have to put these unfortunate stories in the same bin as the reports that all Panamera drivers have to stop and add 1-2 quarts of oil at the roadside every 500 miles and lose some dignity to keep their $120k sport sedan running, with no recourse from PCNA. Troubling but actual frequency hard to ascertain.

Why not bemoan something objective like the fact that VAG designs their autos to require complete engine removal for routine removal and replacement of common components?

Nickm
Well said about pleasing the most critical voices. We all understand Noobs is a VW fan disguised as a VW critic

 

Noobs

Why not bemoan something objective like the fact that VAG designs their autos to require complete engine removal for routine removal and replacement of common components?

I heard about that, but thought it was the V10 TDI only. Do any of the other engines need to be dropped for routine R&R?

 

Noob--keep up the good work! I almost always learn something or my thinking is stimulated by your posts.

 

Noob--keep up the good work! I almost always learn something or my thinking is stimulated by your posts.

Oh dear, I'll have to be nice now!!

 

I posted that from my phone and did not see your post a minute before mine!

 

The 12 oz curls began 20 minutes ago. Stone IPA.

 

The 12 oz curls began 20 minutes ago. Stone IPA.

I am having a Fixed Gear Red Ale myself....I do like Stone products though I don't have any right now.

 

I was drinking some Black IPA from a local brewery here tonight, so I guess you could say we think a like!

 

... when you put the battery under the seat!

 

VW What Were You Thinking?

Putting a GPS in my Tuareg and still having the clock set manually. Really?

 

Beer, battery and SATNAV - good combo there!

 

VW, what were you thinking circa 2000, when you designed a $10 PCV plastic valve , on a $12000 engine, that has the power when frozen, to blow the seals on both valve cover gaskets????

 

VW, what were you thinking when implementing $5 drainage rubber grommets, literally prone to blockage just by sneezing on them, on each side of the bulkhead under the windshield, to handle the drainage of mass amounts of water over the course of the life of the vehicle? What were you thinking?

Ditto for the AC rubber drain tube leading from the pollen filter housing to the firewall. VW what were you thinking when designing that $5 AC drain pipe, with THAT nipple on the end, that's prone to blocking up from a Dandelion seed?

2 blocked $5 rubber grommets + 1 blocked $5 AC rubber drain tube = $5000-$1000 in repairs unless one visits this forum, that's what you were thinking.

Love my Touareg

 

VW, what were you thinking when implementing $5 drainage rubber grommets, literally prone to blockage just by sneezing on them, on each side of the bulkhead under the windshield, to handle the drainage of mass amounts of water over the course of the life of the vehicle? What were you thinking?

Ditto for the AC rubber drain tube leading from the pollen filter housing to the firewall. VW what were you thinking when designing that $5 AC drain pipe, with THAT nipple on the end, that's prone to blocking up from a Dandelion seed?

2 blocked $5 rubber grommets + 1 blocked $5 AC rubber drain tube = $5000-$1000 in repairs unless one visits this forum, that's what you were thing.

Love my Touareg

Let's also mention the sunroof drain tube connectors that fail and do water damage also. VW's cheapness of designs that fail have become legendary. If VW is going to design automated CAD machines to build and assemble their vehicles, they better get off of their ass and design automated CAD machines to service them flawlessly also, to remove the human error their technicians inflict on these vehicles like stripped drain plugs in oil pans and spilling DEF all over the truck of my 2012 passat TDI by not using the proper filler which is spill proof and instead using bulk DEF and a funnel, with very, very corrosive material.

 

you can adjust the brightness or simply turn them off via the multifunction unit (comfort) on your steering wheel.

 

In a North American T3, circa 2011-2013, the adjustment is featured in the Infotainment Center (read "car radio" to us old farts) under the "Car" menu. Scroll down until you find something similar to "footwell lighting".

Still trying to find my "compass" or "direction heading" feature to replace the radio or SD card icon in the upper left dash so I know what general direction I am going in, kinda nice to have at night. Only a $50,000 vehicle, you'd think they'd turn it on, along with the "keybfob operates windows up and down" feature, from the factory.

 

I didn't really notice this the first time I turned on my headlights driving home from Las Vegas, NV to Los Angeles, but I did notice it last night.

Turn running or headlights on, and all the footwells light up and stay lit.

If I have my headlights on, and I am driving, at night, why would I be looking down at or near my feet, when my eyes need to be on the road?

VW, what were you thinking?


I find it so unnecessary and unbelievable that they would even think to do this. More bulbs to burn out? should I equip them all as LED's rated 50,000 hours when they go?

Sometimes it takes a while for mere mortals like ourselves to work out the "Why?" that our German friends had in mind such as when they provisioned these excellent footwell lights, but last night I think I discovered what lay behind their thinking.

You see, Fritz was probably out walking late one warm summer's evening with his wife Heidi whilst they were testing one of the Touareg prototypes and, after a pleasant interlude beside the Rhine, they got back into the car.

A few moments later, Heidi said to Fritz, "I can smell dog ****e".

" Really", said Fritz, sniffing the air.

" Yes" said Heidi [of course all this was in German you understand] "and it's coming from your side of the car".

Well Fritz did what everyone does and bends his head to sniff, whereupon his nose finally catches the dreadful pong.

Worse, he put his hand down in the darkened footwell and suddenly realises the dog ****e that was on his shoe is now on his fingers as well.

"Yuck! Dog muck!" said Fritz as all romantic thoughts disappeared into the stench. "Bloody dogs!"

And that, dear readers, is why, the following morning, Fritz went to his CAD machine and put the lights in the footwells and that is why I only almost put my finger in the dog ****e but, thanks to those lights, saw it on my shoe just in time.

So, don't knock the floor lights!!

Thank you Fritz [and love to Heidi!].

 

Sometimes it takes a while for mere mortals like ourselves to work out the "Why?" that our German friends had in mind such as when they provisioned these excellent footwell lights, but last night I think I discovered what lay behind their thinking.

You see, Fritz was probably out walking late one warm summer's evening with his wife Heidi whilst they were testing one of the Touareg prototypes and, after a pleasant interlude beside the Rhine, they got back into the car.

A few moments later, Heidi said to Fritz, "I can smell dog ****e".

" Really", said Fritz, sniffing the air.

" Yes" said Heidi [of course all this was in German you understand] "and it's coming from your side of the car".


Well Fritz did what everyone does and bends his head to sniff, whereupon his nose finally catches the dreadful pong.

Worse, he put his hand down in the darkened footwell and suddenly realises the dog ****e that was on his shoe is now on his fingers as well.

"Yuck! Dog muck!" said Fritz as all romantic thoughts disappeared into the stench. "Bloody dogs!"

And that, dear readers, is why, the following morning, Fritz went to his CAD machine and put the lights in the footwells and that is why I only almost put my finger in the dog ****e but, thanks to those lights, saw it on my shoe just in time.

So, don't knock the floor lights!!

Thank you Fritz [and love to Heidi!].

Germans are soooo lame and narrow minded! My biggest concern after a mountain bike ride is coyote scat, cow schiesse, road apples, rabbit raisins and Bambi droppings. So limiting, this technology!

Which of course, doesn't do doodly for a Porsche or an Audi or a VW owner... once it's on your shoe and you tracked it in on your Monster Mats, who cares whether you can see it or not? It's too late!

 

In the Cayenne the footwell lights only come on when it detects a whiff of poo.

 

LOL!! Typical Porsche!

 

It's not called footwell lighting.
It is called ambient lighting, AKA "ambiance."

 

Isn't an ambiance what you call when you've had an akadent.

 

"Lawn sausage"!!!!!!

Another new one on me. God, I love this tread, sorry, thread!!

If only . . .

 

I would be surprised if VWoA marketing didn't read some of these threads.

I would be flabbergasted if they did anything different in response.

Most likely they post or forward the more outrageous stuff for internal ridicule.

My friends at Microsoft used to do that all the time... The assumption is that we the American consumer are idiots.... Can they be blamed?

 

Here is another can of worms. What were you thinking VW, when you did not make so many built-in vehicle features (other than related to country-specific safety regulations) - such as aforementioned window opening with fob (and the list goes on) - unavailable to change using Infotainment System interface? Why do people need to buy VAG-COM to program very basic things risking to enter a wrong code in wrong spot or losing warranty if dealer will decide to be formal and nasty?
P.S. It was fun to read about Dr. Fritz Poopenheimer’s adventures and related pearls…

 

Nooby what do you do for a living...I am just curious. I guess when they "stripped down the T3" they where looking for gas mileage as barrel prices go up and on road driveability as land is developed.

As expensive as these SUV's are I am not really ready yet to go 4 wheeling and beat the snot out of the paint and rockers. I may go fishing off road or skiing where I need clearance and traction, so that is another take versus having a beast of an off roader with 2 level transfer case.

I like my T3. I would prolly get a Landcruiser if I was into off road or had a moonscape of a long driveway. It still has towing power but i have never driven a T2.

 

Nooby what do you do for a living...I am just curious. I guess when they "stripped down the T3" they where looking for gas mileage as barrel prices go up and on road driveability as land is developed.

As expensive as these SUV's are I am not really ready yet to go 4 wheeling and beat the snot out of the paint and rockers. I may go fishing off road or skiing where I need clearance and traction, so that is another take versus having a beast of an off roader with 2 level transfer case.

I like my T3. I would prolly get a Landcruiser if I was into off road or had a moonscape of a long driveway. It still has towing power but i have never driven a T2.

Maybe I'm detecting a little bit of sensitivity to the truth behind Nooby's
"stripped down" comment? Nooby is merely pointing out that VW took what the Touareg was originally purposed as, which was a very off-road capable showcase of German Engineering, and turned it into a (for the most part) indistinguishable-from-the-pack SUV here in the US. I think of it as a larger version of the Tiguan rather than the tough and luxurious Touareg that it was in the two previous iterations. There is of course nothing wrong with that but it is cause to consider the T3 as a less superior version (again, for it's originally intended purpose in the VW lineup) to the T1 and T2 versions. Now if you could get a T3 with the 4xmotion system in the US then you are back into what Touaregs were originally intended for. This is also the same with the new Audi Allroad; looks really nice but without the air-suspension to set it apart from the A6, it just isn't the same as the older versions.

All I know is the T3 should have been named after a less-nomadic tribe.

I strongly believe that the T3's should get their own section here on CT as there isn't as much of a shared knowledge/experience base. This is how it is on the Vortex as each time they come out with a new platform there is a lot of new and different things to talk about. It also makes it easier to sort through the mass of info here when you know that someone isn't chiming in with a T1 based response that doesn't apply to the T3-only issue being discussed. I see this happen quite often now.

Just a suggestion.

 

VW, what were you thinking? My 09 jetta has a 110v outlet on the backside of the console, while my "premium" SUV costing $20,000+ more does not. Yes, my Treg has one, but not in a convenient location.

 

They watch “Simpsons” in Germany too. Point is: no pizza cooking if you’re in the driver’s seat.

 

I like the T1 and the models that followed. There's plenty to be learned across the generations of this platform. T3 is not such a clean break to be irrelevant to these discussions esp in the ROW where the 4xmotion and air are still available. It's not the same vehicle but after driving the offerings from other marques, the T3 is definitely not just like everything else that's out there, or watered down unless you decide to go very basic. For about the same money I still chose the T3 hybrid over Merc ML, X5, and RR sport. Options, appointments, handling and straight line performance all competitive with these one time class leaders at that $60-65k level. If you spend more you get more but you can't option a T3 beyond that so you have to look at cayenne at that point. Obviously those who got TDI execs fare even better in the price performance equation.

What I'm saying is that T3 is a logical evolution of a tried and tested platform that still outclasses its competitors as it did back then. If you don't care for the weight loss and new styling that's your thing, but you can't disown your legacy. In this case there's lots to be happy about with this legacy, and that's an opinion that's been formed by driving all the examples of this platform since it came out, and driving the competitors, and not being impressed just because the hood or grill had a certain oversized roundel or ornament.

 

I like the T1 and the models that followed. There's plenty to be learned across the generations of this platform. T3 is not such a clean break to be irrelevant to these discussions esp in the ROW where the 4xmotion and air are still available. It's not the same vehicle but i can assure after driving everything its not just like everything else that's out there, I can assure you that for about the same money I still chose the T3 hybrid over Merc ML, X5, and RR sport. Options, appointments, handling and straight line performance all better than the competitors at the $60-65k level. Obviously those who got TDI execs fare even better.

What I'm saying is that T3 is a logical evolution of the platform that still outclasses its competitors as it did back then. If you don't care for the weight loss and new styling that's your thing, but you can't disown your legacy. In this case there's lots to be happy about with this legacy, and that's an opinion that's been formed by driving all the examples of this platform and others.

For this old man's needs, the T3 is the cat's meow for trailering an ultra light trailer for camping. I have the old 1987 Toyota 4x4 with the bomber transfer case, Aisin hubs, and 22RE Fuel Injected 2.4 liter motor for real rock crawling, and if you're hard core out here in the Western United States, you buy a Jeep and mod the crap out of it for your Moab, or Durango or Rubicon rig.

My T3 is almost perfect, just wish it had a manual transmission, but that's about it. And some Nitto Terra Grapplers.