Future troubles with a reconditioned Touareg?

[kevinmlamb]

I've been towing with my 2014 VW Touareg since I bought it new. I went through the whole emissions class-action lawsuit process and received checks that pretty much covered the purchase price of the vehicle. So I felt good about keeping it. That is until things started going sideways about a year later. The various problems that followed (intermittent power loss, engine chugging, diesel particulate filter warning light, check engine warning light, glow plug warning light, "limp mode" status) over a period of almost two years led to a complete engine replacement. Most of the symptoms remained after that, which finally led to the turbocharge system being replaced (I'm no mechanic and I don't have my service records in front of me, so I may not have the exact terminology right). That was done last December and the SUV has been running like a champ ever since. But I also haven't towed since then. Some of the big problems initiated when I was towing either my 19' International CCD (Lucinda) or a heavily loaded U-Haul trailer. We are planning some big trips with Lucinda coming up and I want to be able to trust my Touareg. My question: has anyone gone through something similar with their Touareg and come out mechanically sound, while towing, on the other side of all the repairs?

[Belegedhel]

My question would be how many miles do you have on the Tuareg?

In my experience, when any vehicle hits about 150k miles, things are just plain worn out, and that is when you start routinely replacing parts, be they worn suspension items, or engine components. If I found myself replacing an entire engine, the rest of the vehicle better be darned low mileage to justify the adventure.

I would say my exceptional case is my VW Tiguan. It has been a time hog since it had 55k miles on it. Last fall I replaced the timing chains just trying to get it to limp along another year or two to 150k, when I hope the car market will look a little more normal. Yes I know, a Tig and a diesel Tuareg are apples and oranges, but they both had the same source. Maybe I just had a lemon, but this has been my experience with a modern VW.

Good luck!

[JeffKim]

You might try posting in the VW/Audi/Porche thread. It's fairly active and has a lot of subscribers so someone might know something.

[ITSNO60]

I don't own a Touareg but I looked at them as a personal vehicle, not a TV. I ended up with a Sportwagen which has the smaller 2l TDI and it's been trouble free.
The one thing that you may or may not know is that it is not good to use these vehicles for a lot of short trips. Just 3 interrupted regens will put the DPF into a dealer only regen mode and that can happen to the unwary pretty quickly. I've always monitored mine and never interrupted a regen but I realize that is not for everyone. (Any modern SCR diesel can have issues if used for a lot of short trips, not just VW)
I really like the Touareg and came pretty close to buying one. If you go to the TDIclub forums the members there are pretty helpful. I will say that the Touareg is more luxurious and powerful than my Sportwagen which spells more things to go wrong. I haven't looked in the Touareg forum for a long time but some of the Sportwagen owners are getting well over 200,000 trouble free miles but those are the ones who commute long distances daily which these cars are made for.

[johndorst]

We now have 2 Touareg 3 TDI's, and 2014 (80k, 50k towing) and 2016 (70k, 2k towing, 27-28 mpg on daily 50 mile RT work commute).
The 2014 was bought new. Had a problem with the turbo not being sealed properly (if I recall correctly) and something with the transmission that required removing the front suspension and the engine to repair. Took the dealer over a week. Other than that, it's run like a champ.
2016 was purchased used about 2 years ago and has never had any problems. Prior owner's records showed no issues either.

Plan to retire soon and hope to do some extensive trailer traveling with one or the other of them.

We've kept a third gasser car for local trips - grocery, drug store, wife's work commute - to hopefully avoid the regen issue. Seem to have been successful so far....

Considering getting the CanAm hitch reinforcement on one of them. Thoughts?