Help us out. It is for my wife’s DD. We will use it for loooooong family trips and possibly towing a small flat bottom boat. We want it to be as cost effective as possible and no doubt have the slick panoramic sunroof… Any advice would be super duper awesome!
Of the 3 you suggested, TDI touareg. But it’s not cost effective!
The q5 is cheaper and will tow as well. Plus there are plenty of q5s on the used market.
We looked at the Q5. Just like the Touareg’s looks better.
Touareg’s suck. Expensive, blah looking, blah features, blah drivability, and again, expensive. My opinion of course.
Cayenne Diesel, X5, MB GL or ML. All at the high end of your price range but better than the silly ugly treg
The Grand Cherokee is definitely worth looking at if you are willing to go 'murrrcin
We had a Jeep Grand Cherokee before my wife’s A4 Avant. Very well put together, but Pentastar V6 sucked and was bad on gas.
So get a diesel
Those Mercedes diesels are horribly unreliable. Unfortunate because Mercedes is willing to sell a diesel anything over here. And I like diesel.
Hence the title stating Diesel 
or Hybrid (great for city driving at around 35 which is a lot of CoS driving) or the 2.0T that comes in the all road (very good on gas based our last one)
I said get a diesel as in diesel Cherokee. Who cares about the one bad engine you had. On another note…who buys a Cherokee with a V6? I didn’t even know that was an option!
I have a 2.0T B8 A4 Avant. It’s a 2009. In around 2012, I got the itch to buy a Lexus RX400hybrid…or some kind of diesel. Something turbo efficient. Then I did the math. I decided to stick with the A4. It gets about 600 kms on a fillup (60 litre fillup, 65 litre tank) and that’s mostly driving around town, with the odd 20 miles highway trip. Probably70% city driving. Town driving really.
Don’t want a Cherokee anymore. That is why I posted in this section (minus the allroad). I was hoping for some owner feedback from those vehicles. Pros and cons. If I wanted any feedback about the Jeep, trust me, I would have posted on a Jeep forum. Also, we bought the V6 because it was the wifey wife’s and was going to be used for loooong trips.
I bought a GL350 bluetec for my wife. Diesel all the way for big heavy SUVs.
They had an option for electronic sway bars and air suspension. It makes every day driving comfortable and towing a cinch. Got 19 mpg towing 350 miles over three mountain passes with a 1000lb feather lite trailer.
Buddy has a diesel Touareg and loves it.
Hybrids are a liberal fantasy even with all the subsidies each oem provides to make it priced within reason. For example, the Prius is a loss leader for Toyota, but it helps meet cafe and other federal mpg standards.
Haha…Yeah I am not a fan of libs, but the Touraeg has the S/Ced 3.0 V6 from Audi and can be tuned to hit 60 in under 5.
true, but they work for the consumer.
a new diesel benz or Touareg or Q5/Q7 costs about $3000-5000 premium vs. the gasoline model. Your resale they will hold a small premium, but not much.
You aren’t making that back in 5 years of fuel efficiency…and there are zero subsidies. So diesel doesn’t work over here either.
Diesel gl350 is the base model in the us.
Indeed. There are many reasons diesel works in europe. Cost per litre for the actual fuel in one. Another is lower insurance and lower “road tax”.
when you bought one, did you configure the gasoline model as well?
did you do the same on the ML
did you do the same on the Touareg?
did you do the same on the Q5?
did you do the same on the Q7?
I did. Doesn’t work.
If you buy used, and can find a deal on one, it makes some sense. Buying new doesn’t make any sense at all (if you’re talking strictly fuel economy…if you want towing torque, or like the sound of a diesel, that’s another story)
Oh no. We are definitely buying used. I will never ever buy a new car again. It’s like a 25% depreciation from the get go.
Towing torque isn’t really a concern for some FI gas engines…the Audi 3.0T V6 in practically every tune configuration when mated to the ZF 8spd tip is a great towing combo…I see ~14-15mpg pulling (combined). Depending on how many miles you tow/year and the difference in fuel prices (in Canada, diesel is on average $0.15/L cheaper than 91 premium) can add up, but some gas engines are no slouches in tow performance. I’m honestly a little shocked on how effortlessly the engine pulls heavy loads. On flat highways at 103km/h it sits at ~1600rpm in 8th and on hills I find that I have ease the power in slowly hen the torque converter is locked up and when I’m in the start of powerband so I don’t end up going too fast, and catch slow climbing traffic. I rarely (if ever) see more than 4K rpms at all during a trip in any scenario, mostly around 2-2.5rpm.
Sorry for the towing OT.
No, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
Yes I did the fucking math. Did you also calculate the cost per mile for options such as heated & ventilated seats, adaptive sway control, & panoramic roof? Those totally make fiscal sense.
Really? Touareg in Canada only comes in 3.6 or diesel.
I think it’s a great looking suv though, IMO.
I wish the Tiguan came with the 3.0 s/c, that would be very cool