Tow-rig. Ooops, Touareg, the diesel hauler

Well, unforeseen circumstances led to the sad sale of my 2018 Land Cruiser.  That was a great rig, super comfy, tons of space, unbelievably poor gas mileage, haha!

I really wanted to keep the spend on my next daily fairly low, and I wanted a heavy enough SUV to qualify for the tax advantages of being able to depreciate it all in one year.  I was all over the map car wise, as evidence by my thread here, https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/another-what-car-thread/261713/page1/.  The used car market right now is also still a little weird.  There's more for sale and prices are more normal, but it's still worse than Pre-Covid.  

German cars are kind of my jam, I like how they drive and I'm used to working on them.  Since we've had such good luck with our Cayenne diesel I decided maybe I'd get another one of those.  The issue with Porsche's in general is they're a la carte as far as options.  It can be a real struggle to find one equipped how you want.  I wanted one with roof rails, tow package, heated/cooled seats and a heated steering wheel.  Basically the same we currently have.  That turned out to be basically impossible to find, which was shocking.

Then a nice looking VW Touareg TDI R line popped up in Winter Park, about 1.5 hours away from me in Denver.  Hmmm.  The VW's come loaded, all of them have roof rails, tow package, etc.  The R line adds sports suspension (which I suspect is just the Cayenne stock suspension), 20" wheels, different front and rear bumpers, side skirts, rear wing and brushed aluminum interior trim.  

I went and checked it out, 2 owners, current owner has had it since 34k miles and bought it as a CPO vehicle.  All dealer servicing since new, he had all the records.  Very well maintained, nothing weird fixed in the records.  It drove beautifully, honestly I think better than our cayenne.  We worked out a price and I bought it.  I left it at my friends condo in Winter Park, he's going to drive it down to Denver for me tomorrow evening.

One bummer is that it only came with one key.  Which I discovered after I'd negotiated price.  That really bummed me out as the keys are eye wateringly expensive and dealer only.  The seller did make it up to me by giving me four passes to Winter Park though.  I ordered the key from my local dealer already, I like having a spare key.

I did compromise on cooled seats and a heated steering wheel, but it's got everything else.  Plus tinted windows and clear bra, so that's nice.  Recent tires and brakes front/rear, mechanically it's really solid.

 I bought a Malone Tune for the Cayenne but never used it because my wife could care less.  I reached out to Malone and they've graciously agreed to swap it over to the Touareg for me.  I'll add the transmission tune at the same time, which I've heard makes a huge difference in drivability.

Phone holder is on the way, I'll order an oil dipstick and start looking for a snow tire/wheel setup locally.  Other than that, just drive it and enjoy the fact it'll easily double the gas mileage of the Land Cruiser...

Pics coming soon, it's silver exterior/black interior...

Nice doc. What year did you get?
 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

It's a 2014, so Gen 3.  Comes with the nice stuff like led running lights/tail lights etc.  Sadly no Apple CarPlay.  I'm looking into adding it but the systems don't look great.

I didn't know you could depreciate even used trucks in one year, that could be useful someday. But I'm also considering both my LCs (60 and 80) to get into a diesel Cayenne… 

It took me 24 hours, but I love the pun in the title

Brought it home from my friend's house last night, it's safely tucked into my garage.  Sadly it does not have a heated steering wheel, I went into the "climate" menu and the button to turn it on is missing.  The stereo in this thing is awesome!  But it takes forever for the system to boot up when you first turn it on.  Happily XM radio is still working, so that's good.

My friend told me the rear window washer isn't working.  I need to check the fluid level in the tank, hopefully it's just low.  Otherwise maybe the jet was frozen or plugged up.  Next thing will be to check the washer motor, these usually have two, one mounted on the bottom of the tank for the front washers and another one mounted higher that handles the rear.

Then it's setting my phone up for bluetooth, programming the garage doors in Homelink, washing it, cleaning up the mess in the back some tech made when they spilled DEF all over filling the DEF tank, etc.  Will buy the new Malone flashloader and grab the stock tunes off it to email to them to get my new ECU/TCU tunes but won't load them until after the emissions appointment.

Appointment made for emissions March 14th, then the DMV March 22nd, then I can actually drive it.

Great replacement choice!

I really like these, wish VW was still offering them in the US. Sat in the 2024 and its a really nice car. 




 

In reply to Slippery :

That looks sweet!  I guess VW decided they'd rather skip the mid sized SUV market and go smaller with the Tiguan and larger with the Atlas?

Excellent choice. 

I really like mine. 

Congrats! Much of the reason that I went from the gas 9PA to my TDI Touareg was because of your thread about the TDI Cayenne. Now that I'm out of warranty I'm going to look at the Malone Tunes. Still deciding if I want to go as far as making it 'Off-Road Use Only' or do Dynamic EGR.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon (Forum Supporter) :

I'm going to go with the dynamic EGR.  Depending on what I hear about the smog testing for diesels here in Denver I might delete it in the future, but not sure.  I really like to keep emissions stuff intact....

Went to the dealer this morning to have them program the new key.  That went well, I now have two keys, always a good thing.  Then went to lunch with a friend and my son.  Came home, mounted up the Pro Clip phone mount, then found the Schosche magnet I bought was too small.  Paired the phone to the cars bluetooth, turned off the speed warning the previous owner set at 75 mph (really?!  That's the speed limit on the freeways here!  So annoying to have it constantly ding at me), then programmed the Homelink. 

That's always an odyssey with my Liftmaster 8500. Then I remembered it works when I have the car in the garage, and have to push the button inside the car a few times.  Once I did that, it took the programming. 

Next week is emissions, week after that is plates.  I'm waiting until April for Malone/Tunezilla's spring sale, then I'll buy the TCU tune and programmer.  I'm also looking for a set of winter wheels/snow tires.  I haven't found a set yet, just wheels, then snow tires...

Dropped it off at the shop last night for the smog test.  Talked to them about what they're looking for, basically it's an opacity test and they look to make sure all the emissions stuff is there, but no OBD2 scan.  So I can bring it in with a tune on it no problem, but the DPF, DEF, EGR and SCR all need to be in place.  They just called me to tell me it passed no problem and it's ready for pick up. 

Of course it looks like this outside now and it's still snowing.  Touareg is on all seasons, not sure it'll get back into the neighborhood.  I need to go outside and snow blow and assess...

In reply to docwyte :

Yeesh, high elevation. It's about 75 and sunny over here.

Got it home, my friend with his built 80 series came over and smashed down the snow in the street in front of my driveway.  It made it in with surprisingly little effort, even on the all seasons.  Was supposed to drive to Vail today but I-70 is closed.  Kinda doubt it'll open in time for me to drive.  Just moved my DMV appointment up to tomorrow morning, might as well do something useful since I'll be stuck down here.

Mine is almost a billy goat with a set of Falken Rubitreks on it. They do make a little noise and will cost you a mile per gallon or so but I love them for all-around use. They soak up potholes and road imperfections like nothing else and have traction on almost any surface. Seat of the pants says they also have a stronger carcass for towing. 

In reply to Toyman! :

My plan is to pick up a used set of wheels/snow tires for the winter, then run the current 20's with almost new all seasons the rest of the year.

In reply to AAZCD-Jon & Docwyte :

Can you guys expand on this "Dynamic EGR" thing? Does it mean that it only works at certain times and the hardware stays on the engine?.

In reply to Slippery :

Hardware stays in place.  The Dynamic EGR tuning makes it operational while the engine is warming up, then turns it off

This car has always been dealer serviced.  Even to the point of oil changes and DEF fluid fills.  So it was disappointing to see all the dried up, spilled DEF all over the floor of the cargo area.  I took everything out, scrapped it all up with a plastic trim tool, then vacuumed it up and wiped down everything else with a rag and soapy water.  Cleaned up the cap for the DEF tank too.  What was super annoying is that the factory tool that screws into the DEF tank was right there, and obviously had been used, so it was just super sloppy work by the techs.

I also noticed that the retractable cargo cover was dark brown, which would be fine but my interior is black.  Anyone have a black one and need a brown one?  I've searched on eBay and there aren't any black ones currently.  I posted on ClubTouareg, otherwise I'll keep looking

Finally got to the DMV and got this registered.  I love the fact I can make an appointment now, only had to wait a few minutes, even got a friendly person to help me.  Put in for a personalized plate, my first choice is open, but somehow got tagged as "offensive" by the state.  She over ruled it but told me the state still does their own thing sometimes.  So I'm curious to see what shows up in the mail.

Drove it out to the ranch to drop the dog off, instead of using 1/2 tank of gas like the Land Cruiser would've, instead it burned 1/8 tank.  That's, um, a big improvement!  Other than that, just doing little stuff, like removing the dealer branded license plate frames, installing my rear seat cover, getting the radio bass/treble where I want it (previous owner had the bass turned WAY up), etc.

The speed that the audio system boots up is glacial.  I'm not a fan of that, it takes awhile for the bluetooth to pair and then for the audio to start streaming from my phone.  It  should  be the same system as the Cayenne, but that one is definitely faster/better.

Malone Tuning should start their Spring Sale in April, so I'll order the ECU/TCU tune then. 

Still need to get out my heat gun to remove the dealer sticker on the hatch.  I'm not a fan of advertising for dealers.

Interesting to see the differences between this and the Cayenne.  The drivetrains are the same and I thought a lot of other things were the same too, but they're actually different.  Brakes are different, with mono block calipers on the Cayenne and larger brake rotors.  I'm a fan of the brake calipers on the Touareg, much easier brake pad changes being able to pull them out without having to remove the calipers.  Front rotors are 30mm smaller though.  I can swap over to the 18z calipers and Q7 360 rotors, which I might do when these brakes are worn out.  Cayenne suspension is different although I suspect since the Touareg is an R line that they're more similar.

Big deviations are exterior/interior.  HVAC totally different, cayenne has cooled seats and a heated steering wheel, plus much better instrumentation.  It has oil temp/pressure/coolant temp/voltmeter/tach/speedo/gas gauge.  I like that, I want to monitor all that stuff.  Touareg has coolant temp/tach/speedo/gas gauge.  Cayenne's audio boots quicker.  Touareg has a different hvac head which is far superior, much easier to use.  Cayenne has a "sport" mode for the transmission, which will still auto shift, then a full manual mode.  Oddly the "sport" mode on the touareg is full manual mode.  That might be why drive on the touareg feels so much better than the drive on the cayenne, it's more like the sport mode on the cayenne.  

Interior quality of the cayenne is better.  Much nicer leather, etc.  I'm not sure on the gearing, the cayenne seems to get better gas mileage, at least on short trips.  Both are getting the same overall mpg, 27ish mpg mixed, so maybe it's just that I can monitor the mpg's on the cayenne on short trips better.  The electronics on the cayenne are better, more info, colored nav screen in the main cluster with the tach/speedo, etc.  

In reply to docwyte :

I hate dealer advertising, especially when they feel the need to put a dealership front plate on the bumper with self tappers 

I'll be interested to hear your opinion of the Malone Tune with the dynamic EGR, particularly since you are not deleting. My '14 Cayenne still has all the emissions stuff, and I plan to keep it that way until something expensive dies in the system.  Which Malone stage are you installing?  Finding roof racks on a Cayenne diesel is definitely tough, and depending upon the year, are near impossible to retrofit (the factory ones).

In reply to docwyte :

You should be able to pull the shifter back while it's in drive and put the transmission into sport automatic. You should get an S on the dash. 

Manual mode should be moving the shifter to the right.