It's a tidy, almost handsome car and will slot easily into the 4x4 market alongside rivals such as the Volvo XC90. Volkswagen's family features sit more easily on the Touareg. Similar external proportions give away the fact that these two cars are related. The firms forged closer ties with models such as the VW-Porsche 914 of 1969, but the jointly developed off-roaders take their relationship to another level. VW and Porsche have worked together before on the original Beetle, designed by Ferry Porsche. So is there more than a badge to differentiate these cars? And we've got them together in the UK for the first time. Porsche's Cayenne and Volkswagen's Touareg are brothers - built on the same platform with many shared parts. It's not every day that two brand new off-roaders turn up at the same time. It may sell in huge numbers, but it's disappointing to drive and we can't help feeling Porsche has devalued the brand. The Touareg is a fine effort and should worry rivals such as the Mercedes ML and Toyota Land Cruiser. If its not showing open than VW engineering is about to screw you up.No matter how you look at it, an off-roader fits more neatly into VW's line-up than Porsche's. Go ahead and add oil once (determine cause of low oil) but check if your hood is showing open on the instrument panel. The only way to confirm is aftermarket dipstick or VCDS computer interface.īottom line is if you have an add oil light. I am struggling to understand why they would program it like this. So the owner can't see the oil level and is repeatedly told to add more oil. The switch issue also prevents the oil level gauge from showing. The initial indication may be true that you need to add oil but it will keep telling to add more if the switch doesnt work. The problem with this switch is that if broken it could lead to a owner over filling the oil. I believe the switch has been broken since I bought it.
Thinking back, I never had the oil gauge on the RNS but until now didnt know it was supposed to be there. This never really stood out as anytime the hood was opened the car was off or I wasn't looking at the display. The switch makes contact when the hood is opened so if its broken the computer will think it is closed. All below my reading but I was getting add oil light not oil warning so perhaps these are to different things. With engine off it gave a different number either 32.xxx or 33.xxx. When the engine was running I checked the level twice. Only the vcds readout with no reference to whats correct. I have no faith the dealer put the right amount of oil in the engine or ever checked the level. So I don't have the normal level gauge on the infotainment screen. The dash screen is telling me to add no more than one quart of oil. It may be related to the hood latch sensor issue. Not sure why it doesnt show up like others I have seen online. I never got an answer for why it needed oil a third time but now they say the light wont go off because the wire for the hood latch is cut.įor some reason mine does not give me a level indication when I go to the service button. After pushing further they took another look. At first they said it just needed some oil and said it was good. The light didn't go off so I brought it back. They said the light would go off after a drive cycle. They recognized the bad drain plug and said they fixed it and added the right amount of oil. Add oil light came on and I brought it back for them to fix.
They didn't install the drain plug/gasket properly and the car leaked oil including a big spot on my driveway.