Everyone knows that Volkswagen cars are well made and reliable. They come in all shapes and sizes from compact city cars like the Lupo to the family ferries like the Sharan MPVs. You get the sporty Golfs with the ripping R32 V6 engines, the middle of the road Passats which are solid but ultimately uninspiring, and the Polos and Boras which you can never work out why they exist when you have Golfs and Passats knocking around. Everyone knows about the Beetle, so let’s pass over that as well.
The only reason to take notice of Volkswagen cars is when they are really different, and there are two models we offer specs on here which are very different indeed. These are the Touareg (a Touareg is a Saharan tribesman, presumably not a heavy buyer of VW cars) and the Phaeton (the son of the Greek sun-god, who for this car might well be).
The Touareg sits on the same chassis as the Porsche Cayenne, but Volkswagen have eschewed trying to compete in the speed stakes and instead made a vehicle that really can go practically anywhere. They’re not cheap, starting at £30,000 and they go up to very not cheap if you want the mighty V10 engine, but they are as good as anything similar by BMW and Land Rover – if you want to traverse deserts in executive mode then these are the cars for you.
The Phaeton is as strange as anything else Volkswagen cars have ever offered. It’s a luxury limo for CEOs and Chairmen that can shift rapidly when it wants to – 60 comes up in a smidgeon over 6 seconds – but has to be driven smoothly, preferably by a chauffeur, to appreciate the creaminess of the W12 engine, the solidity of the construction, the sheer silk of the ride and the interior as well-appointed as any other luxury car out there.
Those are the Volkswagen cars worth noticing. The rest you already know about.