Anybody cross shop against the Touareg?

[cshecks]

I posted a while back and received some pretty solid info from the members here so I'm going to hit ya'll up again.

I'm currently cross-shopping the Tahoe and the Jeep GC and I'm also taking a peek at the VW Touareg TDI (I know it's sort of in a different class, but, I love the VW's - plus that thing has monster tq with its v6 diesel). I'll likely buy new, but would consider a 1-2 year old model. Anyone else cross-shop against the Touareg? Thoughts?

Another unrelated question - Do the Tahoe interiors hold up very well or do they wear really quickly? My guess is that since they are kind of bland/basic they should hold up well but those seats look kind of a mess even brand new.......

FWIW my anticipated purchase date is either later December or early January (reason being if I go w/ the Jeep I'm waiting for the 8 speed tranny on the 13's).

 

[TowGMC]

When I was looking to replace my 2004 BMW X5 4.4 V8 to have a better SUV to pull my enclosed race trailer I looked at the Touareg tdi. Where the BMW had just a 6,000 lb tow rating, the Touareg was 7716. Have several friends who tow open deck race trailers with turbodiesel T'regs and they do great, but my fear was that the 112" wheelbase was too short for pulling my 6500 lb trailer. I loved the low end torque of that engine, and the 8 speed auto trans kept it in the best gear all the time. But it's still a unibody SUV and I was concerned about the strength of the chassis under extended towing versus a full frame SUV like the Denali.
But, if I was still towing the open trailer I'd be driving a T'reg today and not the Denali. Fit and finish, plus the driving refinement of the VW is lightyears better than anything GM slaps together. However, in the end for my purposes the Denali was the better SUV.

 

[felixgun]

The GMT900 interior holds up pretty well

My dad just got a '13 VW Touareg and I drove it the other day and it's ****. Super smooth ride and in the technology department it ***** on the whole GMT900 line-up. It has a colored LCD display up on the DIC and the nav display shows up on it as well when routing to a destination. The seats are SUPER comfortable too. It also has LED lights as DRL's and uses projectors which is also a plus.

 

[Zed 71]

My 07 Tahoe interior still looks new with 74k miles, except for the cargo area. We use it for camping and the back side plastic parts are pretty scratched up, but that would happen on any vehicle.

Yes the Touareg's interior is a lot better and the TDI is a monster. But I would be worried about long term reliability. I know GM does not have stellar ratings in this area, but it is cheaper to fix. My inlaws have had VWs and a coworker had a Touareg, and they seemed to degrade eletrically and mechincally pretty fast at the 3 year mark. All of them either had an engine or tranny replaced. BTW I like VW/Audi vehicles, but I would only have one through a lease.