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The Touareg TDI Clean Diesel breaks records at the Dakar 2010
My most recent blog was all about the ethnic origins of the Touareg TDI Clean Diesel and its performance on asphalt and rough terrain. Now I’d like to talk about Volkswagen’s SUV once again, but this time in regard to its triple win at the Dakar rally, the most gruelling automobile race in the world!
The Dakar rally is tough on everybody. On the vehicles, of course. But also on the pilots and co-pilots who compete for a podium spot on behalf of win-hungry builders of cars, motorcycles, quads and even trucks. Held from January 2 to 16, the 2010 edition featured a wild race across rough terrain in Argentina and Chile, and a prolonged stay in the Atacama Desert, which was the highlight of a 9,000 kilometre loop winding its way through South America. Participants were put through intolerable heat, dust storms, stone-strewn roads, rocky outcroppings, twisting turns and high-speed sprints in breathtaking scenery that included the 6,000-metre summits of the Andes and the Argentinean Pampa. A high-level challenge for hardened pros, this was no race for beginners. However, as every year, a horde of amateurs did enter the race at their own risk.
Only those car makers that have unwavering faith in the toughness and quality of their products dare to enter their most race-worthy products: BMW, Ford, Hummer, Hyundai, Isuzu, Jeep, Mercedes, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota and, last but not least, Volkswagen. You won’t find Chrysler, Buick and General Motors, who are probably terrified of seeing their transmissions break down at the first hairpin curve.
This year, 9-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel was forced to admit defeat at the wheel of a BMW X3 despite all his talent. He just couldn’t cope with the Touareg’s TDI Clean Diesel technology and the unmatched performance of Volkswagen drivers. The former champion had to settle for fourth place, coming in more than two hours after the winner, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz of the Volkswagen team. Sainz was driving a race Touareg fitted with a 300 hp TDI Clean Diesel engine. It should also be noted that the second and third place were won by Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mark Miller, respectively, both driving a race Touareg as well. This was the first time Volkswagen took the entire podium, and also the first time Volkswagen’s TDI Clean Diesel technology made such an impression in the face of its gas-engine adversaries.
The Dakar hadn’t seen an entire podium occupied by a single team since 2003, with the ascendency of Mitsubishi and the Masuoka-Fontenay-Peterhansel-Sousa power squad. So Volkswagen’s win is that much more remarkable and something of a triumph. I invite you to watch the Dakar video and “Carlos is Dakar King” interview on the official website of the event’s sponsor, Red Bull.
Here is the final ranking of the 2010 Dakar:
On a final note, let me just mention that when 1st-place winner Carlos Sainz returned to his native Spain, he was greeted by a race Touareg in his garden. This was an invitation to drive around the streets of Madrid and celebrate the Dakar victory with his compatriots and admirers. Many had seen his spectacular performance on the television and were keen to share in the glory of Spain’s “champion of the dunes.” The Dakar was watched by 2.2 billion people* from 189 countries, which means the same number saw how Volkswagen and its TDI Clean Diesel technology dominated the competition.
*Cumulative audience for dedicated programming and news.
TDI Clean Diesel in America: where are we coming from and where are we going?
Visitors to this site and people on the Web in general often express their desire to see more TDI Clean Diesel vehicles offered in North America. In order of preference: the Tiguan, the Passat CC, the Polo, the Scirocco and the Amarock. I haven’t done a complete count, but I think people may be asking for the whole range of Volkswagen vehicles to be offered in a TDI version.
Such comments about TDI have led me to consider what has happened to TDI Clean Diesel in the past, and what is about to happen in the future.
In the space of a few months, two new models have been added to the TDI Clean Diesel line-up, i.e. the Touareg TDI Clean Diesel and the Golf TDI Clean Diesel, which brings the total number of Volkswagen TDI vehicles to four.
Two new diesel vehicles in the space of just a few months is quite a feat, especially given that not so long ago popular opinion of diesel was not so favourable.
In North America, diesel had a definite image problem and had to work on its reputation. Today, consumers know that TDI Clean Diesel is a responsible option, and they also know that Volkswagen’s diesel vehicles will offer them fun to drive as a bonus.
The numbers speak for themselves. In November of 2009, one out of every three vehicles sold in Canada was a TDI Clean Diesel.
Only electric vehicles used to be perceived as environmentally friendly. Today, diesel vehicles like the Golf TDI Clean Diesel and Jetta TDI Clean Diesel are considered to be among the cleanest vehicles on the road.
The popularity of hybrids was such that nobody could imagine a TDI Clean Diesel one day being named GREEN Car of the Year, and even less that TDI Clean Diesel would win the title two years in a row.
- 2009: Jetta TDI Clean Diesel voted Green Car of the Year.
- 2010 : The Audi A3 TDI is named Green Car of the Year.
Review of the Facts
Audi A3 TDI is 2010 Green Car of the Year. Clean Diesel Reigns!
TDI Technology from Volkswagen Honoured Yet Again
There’s one Canadian statistic that perfectly sums up the past year: nearly 26% of Volkswagens sold in 2009 were TDI Clean Diesels.
Blues Weekend at Tremblant: a festival of music and test drives
Last Saturday and Sunday, during the Tremblant International Blues Festival, Volkswagen Canada invited everyone to try out a couple of Clean Diesel family models – the Touareg and Jetta – accompanied by a professional Volkswagen driver. It was a great opportunity for me to see exactly how a test drive is conducted. With trusty camera in hand, I got into a Touareg TDI Clean Diesel with Jean-François and one of the professional drivers. It just so happens that Jean-François is himself a race car driver. Take a moment to enjoy our team’s short video of a fairly sporty test drive !
After the dust of the dunes, the conquest of asphalt!
Let’s take a few steps back: last week I shared with you my experience driving the Touareg on a sand track. For details, see my blog. So what about the asphalt? Let’s face it, most SUVs are going to spend the greater part of their lives in the city, far from the kind of terrain they were really designed for. The SUV, after all, is the descendent of an all-terrain military vehicle that progressively evolved into a pick-up truck and then into a “sport” adaptation. For you SUV buffs, here’s a link to a brief history of the SUV.
After finding out that the Touareg outdoes itself in difficult terrain, it was only natural to see how this all-terrain vehicle with 4XMOTION technology would do on a “normal” road. Is it heavy to handle (especially in curves)? Is its acceleration that of a lame duck? Does it guzzle fuel at high speeds? With its high centre of gravity, what are the advantages and disadvantages in every day driving situations? And finally, does easy handling always go hand in hand with an eco-friendly energy-efficient TDI Clean Diesel? Those are just some of the questions asked by an everyday driver like me who can claim to be pretty green. Let’s take a closer look.
First, fuel consumption.
11:45 a.m. – Montreal, Metropolitan Autoroute. I step on the gas to test the Touareg’s acceleration while trying to pass a truck. The Turbocharged Direct Injection (TDI) engine kicks in and has no problem whatsoever quickly passing the mammoth semi that’s blocking out the sun. From 0 to 100 km/h in 8.3 seconds is not bad at all for a vehicle this size, i.e. 2.3 tonnes when empty. That’s quite a load to get moving! This kind of performance is an important security advantage: there’s nothing worse than trying to pass a huge truck on a rainy day but not being able to do it quickly due to a lack of oomph! Of course, this rather surprising performance is suspicious: maybe it’s made possible by a gas guzzling V6?
Surprise! The Touareg consumes only 8 litres per 100 km (highway) and 11.9 litres per 100 km (city). Which is little for an SUV. I’m rather surprised to learn of the Touareg’s fuel economy, especially given its size and V6 engine, which can be a bottomless pit to fill up with fuel!
That reminds me, did you know that the first production series V6 car was the Lancia Aurelia B10 Berlina (sedan)? Made in 1950, only 954 of this model were built. What was its fuel consumption? More than 20 litres per 100 km, and that’s at sustained speeds! Of course, it used gasoline, not diesel. Collectors today will pay about $200,000 for one of these beauties.
The Touareg in comparison is a real deal! As a person aware of environmental issues, can I choose the Touareg for driving in the city? Hmmm. It depends. I don’t know about you, but when I shop for a vehicle, I look not only at its price and fuel consumption, I look at its size and weight. Why? Well, the answer is simple. More weight = more resources used in its manufacturing and transport. And just so you know, the average weight of a new car went from 900 kg in 1984 to 1254 kg in 2004, and the average power has increased by 38% in 20 years, which means even more resources used. From this angle, the Touareg, like any other SUV, isn’t ideal.
However, what are you supposed to do if you really need a vehicle that can handle difficult driving conditions? After all, we don’t all have the privilege of living in upscale Montreal neighbourhoods where the asphalt is perfectly smooth … well, maybe not perfectly smooth. If I lived out in the country, I could be easily tempted by a Touareg, especially given that it effectively combines the best of both worlds, i.e. power and the environment.
Volkswagen Touareg TDI: the sand track
As Stephan previously said, “What could be more exciting than being offered the choice of testing a brand new Touareg TDI Clean Diesel on a race course ? “ Quite an adventure !
A “Volks-pop” for the Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel
What could be more exciting for a German than being offered the choice of testing a brand new Touareg TDI Clean Diesel on a race course! Well, this is what I was offered last week. So today I would like to share my experience of driving these great cars. I must admit it was quite an adventure, as I don’t even own a car. It’s not that I don’t like them, on the contrary, it’s just that I decided a few years ago to live car-free in an effort to do my part for the environment. So I travel using public transport or car sharing; I’ve been the latter using for more than 10 years.
Just a word about me: I’m German. You know the ones. Those who invented highways with no speed limit. So you can imagine the sacrifice I made in giving up my car. As well as being German, I’m a “neo-ecologist” or “practical environmentalist,” which means I’m very concerned about protecting our beautiful planet. I’m especially involved in the preservation of marine ecosystems, notably coral reefs. But let’s get back to the subject at hand, i.e. the magnificent day I spent last May 26 trying out the Touareg TDI 2010.
For my first steps in the world of racing, I had the privilege of driving the Touareg TDI Clean Diesel on the Mécaglisse track, a superb combination of asphalt, dirt, all-terrain and sand – an excellent choice to try out all the aspects of 4XMOTION driving. I can already hear the sceptics saying “he’s going to try to make DIESEL out to be green technology!”
12:30 pm – First Test: sand track. Might as well go for the most fun first (after all, this is a 4XMOTION TDI).
Let’s look at some of the names for a minute. They’re not the easiest to remember, but I’m sure you’ll have them mastered by the end of the article.
4XMOTION – This one isn’t too difficult to get. It’s the Volkswagen feature that gives traction to all four wheels. I’ll spare you the technical details about what goes on between the front wheels and the back, the right wheels and the left, but if you insist about knowing more, you can click here.
TOUAREG – Yes, it’s a bit difficult to pronounce, I’ll grant you that. Just break it up into three syllables: To-Ah-Reg. So what does it mean? The Tuareg (in French it’s spelled with an O) are a people of northern Africa. The “blue men of the Sahara” wear an indigo head covering that protects them from desert extremes. They are built tough, having to endure one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet, with 50°C temperatures during the day and minus 10°C at night, not to mention sandstorms, water shortages, and relative humidity at 50%. And we think we have it bad in Canada! We sort of have the opposite extremes here, with minus 50 and plus 10. OK, I exaggerate, but we do have snowstorms and 100% humidity! Anyway, the Volkswagen Touareg TDI is like the desert Tuareg, i.e. tough and ready for anything. In a word, it’s just what we need in Canada!
TDI – Turbocharged Direct Injection. I don’t really want to get into the technical side of things, so let’s just say that a TDI engine is powerful enough to pull a small crane, a big log, or any number of things you can imagine. What’s it for? You’ll see what it’s for when you have to drive it out of a snow bank the snowplough buried you in during the night. While your neighbour is warming up with a few shovelling exercises between 6 and 7 in the morning, you’ll just press the 4XMOTION button and wave at him wearing a big smile on your face. Ladies, keep in mind that you’ll no longer have to put on lumberjack boots to go to the office: those Feragamos and Manolos won’t have to stay in the closet during the whole winter. And gentlemen, donate your shovels with heatable handles to the Canadian Museum of Winter Suffering.
Adblue explained
CLEAN DIESEL – I can hear some people saying that the Germans have come up with the best oxymoron of all time. Even I thought they were pushing it by calling their new diesel “clean.” So I asked my German friends for some clarifications. You remember the black smoke that came out of diesel cars in the 70s? You can forget it now. Diesel has come a long way since then, and TDI has gone even further than that! In fact, TDI is somewhat of a revolution in terms of green house gas reductions as these Clean Diesel engines reduce nitrous oxide (NOx) emissions by 90%! And furthermore, Volkswagen has developed emission control technology called AdBlue that uses a urea solution to transform NOx emissions into nitrogen and water with no other undesirable by-products. The techies among you can read the article on AdBlue by my colleague Louis-Alain Richard:
In a nutshell, Volkswagen has succeeded in making diesel engines ultra clean, so clean in fact that they already meet new Bin 5 / ULEV II standards imposed by President Obama, the strictest standards now on the books anywhere in the world.
I won’t go so far as to say that Volkswagen’s TDIs are “organic” engines, but you’ll understand the enthusiasm of someone who is sensitive about environmental issues. And it won’t come as a surprise to learn that a TDI car was recently named 2009 Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal.
Touareg TDI Clean Diesel – So much for the vocabulary. Let’s get back to the test drive. In honour the Tuareg people, we decided to start with the sand track.
Needless to say that I would never go out on such a track with an ordinary vehicle. The fine sand under the wheels of our Touareg was more like slippery snow, even ice! But with the flick of a switch, I activated the 4XMOTION. With my back and head comfortably installed in the seat (the Touareg get 5 out of 5 for comfort), I stepped on the gas. The vehicle reacted with a slight delay, which is normal for a turbocharged engine, but the surprise was the noise, or rather the lack of it. A traditional diesel engine would have clattered and knocked. The TDI purrs like a V6. I think to myself that they must have covered the pistons in velvet and the cylinder heads in silk. There’s that typically German attention to detail!
When I floored it, the tires bit right into the sand. But I had to stop right away when I heard screaming! My passenger colleagues in the back were now covered in fine sand from head to foot. They hadn’t shut their windows. So after making sure all the windows and sunroof were all closed, I floored it again. This was a really impressive experience!
The Touareg TDI sticks to the ground and effortlessly glides over the sand. This was even more impressive when it came to the sandy slopes. Just for fun, we decided to try out a 15% climb, on this time on slightly firmer ground. There again, no problem at all. There was a lot of dirt being sprayed by the tires mind you, especially in the 90-degree turns, but this was to be expected on a track that seemed to be made of quicksand. I must admit that I was expecting a somewhat impressive performance on this type of track, if only because I knew about the Touareg’s exceptional record at the world’s toughest rally race, the Dakar.
Take note that the more functional interior of the Race Touareg has nothing to do with the comfort and luxury of the Touareg TDI. Don’t take my word for it, go out and see for yourself with a test drive.
Next week, I’ll be taking you out on the asphalt track, so save your adrenalin for then. In the meantime, you can always visit your Volkswagen dealer and try out the Touareg TDI Clean Diesel. Take my word for it: you’ll be impressed, even on the asphalt.
Touareg TDI Test Drive
Finally, I’ve been able to sit myself down behind the wheel of a 2009 Volkswagen Touareg TDI Clean Diesel (Touareg TDI for short). You’ll unfortunately have to wait until June, when dealers start taking delivery of the new diesel model. I was lucky enough to be able to take advantage of a public relations test drive organized by Volkswagen. Organized in the wilds of Ontario for a few Canadian automobile journalists, the activity aimed to familiarize us with the new diesel offering.
Those who haven’t already read my posts on diesel and on the technology introduced to make TDI compliant with strict North American air quality standards can do so here, here and here.
The aim of this article is to find out how a Touareg TDI behaves in real life situations. The short answer is, not bad at all, thank you very much! I’ve known the Touareg since it was launched in 2003. And I’ve had the opportunity of driving it in all its versions (V6, V8, V10 TDI, and now the V6 TDI). Comfortable, impeccably crafted, robust, fun to drive and well-equipped, it Achilles’ heel has always been its fuel consumption. The arrival of the diesel V6 is really good news, because it allows the Touareg to offer great performance while reducing its fuel consumption by 20%.
At least that’s what comes out of a day-long test drive conducted around Huntsville, a small northern Ontario town. 200 kilometres of country roads, some of them dirt, and a climb to the Echo Valley Observatory located 400 m above sea level: it was somewhat ironic to be driving a luxury SUV on such rudimentary roads, and enjoying the leather seating and air conditioning. The Touareg is a far cry from the rustic 4×4s of my 70s childhood. A neighbour’s father had one, and we would drive to his cottage in it as if on a roller-coaster ride. But let’s get back to the subject at hand.
Upon start-up, the TDI V6 is surprisingly quiet. A few weeks ago, I had noted that its Munich competitor, the X5, was much noisier than the Jetta TDI, which I attributed to the fact that large SUV wheel wells are difficult to sound proof. Well, I was wrong, because this Touareg TDI is no noisier than the Jetta TDI, and hardly makes more noise than the gasoline 3.6L V6 version. You need a very attentive ear, even two, to be able to tell that the engine is a child of Rudolph (Diesel) or of Nikolaus (Otto).
On the road, it’s even harder to tell the difference. The engine is discreet, very discreet, and it’s the absence of the gasoline version’s typical growl when accelerating that reveals the presence of diesel. From a performance standpoint, the 406 lb-ft of torque are very well felt, and the Touareg offers a new responsiveness that’s comparable to that of the old V8. There is somewhat of a delay in engine response, which is typical of turbocharged engines, but the energy the Touareg deploys after that makes it well worth the wait. Hit the pedal, wait a second, and the G-force that’ll push you back against your seat is frankly impressive. It’s to be expected from a luxury SUV like the Touareg. The TDI version does 0-100 km/h in 8.9 seconds, and the gasoline version in 8.6, i.e. three tenths of a second better.
Fuel consumption during the test drive fluctuated around 11L/100 km. My colleague had a slightly heavier foot on the pedal – he drove during the first part of the day on unpaved roads – so his consumption was around 12.2L/100 km. After dinner at the summit of the observatory – was it because we were digesting? – consumption dropped to 10.2L/100 km without even trying, on paved roads with a 90 km/h speed limit. Not bad, not bad at all. It’s better than what I got on the X5, but then the X5 offers 40 hp more, power that’s very tempting when passing a slow poke. But now you know, the most important factor in fuel economy is the driver.
When you’re getting out the cheque book, the TDI version will cost about $4,000 more than the gasoline version with the same equipment. The difference is somewhat absorbed by the fact that it has better resale value and better fuel economy. If you calculate 20,000 km a year (75% urban driving), you get 550 litres saved annually using Transport Canada figures (11.9 city, 8.0 highway).
In real driving situations, consumption is about 25% higher than official figures, and that’s being conservative. So that means that savings are more like 700 litres a year. It’s up to you to find out if the ROI is positive, but one thing is certain: those 700 litres won’t be burnt, and won’t contribute to global warming. Now that’s some good news.
There is unfortunately no longer any incentive program in Canada to offset this extra cost at purchase. However, in 2009, with the economic crisis in full swing and the environment being such a concern, the Touareg TDI provides an excellent way of having your cake and eating it too. You can get the benefits of driving a large SUV and reduce your carbon footprint while enjoying all the fun of a Volkswagen.
What do you think about all this? Do you agree with the people at VW that 60% of Touaregs sold in 2009 will be TDIs? And that diesel is the solution for the future of SUVs? Let’s talk.