Someone told me I will need to always use premium gas in the Touareg. Is this true?

If you all are still weighing in on these topics, I would appreciate your opinion specifically on teh 2009 Touareg versus the 2010 Highlander (not Hybrid).

I drive 35,000 miles a year for my work and want something that feels like a car but offers the handling of an SUV when I am on dirt roads and snow since I live in the mountains of Maine.

Thanks for your help.

The BMW is just for namesake, and the Toyota is a lower-end brand… the Touareg is the only one worth spending so much money on new.

There seems to be a tremendous difference in build quality of German cars versus Japanese, or at least Hondas. I have driven Mercedes, and their doors ALL shut like a bank vault. My Jetta's doors aren't quite that stout, but they are a LOT tougher than the doors in my parents' Accord. My parents' Accord doors feel flimsy in comparison to the doors on my Jetta. This is comparing both the weight of the door as well as the hinge & latching mechanism.

Now, I realise it's unfair to compare a 7-year-old Accord to a 3-year-old Jetta, but our 2001 Honda Civic was the same way. And new Hondas today are the same way. Compare the latch on a new MB or VW to the latch on a new Honda. Note how much bigger the latch is on the German car. Note the difference in how the doors shut between the two makes.

This difference is easy to explain: remember that our friends in Germany (and Sweden, FWIW) have some of the strictest automotive safety requirements in the world. That safety design appears to carry over in the American models as well.

Again, I recognize that we don't drive at 140mph (or higher) like they do in Germany, so these stats might not be as meaningful as I want to think they are. As I said, it's just something that strikes me every time I ride in a Honda. Every. Time.

My wife had a year old Jetta wagon. I had a 97 VW GTI VR6 (boys was that a fun car). We bought the wagon because we will have kids one day and it appeared to be a good car for it. We watched my niece and nephew and the car seats made a tight fit in the Jetta. One day she said let's look at the Touareg (she saw an ad in the paper with a good price--though it was a base model and of course sold by the time the paper came out). WOW! what a car the Touareg is!!! Wow! sticker shock. I knew it was in the 30s but thought lower to mid not upper 30s. we test drove a model with Xenon, and Nav. thought it was nice but expensive still. The the dealer showed us a Dealer Demo (xenon, Nav, Park Assist, electric seats, etc.) with basically everything but Air Suspension and tow hitch -we wont need that. WOW! great vehicle but an even bigger price. long story short[er than what it could be], we talked the dealer down to below the first car's price. With the exception of filling the 26 gallon tank. I LOVE IT! traded in my GTi ifor it and though it was a fun car, this is like a luxury model car. Everyone that has been in it LOVES it. People leave feeling bad they are driving their cars and not the Touareg. The roominess is wonderful. the parking assist is great after having such a small car. I have the V6 and that is fine for me. I have met others with V8 and V10 models and they do have better pick up but I am not one that needs a rocket.

My pick hands down is the Touareg. I have not tested the other cars but go to the car shows every year and have seen them all. The Touareg gives you a luxury SUV. It is almost the Phateon but not the price tag. VW puts more into the Touareg and Phateon for less because they have to with the VW badge. The Touareg could easily have been created under the Audi badging and been 15-15 thousand more for the exact same car.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your Touareg and stop by the Vortex to tell everyone about it.

Hey Carey comments!

I don't know much about SUVs in general (gas prices are going way too high for that IMHO -- I would not be surprised to see >$3.00/gal next year in MA), but I have read a lot of extremely positive things about the Touareg. I'm not a European car bigot (anymore; I drive a Mazda), so I'm not taking a shot against the Toyota or H3 per se, I just don't know as much about those cars. From what I gather, the three "best" SUVs on the market are: $55K Porsche Cayenne.

Good luck with whichever you end up with.

My next car may be a Subaru Outback Sedan. Their cars have a lot less head and leg room, but that's okay since I'm a short guy. I would go for their Forester or maybe that new Tribeca if I were taller or needed to tow something, but I'm not. The limited package has heated leather seats, all wheel drive, and front/side impact air bags. My parents own a Subaru Outback Sedan from 2000 and everything still looks and works like new.

I would say don't get one if there isn't a big dealer near you, since you may never know who ends up fixing your car.