Plan for German world domination 2.0: Ze silly Yankees vill not buy our clean, efficient diesels. So! Ve vill give them what they vant! A less fuel-efficient 2011 VW Touareg Hybrid. Hail mindless consumerism!
So the new 2011 VW Touareg Hybrid that the maker of people's cars is so proud of? 28.68 MPG combined. The 2011 VW Touareg V6 TDI? 31.78 MPG combined. Honestly, is our country that stupid that the krauts think they can get away with this?
Being fair to the hybrid, it can travel up to 31 MPH in all-electric mode, but there's no indication of what it's all-electric range will be. Also, in what VW is calling a "Quantum Leap!" the base Touareg is now 459 Lbs lighter than the model it replaces. We'll go ahead and assume the battery pack in the Hybrid eliminates that advantage. Oh and all the engines now come with 8-speed autos designed, like all other 8-speed autos, to ensure that you're always in the wrong gear and the transmission will need to kick down at least 3 gears to deliver meaningful acceleration. You vill salute progress, you vill!
A lot of that weight's been shed by dropping the locking diff, but don't worry mythical VW off-road enthusiast, there's a "Terrain Tech Packet" with locking center and rear diffs, and a button to select low range gears.
Now here's something we won't make fun of: the base V6 engine comes equipped with stop/start for a practical boost in real-world city fuel economy. This won't show up in EPA figures because the fascist EPA refuses to account for stop/start in its calculations, but volks' engine will turn off at stoplights, saving volks fuel.