At the first Qatar Motor Show (26 - 29 January), Volkswagen is presenting two exclusive SUV concept cars for the first time. The common denominator of these all-wheel drive vehicles: No compromises! Show car number 1 is a slightly tamer version of the Touareg 3 that started in the Dakar Rally at the beginning of January; this 228 kW / 310 PS Volkswagen could very well be the world’s most talented street-legal SUV. Show car number 2 is the Touareg Gold Edition - many of its parts have been upgraded with 24-carat gold; this 265 kW Volkswagen (360 PS) is debuting as one of the highest quality SUVs ever. The cost of these concept cars? Priceless. Yet...

Touareg Gold Edition

The Touareg Gold Edition would certainly be able to handle a journey around the world – but bear in mind, this car should only be parked where there is good surveillance. That is because – living up its name - certain areas of this SUV are upgraded with 24-carat gold. On the outside, they include the custom designed 22-inch wheels, roof rails, protective guard strips and window frames, mirror caps and parts of the air intake frame, "Touareg V8" signature and boot sill trim. Like the Race Touareg 3 Qatar, this SUV is also painted in "Magic Morning" body colour.

Inside, 24-carat gold also adorns many of the car’s accents and switches, making the entire car unique. The interior design itself has a pleasant, bright appearance in the "Luna" trim colour. The Alcantara roofliner shows this colour as does the Nappa leather of the seats, which is decorated with ornamental stitch detailing.

On the other hand, the dashboard is trimmed in a natural brown leather; contrasting seams in "Magnolia" colour perfect the colour scheme. Natural brown with leather inserts in "Luna" adorn the floor mats. Automotive craftsmanship at its finest is reflected in the Walnut Burr accents with genuine gold marquetry – also crafted into an ornamental pattern. This is in keeping with the general image of the Touareg, which – in the "normal" production version – is one of the most sophisticated SUVs in the world.

A decade ago, the Touareg celebrated its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show and since then has been providing off-road competence of the highest level. Volkswagen is now dedicating a new special model to this era of success, the Touareg Edition X, which with numerous exclusive features will satisfy the even most demanding of expectations.

The new Touareg Edition X runs as standard on 19-inch ‘Moab’ alloy wheels and, combined with the Moonlight Blue Pearl Effect exterior paint, available as an option, offers a stylish level of specification. A large panoramic slide/tilt sunroof, silver anodised roof rails, bi-xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights and darkened rear light clusters in LED technology complete the look of this striking off-roader. In addition, the ‘Chrome & Style’ designer pack, tinted side and rear windows and ‘Touareg X’ logos on the wings are also included in the package.

The first-class specification carries on inside as well. The Touareg Edition X has, for example, exclusive Nappa leather trim in amber brown with a new style of braid embossed finish. On top of this come decorative inlays in real ebony for doors and instrument panel, plus illuminated front door sills with ‘Touareg X’ lettering. The package is rounded off with colour-coordinated decorative stitching on the leather steering wheel, gear lever gaiter and fabric floor mats.

The Touareg Edition X can be ordered now with a choice of five engine/gearbox combinations, including a hybrid version. Prices begin at €61,025 for the V6 TDI BlueMotion Technology 150 kW / 204 PS with 8-speed automatic transmission.

VW's flagship SUV enters its third generation. It's huge, and it's posh. Here's how

Just in case we weren’t already spoilt for large luxury SUVs, VW has added another. This time its new flagship – the third-generation Touareg – based round the same aluminium and steel modular architecture and box of bits as the Bentley Bentayga, Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7. This bodes well.

Smart, isn’t it? Albeit in the slightly humourless, starched-collar way all modern VWs are. But the design’s not entirely without talking points – just look at the way the new IQ Light LED matrix headlights blend into one with the grille. Yep, that’s a first. Then there’s the way the crease above the door handles flares over the rear wheel arch… nice touch.

But the real advances are inside. That’s where you find the new ‘fully digitised Innovision Cockpit’, or as you and I would call it two enormous screens stitched together to look like one big one, with a notable absence of buttons. Nevertheless, VW is proud of the way the 12-inch digital instrument panel flows neatly into the 15-inch central screen, and it does look thoroughly modern, minimalist and has the tech artillery to back it up.

These include: ‘Night Vision’ to detect (and hopefully avoid) humans and animals in darkness via a thermal imaging camera; Roadwork Lane Assist, to steer, brake and accelerate for you up to 37mph; four-wheel steering to make it feel nimbler than it actually is; active roll stabilisation, to magically reduce body roll, and a head-up display projected directly onto the windscreen. So far, so VW.

And then there’s the size. This new model is longer, wider and lower than the old one, so its stance is meaner, and there’s more space inside for people and things. Keep the rear bench in place and there’s 810-litres of luggage room, up from 697-litres before. Handy for all your windsurfing kit and parachute equipment if you’re one of the “sporty, active people” VW insists buy the Touareg.

To begin with, a 362bhp plug-in hybrid version will only be offered in China – the Touareg’s most important market – although it’s fairly inconceivable that it won’t be offered in Europe at some point down the line. For now, we’ll have to make do with a pair of V6 diesels producing either 228bhp or 282bhp… fine by us. Later a 335bhp V6 petrol will be added… even finer by us.

So what do we think? Has VW upset the apple cart and outdone its posher siblings, or is the this new Touareg a move upmarket too far? Thoughts on a digital postcard below.

This year’s Geneva Motor Show was pretty much all about hybrid and electric cars, which is why it was surprising that Volkswagen showed up with a giant Touareg with a diesel V8, and called it the last V8 diesel they’d likely ever produce.I shouldn’t have to work too hard to spell out the irony of Volkswagen, the company initially wrapped up by the Dieselgate diesel emissions cheating scandal, bringing a diesel V8 to a European car show where everyone else has seemingly moved on to what’s next.

Top Gear caught up with Jurgen Stackmann, head of marketing for VW, to ask how the company managed to produce a 419 horsepower, 664 lb-ft of torque diesel V8 crossover after a scandal that forced it to invest billions in a future electric lineup and electric-charging infrastructure.

Here’s the quote from Top Gear:

Well, it’ll be the last V8 diesel that Europe sees, as there’s no chance it would come to the U.S. Stackmann also clarified that the V8 won’t find its way into any other cars, so the Touareg is it.

The big diesel crossover should fit nicely in the company’s eclectic lineage of weird, anonymous, big-engined powerful models, like the Touareg V10 TDI and W12 Phaeton. Who doesn’t love a car with heaps of power and just a little bit of spite.

The first generation Volkswagen Touareg launched in 2002, but remains one of my favorite fancy off-roaders of all time because it was a genuine off-road beast and the most luxurious VW SUV ever. Sadly, that swankiness and off-road prowess comes at a cost, as they mean the SUV is filled with wacky luxury features that will make maintenance a true nightmare. Here’s a look at some of those features.

While taking a break from gazing at the new $500 Jeep Cherokee sitting in my backyard, I fired up my YouTube-o-matic, and discovered a video from The Fast Lane Car with possibly the most bait-y thumbnail I’ve ever seen, complete with bold, all caps, the phrase “You won’t believe” and four consecutive question marks. But get past that to discover an awesome video showcasing some of the first-generation Volkswagen Touareg’s incredibly interesting luxury features:

Some of the systems are just mind-bogglingly fancy for a 2004 model-year vehicle (the first model year sold in the U.S.), and especially for one that TFL managed to snag for only $4,600. There are electric seatbelt shoulder height adjusters for the front two seats (which each get a three-position memory function) and there’s four zone climate control, four heated seats with five different temperature settings, and an automatic recirculation system that uses a sensor to cut off air from the outside when the vehicle senses pollutants or when the driver uses the windshield washer.

TFL Car also points out a cigarette lighter port-rechargeable flashlight, three HVAC airflow modes for the rear passengers, and a knob that sends cold air conditioned air into the glovebox to yield a cooler.

But the luxury doesn’t end there. TFL also shows the separate bin in the glovebox for the fancy leather-bound owner’s manual, the digital calendar in the overhead console, the two sun shades for the driver, and the tiny sun shade to cover the glass above the rearview mirror. Then there’s the third cupholder in the center console, the soft-close rear hatch, the steering wheel buttons that turn off the steering wheel backlighting, and the wacky parking proximity alert with green/yellow/red lights on the top of the dash and in the rear just above the cargo area.

Plus there’s the air suspension with its multiple ride height settings, headlight squirters, locking diffs, an available sway bar disconnect, and a second-row pass-through bag for skis! The list goes on and on, so watch the video above to have your mind blown by what was clearly a no-holds-barred engineering exercise for Volkswagen.

But before you go out and snag a Volkswagen Touareg to chauffeur yourself around an off-road course in high luxury, just think about how difficult it will be to maintain all of these fancy features once they inevitably fail. After all, we’ve already established that more complexity often yields a sacrifice in reliability.

To help you understand why you should reconsider pulling the trigger on that dirt cheap VW off-roader on your local Craigslist, my coworker Raphael Orlove wrote all about the vehicle’s hellish upkeep needs in his story titled “The Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI Was More Of A Nightmare Than You Can Possibly Imagine.” In it, he talked about how the Touareg—which came out at a time when VW exec Ferdinand Piëch was obsessively trying to show off the company’s engineering skills with over-designed but awesome cars like the Bugatti Veyron and VW Phaeton—was too expensive because it was “too luxurious inside and too meticulously engineered.”

He goes on to quote owners who describe just how nightmarish it is to maintain the V10 powertrain. And though the vehicle came with other engine options (the car in the video above has a V8), the point remains that Touaregs may be awesome, but they weren’t designed to be cheap and easy to maintain. So consider yourself warned, though if you still want to go out and buy a Touareg, I wouldn’t blame you. The car is awesome.

Volkswagen is set to add a range-topping new premium model to its flagship Touareg line - the VW Touareg R. The versatile model's 340 kW (462 PS) plug-in hybrid drive offers an innovative blend of superlative performance and electric efficiency. When the battery is sufficiently charged, the new SUV always starts in the all-electric E-MODE for zero emissions. The battery capacity is designed so that the Touareg R can cover the average daily commute under electric power. Like all Touareg models, the new R version comes with permanent all-wheel drive (4MOTION) as standard. 4MOTION and the powerful drive system (700 Nm of torque) means the Touareg R has also been homologated for a maximum trailer weight of 3.5 tonnes. The premium model can cope with this maximum trailer weight even in E-MODE. As the first plug-in hybrid SUV in the world, the Touareg can also be fitted with the trailer manoeuvring system Trailer Assist. And yet another first: the Touareg will be available with Travel Assist for the first time. The premium model will be the first Volkswagen to boast assisted driving (automatic longitudinal and lateral guidance) up to a speed of 250 km/h.