VW Touareg R Shows Impressive Acceleration In Onboard Video

The Volkswagen Touareg is the biggest vehicle in the German marque's lineup to be given the R treatment. It might not be carrying a massive 5.0-liter V10 inside its hood, but the Touareg R is still as powerful as the R-badged model it followed.

Much of the glory for the Touareg R comes from its plug-in hybrid powertrain setup, led by its 3.0-liter V6 gasoline engine that makes 335 horsepower (250 kilowatts) and a 134-hp (100 kW) electric motor. Combined, the hybrid setup makes a total of 456 hp (340 kW) and a massive 516 pound-feet (700 Newton-meters) of torque.

The numbers above allow the hot SUV to go from 0 to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in around five seconds. As seen in the onboard video atop this page from Youtube's Automann-TV, the Touareg R can pull that sprint in 5.3 seconds in a real-world setting. As for 100 to 200 km/h (62 to 124 mph), the Touareg recorded a 12.8-second run based on the video.

Considering that the Touareg R here weighs 5,181 pounds (2350 kilograms) and was fitted with wide 22-inch wheels, those numbers were an impressive feat – but of course, not nearly as impressive as the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk's sub-4-second acceleration rate.

Then again, the Touareg R is the first R model to have a plug-in hybrid powertrain and can run on pure electricity at speeds of up to 87 mph (140 km/h). Even better, it can run emissions-free up to 30 miles (48 kilometers), which makes it a pretty practical SUV if you're skimping on gas money.

Too bad, the Touareg R is still a forbidden fruit for the U.S. market, with only the smaller Tiguan R under consideration for North American buyers.