VW Touareg W12: A dose of mean

Quad tailpipes, 331kW and 600Nm, the VW Touareg W12 Sport Edition gets a dose of mean.

Volkswagen has turned its Touareg soft-roader into a big, bad mountain fella with a huge six-litre motor and a sporty styling package. But before you get carried away, the W12 won't be coming to South Africa.

Pity.

The guts of it is a 12-cylinder, six-litre bruiser of an engine kicking out a claimed 331kW and 600Nm of torque – enough, VW says, to take it from rest to 100km/h in 5.9sec and on to a (limited) top speed of 250km/h despite its considerable bulk.

It drives via a six-speed, semi-automatic transmission with manual sequential shift and breathes out through quad tailpipes that not only look the part but apparently also sound great

It breathes out through dual pipes that not only look the part but apparently also sound great
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On the Sport Edition you get a special body kit that adds a roof spoiler, bi-xenon headlights, widened wheel arches and sporty side sills. The rear and side windows are tinted, the bumpers colour-coded and it runs on 20" alloy rims.

The inside is just as cool, with dual-zone air conditioning, a radio/DVD navigation system with a multi-function colour display, sports seats with nappa leather upholstery and flashes of aluminium trim throughout the cabin.

There's also the Touareg W12 Executive, labelled the "subtle alternative" to the new Sport, for those with less sporty desires – which also won't be coming to South Africa.