Volkswagen Touareg

Which Volkswagen Touareg years should you avoid?

Going by 646 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Volkswagen Touareg years to avoid are 2004 and 2005.

• 2004231 complaints, 6.2× a typical Touareg year, most often about the electrical system.
• 200575 complaints, 2.0× a typical Touareg year, most often about the fuel and propulsion system.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2012 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →