ABT coaxes yet more grunt out of Volkswagen Touareg’s V8 TDI heart…

By: CAR magazine

In some markets (but unfortunately not South Africa), the Volkswagen Touareg can be specified with a V8 turbodiesel engine. And the folks over at ABT Sportsline have managed to extract yet more grunt from this hefty oil-burning mill.

In standard Touareg guise, the 4,0-litre V8 (which is also used by the Bentley Bentayga Diesel as well as Audi’s SQ7 and SQ8) generates 310 kW and a whopping 900 N.m. But thanks to ABT’s fettling, those peak outputs have risen to 368 kW and 970 N.m.

While ABT has not listed any performance figures for the tuned Touareg, it’s worth noting the standard model will hit 100 km/h from standstill in a claimed 4,9 seconds before topping out at an electronically limited 250 km/h.

Of course, the German tuner also offers all manner of extras for VW’s big SUV, including various sets of alloy wheels (measuring up to 22 inches in diameter) and a couple of suspension upgrade options. And, at the end of 2018, ABT revealed an upgrade kit for the 3,0-litre TDI derivative, pushing its peak figures to 243 kW and 650 N.m.

If you’d instead prefer something direct from VW, bear in mind Jürgen Stackmann, sales and marketing chief at the firm, in October 2019 effectively confirmed the Touareg would get the “R” treatment, saying it would be “the first R model to go plug-in hybrid”.

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