The most powerful Volkswagen yet is now on sale

Welcome to the most powerful production Volkswagen yet – the 456bhp, 516lb ft Touareg R. It’s just gone on sale for £71,995, which also makes it the most expensive VW you can currently buy in the UK (with the exception of the £75,000 Grand California). 

The Touareg R is also the first R-badged VW with an electrified powertrain – it uses a 3.0-litre turbocharged petrol V6 with 336bhp in conjunction with a 130bhp e-motor (hooked-up to a 14.3kWh battery) to make its 456bhp. That’s 12bhp more than an old W12-engined Phaeton and over 100bhp up on the V10 diesel Touareg R50. Remember those? 

VW tells us the new Touareg R does 0-62mph in 5.1 seconds – within half a second of the current Golf R – and will hit a limited 155mph. It’s all-wheel drive – obviously – but can send up to 70 per cent of its power to the front-axle or 80 per cent to the rear if needed. Of more significance to the businesspeople who’ll buy (or lease) these things – VW claims 28 miles of electric range, 94.2mpg and 67g/km of CO2.

Almost £72,000 is a lot for a VW. But it’s not so bad for an SUV of this size and performance, and with this much standard tech/kit (the big 15-inch touchscreen, heated/cooled seats, surround-view cameras, matrix LED headlights and so-on). What do you reckon?