Volkswagen Touareg R review

You’re looking at a £75,000 Volkswagen once you’ve added the blue paint, a head-up display and biggest active safety tech package on offer. But you’re also looking at a 400-odd horsepower posh SUV with a 16 per cent BIK rate for company car users. That’s where this car – and its dreamworld 95.2mpg and 67g/km of CO2 claims – excel.

In real life, expect mpg in the mid thirties if you’re making decent use of the battery range, or something beginning with a two if the battery’s depleted, you’ve nowhere to charge, and you want to get somewhere with a bit of haste. You can also accrue EV range using the engine if you really wish, but it's fairly disastrous for fuel economy and ought to be a last resort for when some silent, emission-free miles are necessary as opposed to just desirable.

Charging times are fairly hefty for the 20-odd miles of electricity you’ll acquire – 8.5 hours on a regular three-pin socket (overnight or a day in the office, basically) or around 2.5 hours on a faster wallbox. There’s an eight-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty on top of the three-year/60,000-mile coverage for the rest of the car, though.

Click here to see what a regular Touareg's like to live with.