Lamborghini Urus vs Volkswagen Tuareg: fratricidal test
Everyone understands that the price of the Lamborghini Urus is too high compared to the Volkswagen Touareg. Well, is it conceivable to ask four times more for a Lamborghini Urus than for a Tuareg? So we decided to answer this question. For those who are already buying Urus and have chosen all the quotas for the last time, our test is just to add confidence in their rightness, or maybe not?
Video test Lamborghini Urus – Tuareg, where in detail on the sand and asphalt the possibilities of the practical Tuareg and the emotional Urus are shown, see the link below.
The Tuareg came to the test with a 3-liter 250-horsepower practical diesel engine (600 Nm). We did not look for a more dynamic version, realizing that in this discipline the Tuareg has no chance against the world’s fastest SUV. He had to rely on practicality and all-terrain qualities.
Lambo is 23.5 cm longer at once, and the Italian’s wheelbase is 10 cm longer. However, the Tuareg is a little higher and, being in its cabin anywhere, even in front or behind, you are amazed at the spaciousness. Compared to its predecessor, VW has not grown much, but a completely new platform has significantly increased space in the cabin. The trunk has also grown. If you move the rear sofa all the way forward, 810 liters will enter the trunk.
Changing to Lambo you find yourself in a noticeably less spacious car. This is partly due to the dark roof, but most of all confuses the height of the cabin. It appears to be above the driver’s head. There is also not too much headroom in the back, but you can cross your legs. So long-legged divas with good plasticity are welcome here.
Trunk space is also smaller than the Tuareg’s, at just 616 liters, but that’s still a luxury compared to the traditional holds of Lambo supercars.
The Italians from Lamborghini performed modestly and the Urus is equipped with only a 4-liter V8, which is well known from Bentley cars (http://automps.ru/2016/08/bentley-continental-gt-v8-s/ ), but on the Urus its power has grown to 650 hp, and the torque is 850 Nm at 2250 – 4500. If you drive quietly, then already at 1200-1500 rpm, before the turbine is turned on, the torque easily rises to 300 Nm – this is the thrust which exceeds the limiting capabilities of the vaunted 1.4T motors, which are famous for Skoda and really drive well.
So, let’s start our procedures.
Start from a place
Tuareg is slower – you can’t argue with that. 3.6 s versus 6.8 s to a hundred – almost a twofold difference. The question was only in the visualization of this difference and the emotions of the driver behind the wheel of a super crossover. Boxes – machine guns of rivals are almost the same, and in terms of traction, the brothers-opponents differ not 2.5 times as in power. Urus produces 850 Nm, against 600 Newtons for a diesel Tuareg. Both cars boast the Launch Control system, so the start is very confident. But if the Tuareg, after the first jerk, just calmly picks up speed, the Urus flies forward with a fantastic roar.
Well, what are such emotions worth some money, if not, we start from the move))
Acceleration from the move
After the defeat on the site, we arranged a comparison of acceleration from the move. Here the Tuareg had a slightly better chance, the hope was for the torque, which is available from 1500 rpm. But no matter what settings we try, the Urus is carried forward with incredible acceleration. As if there are no more than 2 tons of its own weight, massive 22-inch wheels and aerodynamic drag. After the pace at which the Lamborghini accelerates to 150 km / h, it is easy to believe that the Urus is capable of exceeding 300 km / h.
Track riding
Of course, Urus wins starts from a place effortlessly, but in corners he has a hard time. Alas, you can’t hide the mass, in slow hairpins, a large inertia strongly carries the front axle past the turn, and at the exit you need to carefully use the gas. Traction comes like an avalanche and easily breaks the rear wheels into slip. It turns out not too fast, but fun and very loud. In high-speed corners, the Urus feels more confident, but in some places the speed tends to 200 km / h.
Of course, the score is on the scoreboard, but the Tuareg looks very confident on the track. Banks are too big, but otherwise it is very obedient and understandable. Despite the loss, the VW is quite fast and pleasant to drive.
Obstacle height 200 mm
Both of our rivals are equipped with air suspension, so in order to evaluate the ground clearance, in addition to our standard tire height of 20 cm, we got a more imposing tire, which in the free position has a height of 24.5 cm. (do not forget to watch the test video)
We passed the first tire in the standard position of the air suspension, and the second – in the highest possible position. Tuareg, surprisingly, stumbled over the first wheel. We have an R-line car and it caught the rubber skirt on the tire. I had to retire, lift the suspension as much as possible and even then both wheels were left behind. Moreover, Tuargea has a version with the possibility of increasing the clearance to 285 mm. But our car has a maximum clearance of 247 mm, and we were convinced of this.
Urus with a small tire (20 cm) did better than Tuareg. The bumper, albeit longer, but has a more successful shape and in the standard suspension position, Lamborghini coped with the obstacle. But the maximum upper value is 241 mm. And again, having crushed the tire a little, but Urus coped with it too. Thanks to the almost perfectly flat bottom, which is closed by flaps primarily for the sake of maximum speed, but this solution works well on off-road.
Videos
Assessing the commonality of habits on the pavement, we immediately decided to drive both SUVs on three rollers. And on the ground there was one front wheel. Structurally, the all-wheel drive of the rivals is solved in the same way, an asymmetric self-locking Torsen differential is installed between the axles. Standard traction is distributed in a ratio of 40/60 with an emphasis on the rear axle. But in the event of a slip, up to 70% of the torque can go forward, up to 80% for the Tuareg and 87% for the Lambo back. Cross-axle differentials are free. ESP performs imitation of their blocking.
Urus was the first to go on the skates and… failed. We tried various off-road modes, but in none of them did Lambo make any serious attempts to move off the rollers. Three wheels were spinning wildly on rollers, and the front right one stood quietly in place. This can be seen on the video, but of course we were upset, we must admit that three videos are for real SUVs, which the Urus may not be designed for.
Probably, the Italians deliberately excluded the imitation of the front differential lock and the ESP function so that it does not interfere when driving sideways, as this can lead to jerks on the steering wheel, which obviously will not add comfort to the driver.
But for the Tuareg, the videos are a chance to recoup. VW in the previous two generations promoted its SUV as a very capable car, it even had lowered versions, which, however, have now gone down in history. But there is still an off-road package with the possibility of a very serious increase in ground clearance. But even without him, the Tuareg coped with the rollers. The wheels on the rollers made several free revolutions, but even at that time it was clear that the front wheel standing on the asphalt was trying to turn. As a result, after a few seconds, Volkswagen confidently left the commercials.
The final score is not in favor of the Tuareg, but this is understandable. There were too many different cars in the test – the Lamborghini Urus is designed to make an impact and everyone who gets out of it can feel a bit like James Bond. Volkswagen Tuareg is just a universal warrior of good blood. I admire the VW group for being able to make such different cars on the same platform.
I repeat the video test below, look, the comparison turned out to be interesting.
My six round test – Porsche Cayenne – Volkswagen Touareg can be viewed here https://youtu.be/NTFijr1YEVA Lamborghini Urus vs Porsche Cayenne here https://youtu.be/zTEOFeAHbEg