Autotrader Find: Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI for Under $10,000

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Although many of the Autotrader Find vehicles I feature are exotics or weird cars with wide-ranging appeal, here’s one for us car geeks. This is a 2006 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI — the holy grail of Volkswagen weirdness — and it’s offered for sale for just $9,995. Yes, you can get the ultimate Volkswagen SUV for less than the price of a new Mitsubishi Mirage.

I’ll start from the beginning. The original Volkswagen Touareg came out for 2003, and it offered two versions — a V6 and a V8, like a normal SUV. Beginning in 2004, Volkswagen upped their game, adding a third model to the range: A turbodiesel V10-powered version of the thing, with 310 horsepower and a monstrous 554 lb-ft of torque. In a harbinger of things to come, this vehicle was immediately banned in California due to its emissions.

As a result, the Touareg V10 TDI was pulled from sale in some states until Volkswagen could make it cleaner. Eventually, they succeeded, though stricter emissions rules eventually killed it again — and Volkswagen replaced it with a turbodiesel V6 that had better sales prospects anyway. But the V10 TDI model is still the one everyone wants — the ultra-rare Volkswagen Touareg that can tow a plane. Literally, I mean: Top Gear used it to actually tow a Boeing 747 at slow speeds during an episode.

Of course, not too many people actually bought the V10 TDI, so there aren’t too many on the used market — but this one is quite impressive, as it’s the cheapest one on sale. Offered by AZ Euros in the Phoenix area, it’s available with 153,000 miles for just $9,995 — under ten thousand dollars! For one of the most famous SUVs of our time!

Yes, sure, you’ll want to consider maintenance and repair costs, which surely won’t be a cheap for a top-of-the-line, ultra-rare, V10-powered aging German SUV. But I bet you won’t be thinking about maintenance costs when you’re towing your plane. You’ll just be cool. Find a Volkswagen Touareg for sale

Doug DeMuro is an automotive journalist who has written for many online and magazine publications. He once owned a Nissan Cube and a Ferrari 360 Modena. At the same time.

Volkswagen Touareg News & Reviews

3 COMMENTS

JakeK66 March 19, 2018 At 2:56 pm

The first gen Touregs also have the best VW interior of all time after the Phaeton.

These things made the Audi Q7’s of their day look almost cheap.

On the emissions – I don’t get why Ford/GM/Chrysler get a pass on their Diesels in trucks but just because this has a covered rear area it gets put in a different class?

- GeSus Dudeman March 19, 2018 At 2:59 pm
  
  The Bentayga has a nice interior.
  
- Adam Richards March 19, 2018 At 3:14 pm
  
  Isn’t there some truck exemption that allows “roll’n coal” or whatever it is called.
  
  Maybe it is because the tailpipe is three or four or ten feet off the ground, so it works kind of like a smokestack, passing the pollued air safely into the next jurisdiction.
  
  Possibly we have decided to protect three of the best selling ‘merican vehicles from environmental weenies who care about lakes ‘n trees ‘n birds, more than then they do about The American Way.
  
  Not sure myself…