Ok, so apparently step one in owning one of these is to become a professional mechanic. Good to know.

As he said, to replace the starter involves removing the engine. A lot of things in that engine require removal. If you're going to pay to have that done you are toast

Poor Tommy stuck interviewing a monotone dub guy. 🤣

I own a V10 touareg. You MUST be willing and able to remove the engine on order to work on this vehicle. Removing the motor (because its literally designed to be removed) takes 2 hours (with help). there are a few videos online. It requires that you pull off the clip and rent/own a skid lift. In terms of a motor pull it's really quite easy. Comfortable little monster that has a ton of Zip and can pull a Jet. I bought it to do pick up stuff and I really enjoy it.

My neighbor had a V10 diesel... he spent almost as much in repairs as he did buying it new. Had it 10 years. Even though he spent sooo much on repairs, he regretted selling it.

"If you're a mechanic, get it. it's a great car. If not, don't." LOL

$300 thermostat? That’s reasonable.

When you can buy a cool car for 6k you know its gonna cost a lot more later!

I have a VW Touareg 2006 V10, that I bought from the insurance auction with 90k miles, Just the rear 1/4 panel passenger side need to be replaced and that work was done by a professional, it is in Amazing condition inside and outside, I have replaced all fluids, and front and rear brakes, I bought it specifically to bring the cars that I bought from the auction and let me tell you that you don't even feel like you are pulling a vehicle, it has incredible power, and it runs with a really impressive smoothness you hear nothing inside. These vehicles have a bad reputation, as a mechanic all vehicles must be given the manufacturer's recommended maintenance in due time and most people do not do it. This vehicle is simply impressive, for you to be able to make comparisons with other vehicles you must first try and accelerate a V10 twin turbo diesel. This engine is an impressive piece of engineering perfectly balanced. Anyone who buys a V10 Touareg must understand that this is an expensive vehicle since its construction and therefore maintenance is also expensive. Starting MSRP $ 67,750 in 2006. No one can expect repairs to be cheap. Ultimately I love my old 06 V10 Touareg, It is a supermachine.

I like that this guy was honest as to reliability and only someone who can work on his own rig should consider the Touareg! I’m glad these people exist and are prepared to mod up vehicles that are a bit unusual in the true off road scene! Well done!

Well yes he’s a mechanic so he’s not afraid of anything.

Tommy, thanks for this video. I bought a 4.2 liter V8 Touareg in 2003. I saw the Touareg at an International Auto Show in Washington D.C. and that was it. I got mine for a decent discount because it didn’t have the desired air bag suspension and upgraded leather package. I really wanted the V10 diesel but those were rare and cost ~ $30k more at the time making it too much of a stretch for me. VW parts prices were eye watering. Was at a dealer in Tucson a year later getting service and a guy with the same engine had hydro locked his by driving through a flooded wash. The parts guy told me that a remanufactured V8 engine was $18.5k and the trans was $13k. Seemed awful pricey for 310 hp.

I love the not-so-subtle self righteousness. Seems like a fun dude…

Ill just make my personality my car. [RCR voice]

His shirt is from Rocky's Hot Chicken Shack in Asheville, NC.

I loved our T-reg.... Had it 14 years from new in 2004 and still looked nearly new when we sold it. I'd still have it if there was any place to 4wheel around here. Ours was the V6 and needed an alternator, and changed the plugs once in that time lol. Did have driveshaft center bearing go when nearly new, a fuel pump around 200k and many early issues with trans software which mostly got sorted in the first year. Never had to replace any chassis stuff - not even the shocks. Still had the original rear brake rotors too after 220k miles (and I used this to tow my race car - about 6k lb all in)

Camera: * not picking sound corectly* TFL: lets turn down that barely hearable voice and put music on a top!

word for word totally agree with what dzelpwr commented below. I have owned mine for one and a half years now. It had major oil leaks on the engine so was able to purchase for a great price. Ownership comes down to the type of person your are, if you fix your own stuff and feel comfortable pulling a engine, have tools/the space , willing to buy ross tech program and get factory manuals, this is a great car. If you have other people do the maintenance/ servicing for you, stay away from it, it will be a money pit!!!! Once you get to know it, its not that bad. I am a aircraft mechanic by trade and maintenance on the touareg is almost like working on a aircraft with all the small access places. Engine cams and accessories are driven by gears, no timing belts to change or chain guides that wear out and fail. No high pressure fuel pumps to fail , its has the older fuel injection system based on the pd jetta engines that are very reliable . No modern emission equipment with all their sensors to fail. I love this thing!! Get a Malone tune, and good to go. As for the oil leaks, common areas are the oil cooler, alternator drive gear, valve covers and the fuel pumps, all that can be fixed at home without pulling engine.,

In addition to one of the most interesting cars, he’s the funniest guest ever. “Filed bankruptcy three times “ 😂

Mechanic here who also owns a V10 TDI-powered Touareg and have worked on a few others for people. They aren't horribly unreliable, they aren't constantly breaking, it's just that when something does go, the parts are expensive and usually very labor-intensive to replace. That's what gets most people. Couple things, the turbos are not as unreliable as people say. One thing I've personally experienced is that you get turbo issues and even get a check engine light for "turbo control module defective" just because there is excess corrosion that has built-up on the external linkages. It's not widely-known that applying a special paste to those linkage joints is actually supposed to be part of routine annual maintenance on these. If those linkages were kept properly lubricated, they don't corrode, stick and cause a movement limitation. The turbos just happen to be in a spot where it's easy for road grime to get kicked up from the tires and get onto the linkages. Easier than it is on some other VW engine configurations. A little preventative maintenance here goes a long, long way to getting the turbos to last the average lifetime of most variable geometry turbos... which varies depending on the type of driving you do. Easily 300,000+ miles if it does a lot of highway. Sometimes the vane mechanism wears and causes boost issues before 150,000 miles on vehicles driven with more stop n go driving. The starter can be done with the engine still installed, it's just a pain either way. You would have to suspend the engine from the top, unbolt the engine mounts, lower the sub frame and unbolt the passenger side engine mount bracket to get to it. Still pretty involved and many hours of labor to do, but it is definitely POSSIBLE to do it with the engine still installed. But, if a shop doesn't know that and follows VW instructions, you're getting billed for an engine removal to replace the starter. Fortunately, the starters are not exactly horrifically unreliable. There are tricks, but since they are rare, it's hard to find a mechanic who is familiar with the layout and think about what alternate ways are possible to get such jobs done. VW even says engine removal is required for replacing the tandem pump (bank 1's high pressure fuel pump and vacuum pump assembly) and high pressure fuel pump (bank 2 is just a high pressure pump, no extra vacuum pump in the assembly) which are common sources of leaks. They also claim engine removal is required for the O2 sensors. I am here to confirm that you can, infact, do both of those items with the engine still installed. Still not super easy and takes hours of time, but it is absolutely doable in far less time than taking the engine out. Take the wipers off, cowl cover, undo the engine wiring harness from BOTH engine computers and its ground to get the slack required to remove the 3 piece false bulkhead. Removing that false bulkhead (or "water box" as VW calls it in the parts catalog) gives you enough space to get at both the leaky pumps and the O2 sensors. The one real big 'gotcha' with the V10s is going to be the camshafts. The V10 uses an older VW fuel system called Pumpe Duse. The camshafts have extra lobes that operate rockers which press down on the top of each injector. Each injector effectively has its own miniature pump integrated into it. VW made a whole generation of 4 cylinder TDIs with the exact same fuel system and exact same failure. The valve lobes were narrowed and reprofiled from older generations that used the same flat bucket tappets. This geometry has proven to be very hard on the lifter, it begins to wear and then that in-turn also wears the camshaft valve lobes. Eventually getting so bad that one or more valves are barely opening at all and you can even hear exhaust pressure backfeeding through the intake system, resulting in a sort of rythmic "thump" backfeeding all the way to the air boxes. Often coincides with a P0101 MAF implausible signal code. Being a SOHC gear-driven valvetrain, this is a very labor-intensive job as well. VW says engine out. I believe it is possible to do it with the engine installed, but the camshaft job I did on my own, I removed the engine for the job. Glad I did, really. It allowed me to much more easily get at the turbo linkages to knock the corrosion off and fix my bank 2 turbo control module faulty error on top of having better access to do the cams and lifters. The alternator absolutely can be done with the engine installed, but it means you have to gut everything in the valley of the engine to do it. EGR cooler or fuel filter housing (depending on year--it's one or the other on the back of the engine), top half of the oil filter housing them comes off, then you can get the intake manifolds out, the glow plug harnesses next, the fuel rails after that (with 40 o rings to replace. Yes, 40. There are these little connector tubes for the rails to the head, each tube has 2 o rings on it, and there are 2 of these little connector tubes for each cylinder... (2x2)x10)). Once the intakes and fuel rails are out, then you can get the bottom half of the oil filter/oil cooler housing out. Then, finally, you can remove the alternator. Once you've done a couple, it's not near as bad as it sounds, it's just knowing the specific order it all has to get done in... and having ball-end 5mm and 6mm long-reach allen bits helps greatly. It really is a fascinating piece of engineering. VW knew the engine was so large and was going to be put into such a tight space that the resulting packaging would make it challenging to work on, so they *tried* to make it as maintenance-free as possible by removing chains and belts altogether. Of course this just means that when a high mile example does need some major service, it will cost you dearly to pay someone to do it. The other side is this is older technology that doesn't have some of the headaches that newer generation diesels do. Not near as sensitive fuel system, no extra sophisticated NOx reduction equipment. The later V10s DO have particulate traps, but they don't seem to be overly sensitive to problems either unlike many newer diesels. But man, is it a neat vehicle. There really is nothing like it on the market today.

It's cool because it's different. But I'll to stick to my boring 08 4runner.

"Life's too boring to drive a Jeep or Toyota" lol wut?

I currently own 3 VWs ... It helps to be mechanically inclined.

thank you for awesome video, and thank you for mentioning front E locker as well :) im just starting process to install mine :)

No check engine light on a VW? Sounds like he needs to replace the bulb lol

20 years as a certified VW tech, you couldn’t give me one of these POS.

That VW is really cool but I'll stick with my 2010 four door Tacoma TRD Offroad .

I love those v10 but I am not a mechanic myself.

I remember to seeing those black VW at Sundance Film Festival back then!

Darkside Developments probably has the best V10 Touareg on KZfaq. If it could be refined, yet simplified by some very clever engineers, a new version could be the best SUV ever. Price would be up there with options but gotta pay to play with the best.

I remember when Jeremy Clarkson reviewed the V10. He dragged an entire tree with it. And then there was the tug of war between the V10 and a Chevy Duramax truck. The VW out pulled the big truck. This one has 205,000 miles. I have seen some with well over 300,000 miles advertised for sale. They are complicated and sophisticated machines that too often don't find the necessary talent to work on them. I will be very interested to see it run the Rubicon.

guy looks/talks way too shady :D

ZOMG yaaaay another Touareg video!!! Tommy take them both off-road!!!! I also bought my t1 because of the tough T channel. I have a black v8 with air and rear locker

You asked really good questions for this video. And that touareg is awesome!!

I have the 2005 Volkswagen Touareg V8 with the air suspension and everything I love it the only option it doesn't have is the rear heated seats and the rear Locker it has the four-way climate control has everything else and it has the Porsche 19in Cayenne GTS rims

Best video from you guys yet

If you want your dream car, you can select two out of three: Reliability, low cost, good looks.

I had alway heard so much about German Vehicles, but talking to folks with VW’s Audi’s BMW’s and Mercedes just don’t seem very dependable, they are beautiful though. But you know as the owner of a 2014 Honda CRV, I’ve been shocked at just how unreliable it’s been, my 2917 F150 hasn’t had the first problem in 65k, maybe trucks are just better engineered. My so sold Mazda’s in Dallas for a while, he said he hated for VW owners to pull on the lot because they lost so much value, even the dealership didn’t want them.

just took my VR6 Touareg from NJ to Utah and back, camping out of it for a month. spun like a top up from the altitude if pike Colorado to the late summer heat of utah.

Great video... Love my v10! Awesome GT / Tow vehicle.

I’m just stupid and I love VWs haha love this guy good attitude.

I test drove a 2004 in January of 2005. I've wanted one ever since.

It comes from the early days when nobody knew anything about the Touareg, especially dealerships, and the default answer was "engine out $8,000 job," come to find out most things people say is engine out really can be done in-situ by a motivated individual, aka an independent euro shop that wants customers for life. I have seen tandem pumps, exhaust manifolds, camshafts, and yes even the starter all replaced in-situ when a stealership would want 40 hours labor on top of oem only parts at their price...

Ah! German engineering. They've sold a lot of junk with that pitch.

This was a great episode of Sprockets. It could use more dancing though.

All I know is these things sound freaking amazing with a del3te and tune!

I have an 06 v10tdi with 185k and it has developed a major rear main leak!! Have not had a chance to fix it yet. This is one awesome machine tho!

That 4Runner comment was too good!

I've owned one of these for 8 years and the word accessible has never come across my vocabulary. After i replaced both turbos with upgraded ones its been a really soiled car. I was able to make custom valve cover gaskets for mine and have never had it leak. I was quoted $2500 for new calve covers gaskets and said nah im good i figured it out on my owen.

Wonder if the engine where that (5.0L) V10 came from (the "racing pedigree" Audi 6.0L V12 TDi*) had those same issues? * relatively few people know that these large TDi's were done at a time where VAG's Audi division experimented with racing TDi's "to show the world they're NOT SLOW" and brought to the world the "R10 TDi racing car", and later develop for production the 6.0L V12, which never made it to USDM for the Q7 crossover. But VW-brand wanted a version of it and got one with "one slice cut off" for a little while in two eras.

You have to remember the crammed a v10 along with a turbo all under the hood with awd

From 2022 perspective parts from Meyle and other simular brands are quite cheap for this engine. Camshafts and turbos been the most expensive but turbos can be rebuilt in local shop. Camshafts are able to do 350kkm confirmed without any significant wear if premium oil was used along with 10kkm change interval, cheaper oils out of VW specs with longer interval will make your camshaft die in notime. Turbos fail around 200kkm which is OK for any vehicle. Water pump, thermostat, fuel pumps can be replaced without engine out. If you do de-CAT then turbos can be replaced without any additional work, if you have CATs then lowering the engine slightly (lowering for~10cm using threaded rods 30cm long with nut at the end in place of original mount bolts). Camshafts can be replaced without engine out, labor time is the same if the engine is out (so no diff for cams). The only 6 pains are starter, steering pump, AC pump, both exhaust manifolds and crank position sensor under the right engine mount, while it is possible to replace all of this without engine out it will take a lot of time, I would say if you are to replace any of those 6 things you better drop the engine and replace all the stuff preventively. P.S. it only the first 1-2 times of engine out work when it takes time, starting from 3rd time it is few hours work at max, but you get access everywhere.

Any idea what wheels these are?

Where's the Rubicon video?! Keen to see if that happened!

I understand liking working on your vehicles; however, there is something to be said for reliability. Especially when going to dangerous places across the southern border. Not Moab or the rubicon.

I own a 2004 V6 Petrol. I bought it new... honestly, what has gone wrong with it in those years has been the normal stuff you would expect on literally any other car out there. I just do not understand why they have a bad reputation? Mine has been so reliable...

The good thing about this VW is that when you want to change the bumper you just lightly kick the original and it shatters into a million tiny pieces ready to recycle

The car that makes everyone feel so insecure they feel the need to ignorantly dismiss and discredit. Coming from a family of VWs, including 2 touaregs and a mechanic who works on V10TDIs, I can confidently say the hate is unjustified and typically based off nothing more than assumptions. Kudos to VW for making such a beast and kudos to those brave enough to snag one.

I fell into the Touareg trap recently. Based on videos/reviews from people on KZfaq (looking hard at Tommy :) ), I picked up a '13. Literally within the first week it needed a new water pump and alternator ($1800 for both - they had to source the alternator from Europe). It was also throwing 26...yes, you read that correctly, twenty-six, non-engine error codes (mostly voltage issues). It left my wife stranded for hours waiting for a tow truck during the second week of ownership (she won't drive it anymore because she doesn't trust it). The service guys at the dealership "didn't secure the serpentine belt properly" after they installed the water pump and alternator, so it slipped. They apparently put on the original belt...who friggin' does that? Now, two weeks later, I have another check-engine light error and 5 non-engine error codes (still related to voltage). But the check engine light mysteriously went off (bulb isn't burned out...it lights up when starting the car). I'm getting ready to bring it to a different dealership, but my confidence is not high. But when it runs fine...it is damn near one of the best driving experiences I've had. And I'm coming from a BMW 3 series I just sold, which drove amazingly as well. Meh....I guess, "Hey, it's a Volkswagen" kind of applies here, too.

So many things to learn in this video.

LMAO! Where do you find these people? I understand much of the reason in having this vehicle, but does having a rare vehicle that is your primary vehicle really make sense. Parts have got to be expensive. Maybe it is simply a car that only a mechanic would enjoy.

Tommy’s about fell over when that guy said $6 grand. 😂

Yes I use to work on them but when there good there good

Very cool!

And knock on wood mine has been absolutely a great car for the last 2 years

Damn that's a monster SUV I also wished Toyota to put V10 diesel in a Land Cruiser

I didn't understand it. What is his other car and does he like it more?

This guy is hilarious. Awesome guest.

I wanted this so bad… such a cool car

Love it!

Hope this guy isnt a comedian for a living

too much enthusiasm

He shouldn’t have too worry about fixing anything because bring it to Chicago it will rust to pieces before that! Lol Texas to Wisconsin to Chicago poor car.

My oh my oh my!

any European diesel car is gonna require either deep pockets or some good mechanic skills

Thanks Tommy, great review.

haha a honest vw owner? 🤙 hell yeah I've always wanted one of these with the v10 just not enough time to maintain them 🤣🤙

A TDI with 205k and No EGR issues?! I’m gonna guess it’s been serviced before.

"eurowise stepped up to the ball"...what happens when people try to be smarter than they are

Nice

Tommy straight up lied at 8:52 LOLOLOL

Would you buy a 2008 face lift v10?

Considered one of these before until research brought me to my senses. Engine has to come out for some simple crap. No thanks!! Side note love my 2015 TDI Golf.

The guy wasn't a huge fan of the truck I think, it is for sale for about 18k on fb near the Chicagoland area, and yes. It is partially broken.

At 200k of course the suspension needs to be rebuilt on a heavy car with a big diesel engine up front. Driveshafts and center support bearings are a wear part. It's all typical stuff.

What happened to the real Classics. Happy Yak Ranch, the 60’s F250?

As a diesel though I would expect this car to get 500,000 or more especially with a gear driven timing system

What about putting one of these into a Nissan patrol ? From an engine reliability perspective

I was hoping he’d start it up and let us listen.

Some of stuff this guy says makes him a tool in my book. Who cares of u have tobwatch a youtube video to learn how to do something. I do it all the time with my utv.

I almost bought a V8 touareg as a first car, still really want either a V8 or V10 touareg even though it would probably be another reason I spiral closer and closer to insanity everyday

TFL needs to produce a mutli episode on this guy's Moab journey. His personality is so anti off-roader and I love it!

I have a 2004 V8 Touareg that I have owned since new and absolutely love it. I have 190,000 miles on it and the only thing that has gone wrong on it was the two fuel pumps. I have done all of the maintenance on it like the timing belt, brakes and oil/fluid changes. These things are built like tanks. I have had zero issues with the air bags (suspension). One thing I would recommend is to change all of the fluids frequently. I do need to replace the rear gas struts for the rear hatch since they are getting weak but they are 17 years old so I'm not complaining. These cars are great but the problem is people don't do any maintenance and then complain when they have to start replacing parts. It's always cheaper to change the fluids or to flush the brakes then its to start replacing parts. Like the front brake calibers are the same calibers that are on the early Lamborghini Murcielago.

It's gonna get to a point when parts will run out then can't fix it yourself

I love this video. But please don't use this music!

This guy on every first and only dates: "what kinda car do you drive? You don't know how to fix it, why are you driving it??"

Oh yeah you can just throw a rear locker in there. Just need a flip drive, torque flux, a batch job, a defcon and a screwdriver. Done!

Wow Tommy that guy was WAY too cool to do an interview with you!

Wow a jeep is boring? Ok he has a v10 but other than that it's a normal SUV... I ll keep my wrangler, if I ever get bored (unlikely) I ll swap my engine for hemi.

At least it’s not just American vehicles that look good on paper , have a ton of hype , are overpriced, and great till they warranty runs out . It’s pathetically sad