Look what blew in from the desert. This is VW’s Race Touareg 3 concept, based on the endurance monster that took the top three places in this year’s Dakar rally - the two-week race that’s now run across Argentina and Chile’s roughest landscapes. And as you’ve probably guessed, this isn’t some regular showroom-spec Touareg with the body of a real Dakar winner. This is a real Dakar winner, albeit a slightly cosier one, reformatted for us regular civvies.
This feature was originally published in the March issue of Top Gear magazine
Like the competition version, it's fully road legal, but thanks to some soundproofing, and a new interior with lots of leather and silver stitching on the seats, you might actually consider using it as a daily driver. Maybe. It'd look good in the office car park, that's for sure.
But don't let a few home comforts fool you. It still has a full roll cage and deep bucket seats, and, mechanically, it's undiluted from the dune-jumping original. It uses the same 2.5-litre, five-cylinder twin-turbo diesel engine with 305bhp that gets it from 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds. The spaceframe chassis is made from aircraft-grade steel and the suspension and brakes are identical to those on the race car, with double-wishbones and two shocks per wheel.
Save for a slightly different gearlever on the five-speed sequential 'box, the drivetrain is exactly the same. In other words, this thing can smash across boulders the size of small asteroids and nothing will fall off. And if it can handle thousands of miles of maximum-speed blasts - only 118mph, thanks to close gearing - across sky-high dunes, it'll probably cope fine over some potholes in Bridlington.
There are two concessions to bling: the racing decals have gone and it's now painted in ‘Magic Morning' white - infused with a shimmer of gold - and it has 18-inch gold rims designed by BBS, which replace the 16-inch race versions. The bodywork is still made from lightweight carbon composite and it keeps 95 per cent of the racecar's shape. Two metres wide, high-riding and with short overhangs, it's designed to sail over the sort of terrain that'd knock the wind out of a Land Rover. That is, provided you can squeeze in through the tiny door hatches that look like entrances to a space capsule.
So why has Volkswagen made it? For the same reason Porsche makes a GT3 RS, or Subaru makes an Impreza STI: to celebrate motorsport goodness with something similar for the road. Volkswagen doesn't do F1, or rallying, or Le Mans, but it does dominate Dakar and this is how the marketing people want to remind us. The only difference is that this Race Touareg isn't just some hardcore homage to the real thing, but a mechanical duplicate. With posher seats and a stereo.
There's just one small, slightly frustrating thing: it hasn't been officially confirmed for production. But if you surprise your local Volkswagen dealer with an offer he can't refuse, you never know what might happen. Of course, taking it for a Sunday drive here in the UK might be slight overkill, like going green laning in a Chieftain. It would make more sense somewhere sandy.
Which is why VW showed it at the Qatar motor show earlier this year - dipping its toe into the oasis to gauge reaction (this Touareg shared the stand with another one, based on the regular road car and featuring 24-carat gold trim). If it does go on sale, the Middle East is the sort of place where it's likely to find a home, probably with a petrolhead sheikh who's got a hundred-ish grand to spend on a posh dune buggy to go shopping in. Or perhaps in Africa, with a playboy prince whose backyard includes a few hundred acres of Sahara.
For that to happen, all it needs is a suitcase full of cash and some persuasive words. Only then will this mirage become a reality.
VW RACE TOUAREG 3 CONCEPT: SPECS
Engine: 2.5-litre, 5-cylinder twin-turbo diesel, 305bhp
Performance: 0-62mph in 5.9 seconds, 118mph max speed
Transmission: five-speed sequential
Weight: 1,788kg
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