Talk me out of this: buying a TDI Touareg...

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Got twins on the way (our first, and hopefully last addition to the family...) and our current cars don't have the room to fit two infant seats and the stroller without pushing the driver into the steering wheel and fully occupying the trunk.

We're looking for (in order of priority) a safe, all-wheel drive vehicle that has cargo space (at least 30 cubic feet with all seats up) and gets decent mileage.

We wanted to go Subaru, but the rear seats in the Outback and Forester just don't have the front-back room to accommodate car seats in the outboard positions without pushing the driver into the steering wheel. The Volvo XC 70 and 90 are great safety-wise and have lots of cargo space, but I'm not sure that I want to drive something that gets 18 mpg on a good day. We should probably consider the GM and Ford offerings, but we're looking for something with a little more of an off-road capability for accessing remote touring trailheads in the Eastern Sierra (yeah, I know, probably years down the road).

What's the drawback about the Touareg TDI that I'm missing? Same platform and mechanicals as the Audi Q7 and Porsche Cayenne, and about $15k less than the Q7. Someone convince me not to do this...

[Blurred]

That's a great ride if you're okay with the price tag.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Yeah...that's why I'm trying to get someone to talk me out of it and tell me why the GMC Terrain (or something like it) has all the same capabilities and features for 3/4 of the price...I just don't trust non-truck-based GM or Ford products...

[::: :::]

it's smaller on the inside than the outback

(says the 6'-4" guy)

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Overall, yeah, I agree - the outback has a HUGE trunk, which would be nice, and the front seats are really roomy. The rear seats in the outback are a couple inches closer to the front seats, which makes the double-outboard infant seats not so driver-friendly (and I'm nowhere near 6-4). I was kind of surprised that it didn't work in the Subaru...but then again, we have the world's most enormous kid seats (which were the only model that fit the stroller that the wife wanted to buy...)

[4matic]

Same platform as Porsche Cayenne: Expensive tires, VERY expensive brakes, questionable reliability of transfer case.

[sidewall]

I can't think of a good reason not to get one if you're in the financial position to do so. Awesome mileage, great design, etc.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

I'm not sure the Touareg gets the same Brembo treatment as the Porsche...but I'm handy with a can of red spraypaint, if you know what I mean...

[frorider]

We wanted to go Subaru, but the rear seats in the Outback and Forester just don't have the front-back room to accommodate car seats in the outboard positions without pushing the driver into the steering wheel.

I don't have kids, but my Forester-owning friends told me they wish they'd gotten the Outback since, according to them, it has plenty of room to enable child seats with the front seats in a reasonable position. But he's 5'11", maybe you're taller than that.

[Blurred]

I don't have kids.

You'd have to find a woman self-deprecating enough to spread her legs first.

Subarus are teh ghey btw

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Sadly, not taller than 5'11. Just stuck with unreasonably large child seats, as they are the only model that fit in the stroller that the wife picked out (and trust me, there's no reasoning with a woman 5 months pregnant with twins...just acquiescence).

Also, did your friends have two rear-facing kid seats at the same time? It's pretty simple to fit a single seat in the middle position (or, worst case, make the front seat passenger suffer through no legroom for a year or so until you can switch to a forward-facing, smaller seat). Double the fun, I guess.

[zeroforhire]

Get the outback, change out the car seat/stroller. Much cheaper overall.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Get the outback, change out the car seat/stroller. Much cheaper overall.

Tell me your strategy for disagreeing with a pregnant lady (especially one bearing your crotchfruit). I need to learn these things...

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Get the outback, change out the car seat/stroller. Much cheaper overall.

Also, our impreza wagon has really, really terrible headlights. Are the outback headlights any better?

[zeroforhire]

She is your wife. What works with mine, might not work with yours. I was just coming at it from a cost perspective.

Good luck. The toureg is sweet. I was just trying to talk you out of it. :-)

[Shredhead]

Have you checked out the ML350 Bluetec? I'm just starting my search for a diesel SUV and they look pretty sweet.

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

Have you checked out the ML350 Bluetec? I'm just starting my search for a diesel SUV and they look pretty sweet.

No, haven't thought to look there...I'm assuming the price range probably starts around $50k (at least) for that car, which I can't justify. Crossing my fingers that someone on these boards is an auto dealer and wants to give a righteous discount to a low-post JONG...

[bagtagley]

Had a Chico somethingorother infant car seat (the kind that pops out and into a stroller) behind my seat in the Legacy so I could look and reach back to my daughter behind the passenger seat. It does require you to push the seat forward, but not uncomfortably so, and I got used to it pretty quickly. Once you get an overbuilt convertible seat set at the proper recline angle, it takes as much or more space than the infant seats, FWIW.

What seat/stroller you guys getting?

[45hill]

Buy a Ford Explorer. With all the money you save you can buy more gas and won't care when the kids shit, piss, puke, spill everything, and mash gummy bears into ever crevice in the interior. Not mention all the dings it will get from bikes, soccer balls, hockey sticks, rocks, and using it as home base.

[GiBo]

Yeah...that's why I'm trying to get someone to talk me out of it and tell me why the GMC Terrain (or something like it) has all the same capabilities and features for 3/4 of the price...I just don't trust non-truck-based GM or Ford products...

You're a smart man. My step-mom's Acadia has been the biggest POS they've ever owned. And they've had a lot of cars. I drove for two days and was not impressed.

I say if your pregnant wife wants it, get it. You get a happy wife and a sweet car. I mean what are we talking in savings with something else, 5-10K? Shit, people here have mountain bikes and ski quivers that cost that much. Get the vdub.

[45hill]

No, haven't thought to look there...I'm assuming the price range probably starts around $50k (at least) for that car, which I can't justify. Crossing my fingers that someone on these boards is an auto dealer and wants to give a righteous discount to a low-post JONG...

Paging Sinecure

[Tippster]

...I'm assuming the price range probably starts around $50k (at least) for that car, which I can't justify.

TDI Touaregs are right there, bro, at least around here. Are you looking pre-owned or new?

[Caucasian Asian]

I wonder what would happen if it was on a treadmill?

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

You're a smart man. My step-mom's Acadia has been the biggest POS they've ever owned. And they've had a lot of cars. I drove for two days and was not impressed.

I say if your pregnant wife wants it, get it. You get a happy wife and a sweet car. I mean what are we talking in savings with something else, 5-10K? Shit, people here have mountain bikes and ski quivers that cost that much. Get the vdub.

Uncle was a GM dealer before they shut him down in 2010...that just confirms what he told us on the DL...

[FormerKnuckleDragger]

TDI Touaregs are right there, bro, at least around here. Are you looking pre-owned or new?

Close, but not quite...2012's can be had (sport trim with nav) for just over 40, if you are willing to email a bunch of internet sales managers until all hours of the night with pestering questions...