My asst is looking at buying a VW Touareg with AWD and V8... Any insight?

Know that the cost of ownership for German cars will be a good bit higher than other brands. Plus routine maintenance around 100k will be $$$ since parts for them are more expensive.

Audi/VW makes some pretty good V8s. They're typically set up different than American ones though - high revving with top end power instead of low revving with low range torque.

EDIT: Rookie mistake. Meant German cars and thought the Touareg was an Audi. But both companies do have the same ownership.

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Are those V8s good engines?

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Very. Arguably one of the best.

A VAGCOM tool can be bought for pretty cheap but it doesn't sound like she's going to be doing her own work.

The little things on these cars can nickel and dime you to death. The struts and ball joints wear out pretty quick around town.

Make damn sure the timing belt has been done, get proof if you can, or change it the first day.

Also there is this funky gear for the AWD that likes to bind up at low speeds. People who bounce around town in these have problems but there is a software update that corrects this issue. Make sure it has this update.

I've said it before and I will stand by my theory that the best ever around town SUV is a 2007 and up FWD 3.2 XC90. We use one for our runners and it's gets rode hard. ZERO mechanical failures in over 300k miles. My buddy just bought one for his 16yr old daughter, it's an 08 with 79k miles, loaded, for $10,850 after tax title and license.

My insight is that your assistant is overpaid. She should be at an income level that requires her to buy a used vehicle, not a new one.

I think they have electrical problems and airbag problems sometimes. Other than that, they are really nice and solid

My mom has a leaky airbag hose in her MB, and they want to replace most of the system for $2600