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

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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.