Although it was reportedly rebuilt at 310k, the car looks remarkable for having lasted half a million miles.
This is something you won’t see every day. And we don’t mean a Volkswagen Touareg that has accumulated a lot of mileage. Although these Porsche Cayenne clones aren’t known for their reliability and longevity over the years, it has done 456,000 miles (734,000 km) and is also one of very few V10 turbodiesel models with 310 horsepower.
A V10 turbodiesel Touareg? This was indeed a V10 turbodiesel Touareg. It was sold worldwide from 2002 to 2010, but strict emission regulations in the USA meant that it was only available in limited quantities. Ironically, the V6 TDI was installed to replace it. This would be later part of VW’s Dieselgate scandal. Awkward.
It was difficult to meet emission standards and production was limited by the $70,000 Volkswagen SUV. That’s $70,000 in mid 2000s money. Right now, you can purchase a brand-new 2018 Porsche Cayenne with 354 horsepower (254 kilowatts), for $65,000 It was also extremely expensive.
What does a Volkswagen diesel SUV that costs $70,000 after nearly half a century and 115,000 miles? The 2006 example is located overseas and the photos in the for sale ad at Autowereld.nl show it looking pretty good. It’s not clear what the details are, but Autoblog.nl suggests that it has had a lot of money invested in maintenance. A new engine was installed at 500,000 km. It would be easy to see why the engine looks so good. However, 500,000 km (310,000 miles) is an unusually low mileage for a diesel engine. It is hard to imagine how much that repair bill was.
This rare SUV’s asking price is EUR7,800. That is approximately $9,400. We found a few V10 TDI SUVs for sale in the States, with prices ranging between $12,000 and near $30,000, but none were as close to this model’s mileage.
We must respect the Volkswagen Touareg with the most mileage in the world, regardless of whether or not it is worth the price.