2004 Touareg V8 7L Auto 4XMOTION MY05

[mrmad]

Folks,

Being in the market for some new wheels and wanting something with off-road capability on a limited budget I have come across a 2004 Touareg V8 7L Auto 4XMOTION MY05.
Fuel consumption does not concern me as it will only get an outing a couple of times a week.
It only has 160Km on the clock.
However, I would like know what I can expect for service and repairs, bearing in mind it would be done through my local mechanic and not VW.

Would this be a do not go near model, what are the common failings, e.g. I read there were throttle response issues.

Basically do not want to spend 12K then have to spend another 10K within the next 2 years getting part failures sorted.

[Hugo_nz]

I had one, and can share some of my experience:

* Inside door handle on driver door just snapped off while closing the door one day.
* Vacuum pods on the front of the engine are prone to problems (plastic arms breaking, tears in the rubber) which can cause the throttle lag. I ended up buying replacement pods from Land Rover (exact same part, much cheaper than VW). There are online retailers that sell aluminium arms to replace the plastic ones. (My thread on another forum LINK)
* Lines feeding the vacuum pods can become completely corroded from oil contact and heat, leading to the vacuum system reverting to failsafe and thus throttle lag.
* Make sure that the coolant system is working (tstat, temp sensor).
* I had trouble with the dynamic headlights. I did a thorough, careful clean of all the hardware bits.
* All the back bits on the inside peel. It's a common sight. I wrapped most of my Treg interior bits with carbon look vinyl. (another of my threads LINK)