Volkswagen debuts special edition Touareg X

The Volkswagen Touareg has been with us for ten years -- hard to believe -- and in that time Volkswagen has sold more than 121,000 examples of the SUV in the U.S. alone. And for the 2014 model year Volkswagen will be releasing a special edition of the Touareg, first ever for the nameplate, dubbed the Touareg X. This special edition will be closely based on the TDI Clean Diesel Lux trim, and will feature a number of exterior and interior accents that will set it apart.

First off, the Touareg X will be offered only in Moonlight Blue Pearl paint, and will ride on exclusive 19-inch "Moab" aluminum-alloy wheels. The Touareg X will also feauture LED tail lights, in addition to obligatory special edition badging.

On the inside, the Touareg X will offer Vienna leather seats in Black Anthracite along with a black headliner. The cabin will also feature Engineered Ebony Wood accents on the doors and dashboard, along with a piano black center console. Ambient lighting and aluminum door sill scuffplates with front illumination complete the visual tweaks. A lot of equipment will be standard on the Touareg X, and that includes keyless access ith push-button start, Bi-Xenon headlights with LED daytime running lights, a navigation system with an eight-inch color touchscreen monitor, a 60GB hard drive, a rearview camera, Bluetooth connectivity, dual-one air conditioning, and 12-way powered and heated front seats.

This being a TDI Lux-derived model, the Touareg X will be powered by Volkswagen's 3.0-liter turbocharged and direct injected V6 TDI Clean Diesel engine producing 240 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque. Along with an eight-speed automatic transmission, the Touareg X will return an EPA estimated 29 mpg on the highway, which gives it a range of 700 miles between fill-ups.

$57,080 is how much you can expect to pay for the Touareg X, a bit of a sobering premium over the $44,905 starting price of the entry-level V6 model, but in line with other well equipped TDI Clean Diesel models.

By Jay Ramey