The 2008 Volkswagen Touareg 2 mixes trail-worthy ability, excellent road manners, and a feature-laden five-seat cabin into a compact package to find favor with urban warriors, outdoor adventurers, suburban sybarites and everyone else who'd like to be one. The array of engines and suspensions permit any buyer personality to design a Touareg they like, the better to appreciate everything you won't notice in a short test-drive.

NewCarTestDrive.com correspondent G.R. Whale test drove Touareg models in Germany, Los Angeles, and Moab, Utah.