IMO they are better than the Honda CDV , also agree the VW looks better, if it was my choice I would go VW anyday, having said that I have not heard anything negative against the Honda. Just like the VW more.
I know of someone who bought a VW Toe rag. Had nothing but problems with it - new injectors and a new turbo in less than 100 000 miles. I would go with Honda every time. In my opinion VW and Audi are very overrated and a bit of a status symbol.
The Tow rag's can have electrical problems and other gremlins that can strike such as Dual Mass Flywheels failing and they aint cheap. The Honda's on the other hand are pretty bullet proof, I should know I have two of them. One is nearly new and my partner drives it and I use an old CR-V which has 130k on the clock and cost me £1000. I'm loathed to part with the old one as it's brilliant in the winter and so far it has not let me down (touches wood!!). also the running costs of the VW will be a lot higher, check out "Honest Johns" web site he seems to have a lot of owner input on all cars.
One thing I forgot to mention is the VW's had an injector recall on certain models, I had a Passat and it's injector failed leaving me stranded on a motorway in the fast lane! These injectors are Bosch piezo injectors and cost £835 each! I'm not against VW's in any way I'm just relaying first hand experiences. Bear in mind a lot of Skoda, VW and Audi use the same engines, different ratings but essentially the same unit.
ginge......would you consider the CRV to be a similar vehicle to a Touareg.
I would say we have 2 very different vehicles here......2.2 Honda up to a v10 VW. The weight of the VW is almost 50% greater even with the 3.0 v6 engine.