2025-on Aprilia Tuareg Rally 660 review: A bit hardcore

Manufacturers are now starting to feel the need to highlight the off-road success of their middleweight adventurers to give them credibility. And while UK riders may never have heard of the Baja Aragon, Hellas Rally Raid or Africa Eco Race, or indeed care about the Italian Motorally Championship, they might be impressed that the bike that recently won all of these events has helped form the foundation for the new Tuareg Rally 660.

Based on the updated-for-2025 Tuareg 660, the Rally version features the same engine and styling updates as the stock model but the hardcore version adds a high mudguard, uprated suspension, thicker sump guard, reinforced brush guards, heavy-duty tubed wheels, taller bars, big-foot sidestand and an SC Project exhaust with titanium silencer alongside a super-cool race-replica paint scheme with gold wheels. The Rally is also 5kg lighter and sits 20mm higher at its seat.

While Rally looks fantastic and has bags more kerb-appeal than the stock Tuareg, an aggressive throttle action and firm suspension make slow speed work a bit of a challenge, which is frustrating and ends up irritating you both on the tarmac and dirt.

Also, its price tag is hard to justify when compared to its main rival, the £11,404 Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally, especially when you consider historical depreciation figures of the Tuareg and its lack of quickshifter and connectivity as standard fitment (a quickshifter costs £198 to add to the Yamaha, and connectivity is standard). If you are considering a Tuareg 660 the Rally’s spec and looks make it the model to go for, but pound-for-pound, the Aprilia is not the best hardcore middleweight adventurer out there.

The Rally has the same 240mm of travel as the stock Tuareg, but its fully adjustable Kayaba suspension features uprated internals with linear resistance springs rather than progressive. Aprilia admit this more direct feel compromises the Rally’s comfort levels on the road, and at low speeds, the Tuareg’s suspension is noticeably stiff and harsh, resulting in quite a jarring ride.

However, it’s not all bad news, as at higher speeds the Rally responds really well over harsh bumps, easily soaking up any jolts and delivering a pleasingly smooth ride quality. Also, the stiffer nature of the suspension helps reduce pitching under hard braking and acceleration, making the Rally feel more assured on the road than the stock model. And changes aren’t just limited to the Rally’s suspension...

To assist off-road riders, the Rally has different ergonomics to the stock model with taller bars and a 20mm higher seat height. While this makes it better on trails (it has a roomy, stood-up riding position), on the road, when seated, it isn’t quite as relaxed as the raised bars are closer to the rider’s body, forcing your arms in a slightly uncomfortable bent position.

Despite its claimed seat height of 913mm, the Rally never feels that tall or intimidating, a fact helped by its narrow nature. Shorter riders won’t find it a handful, and the brakes have more than enough bite for tarmac use while retaining good feel for off-road.

Aprilia have given their parallel-twin a slight update for 2025 through larger throttle bodies (up 4mm to 52mm) and a new generator with less drag, neither of which is noticeable and is mainly to help it meet Euro5+ regulations with no loss in performance.

But alongside these tweaks, they have introduced a new engine map with a deliberately responsive throttle action, something that isn’t particularly welcome. Horribly abrupt when going from a closed to partially open throttle, this map makes the Rally awkward at slow speeds and is pretty unpleasant in urban environments or even off-road.

Swapping power modes (Urban, Explore, Offroad, and Individual), which vary the engine map (there are three), doesn’t calm it down, and it makes the Rally demanding and spikey to ride at the point you want it to be progressive and easy-going, which is a real shame.

Get over the throttle’s initial directness, and once rolling, the parallel-twin is excellent. Wonderfully smooth and with rival-matching performance, the Rally has more than enough grunt to be enjoyed on the road, and despite lacking any angle-responsive function, the safety assists (ABS, TC, engine braking) all perform well; however, it’s noticeable that there is a bit of tech lacking as standard...

The level of build quality appears high on the Tuareg, with its spoke wheels upgraded to heavy-duty items, the SC Project exhaust lovely, and the overall finish seemingly good. Seven owners have left reviews of the original model online, and none have experienced any major reliability issues.

The Rally records mid-40mpg figures, which is good, but depreciation is a concern. The first Tuareg model was hit hard by a lack of sales in the UK, something that saw new prices heavily discounted – sometimes by as much as £2000.

Compared to its main rival, the £11,404 Yamaha Ténéré 700 Rally, the Aprilia is costly, but it is cheaper than a similar-spec BMW F900GS (£14,050 with Enduro Package Pro and cruise control), Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro (£14,695) or Ducati DesertX (£15,371) – although they are bigger in capacity. The Suzuki V-Strom 800DE (£10,199) is cheap but lower-spec.

While the Rally has some eye-catching components, it is also left lacking in some areas. You get Aprilia’s APRC suite with 4-level traction control (ATC), 3-level engine brake (AEB), three engine maps (AEM), cruise control and four rider modes (Urban, Explore, Offroad and Individual) but as there is no IMU they aren’t angle-responsive and both a quickshifter (£179) and connectivity module (£184.99) are extras, which seems harsh on a bike costing £12,400.

That said, the SC Project exhaust looks cool and has a lovely burble on overrun. The ABS can be deactivated to the rear for off-road use.