Volkswagen Touran Estate 2003 - Present

The Volkswagen Touran is the German carmakers offering in the MPV market and as you'd expect from a Volkswagen it is an extremely competent and steady performer. With good comfort levels for the occupants, albeit without being too generous with space in the third row of seats.

Sitting in the driver's seat of the Touran you are first impressed with the very alert driving position. The seat is unusually high and give a good view of the road, although the pillars occasionally restrict side visibility. The driving seat offers a great deal of adjustment and can be set up to suit virtually any taste without any hassle. The controls for the seat are also nicely uncomplicated offering the opportunity to get the seating set up without any confusion.

The back seats fold down with little fuss and offer a five seater with great amounts of storage space. The process isn't the quickest in the class but is by no means a slouch. The Load area it relatively low to the ground and consequently easy to load. There are also impressively sized under seat boxes too.

On the road there are 4 engine options; three petrol and one diesel. The starting option, the 1.6 petrol boasts 100 bhp and for the most part is a reasonable performer, although it's shortcomings are somewhat exposed on the motorway. The 1.4 TSI engine has both a turbo and a supercharger which offers a more lively performance than the 1.6 and still returns satisfactory fuel economy at 37 mpg. As is often the case nowadays the best performance is generated by the TDI models. The pick of the bunch in terms of economy is the 1.9 TDI which almost makes 50 mpg but isn't as much fun to drive as the 2.0 TDI which offers a sub 10 seconds 0-60 and m124 mph top speed while giving back 43 mpg. Unsurprisingly it's at the top end of the price range but not much more than the 1.4 TDI so will probably pay back the extra pounds in economy before the warranty has run out.

The handling offers little to complain about. The suspension is firm enough to hold the road extremely well yet giving enough to ensure that all of the passengers have a comfortable journey. There is little discernable body roll which is impressive for a vehicle of it's size and shape, and for those who are worried about parking a vehicle of this size there is a very nifty automatic parking facility. You need to push a button as you line up to park and the Touran does all the steering for you. The car senses where the cars you're parking in between are and steers accordingly. It will be interesting to see whether people use the facility to learn to improve their parking or will be lazy and let the Touran just park for them without thinking about what techniques are best employed to park a car?

The compact MPV market is a competitive place and has a lot of decent performers in it. The VW Touran does exactly what it sets out to do but does it with competence rather than flair. It will be the choice of people who like the level of quality that the VW badge brings to the table but is unlikely to win over many new converts.

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