Thinking of buying a used Volkswagen Touran?
The style of the car
The Volkswagen Touran is a practical seven-seat MPV that packs a lot of space into a compact body. Its tall shape and wide-opening doors make access easy, while the boot has a very large opening that makes it easy to get things in and out. Large windows provide excellent visibility and give the interior a bright and airy feel.
How it drives
The Touran is good to drive. It’s more fun than many MPVs and doesn’t feel that different to the Volkswagen Golf it shares many parts with. Great visibility helps to make it easy to drive and park, while the optional DSG automatic gearbox takes the strain out of driving in town. The engines are responsive, even when fully loaded or when towing a trailer or caravan.
The interior
The Volkswagen Touran uses many of the same parts as a VW Golf, but it has a taller, longer body that makes it very practical. Each of the five doors has a large opening that makes access easy, while the versatile seven-seat layout allows you to fit a child seat in any of the five seats behind the driver and front passenger.
With the two third-row seats in place the boot is only large enough for a couple of suitcases but it’s easy to fold them into the floor to create a boot that’s larger than most estate cars’. You can fold the middle row seats away for an even bigger load area.
All versions are well-equipped, with air con and a touchscreen infotainment system standard on entry-level SE term. SE Family adds sat nav and a panoramic glass roof, while SE L includes three-zone climate control and R-line adds sports seats.
Running costs and reliability
The Touran offers great value for money. It’s competitively priced against rivals and has efficient engines that help to keep fuel and tax bills low. Long service intervals of up to two years are the icing on the cake. VW has a good reputation for reliability and the Touran should be robust and dependable. The Touran has a maximum five-star Euro NCAP score, helped by standard safety equipment including adaptive cruise control.
How the Volkswagen Touran compares with similar cars
The Touran is Volkswagen’s mid-sized people carrier; it’s larger than the five-seat Volkswagen Golf SV but smaller than the seven-seat Volkswagen Sharan. It’s about the same size and offers the same kind of practicality as the Citroen Grand C4 Spacetourer and Ford Grand C-Max, and has a more premium-feeling interior than either.
