It has to be a Touran (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

It has to be a Touran

NEW REG FEATURE: The Touran is another of these Vokswagen vehicles which is hard to fault.

TheSharan, which of course is much bigger, was a bit too heavy and old fashioned. With the Touran it was like another vehicle entirely.

The Touran competes in the compact MPV class, a direct rival to cars such as the Renault Scenic and Vauxhall Zafira. In the UK, this class accounts for around 170,000 units.

Volkswagen UK expects to sell approximately 12,000 in a full year.

Most people go for the seven seat version and diesel accounts for over 75 per cent of Touran sales (42 per cent of diesel sales are the 1.9-litre 105 PS TDI).

Despite taking up no more road space than the Golf Estate, The Touran has a generous amount of interior room. In fact, it offers class-leading interior height and generous levels of space for passengers and their luggage.

The Touran's overall length is 4,391mm, very similar to that of the Golf Estate (4,397mm), but it has a longer wheelbase.

Considerable thought has gone into the design of the tailgate and its action; it opens in two stages, the gas-filled dampers raising it to a height of 1,822mm initially ideal for the shorter driver but it can reach a final height of 1,958mm.

Three trim levels are available: S, SE and Sport.

The attention to detail demonstrated by the Touran's designers is nowhere more evident than in the windscreen wipers.

Every time the wipers are switched off, the mechanism moves them slightly upwards to reverse the angle at which the rubber blades are parked, thus prolonging their working life.

Every time the Touran comes to a halt in traffic, the wiper speed is automatically reduced to the next-lower setting; as soon as the vehicle is moving again, the original wiper speed is restored.

Depending on specification, there are up to 39 separate storage areas within the Touran's interior.

Considerable attention to detail has been devoted to the design of the Touran's storage facilities. There are compartments under each front seat, for example, and on SE and Sport models an under-seat drawer for larger items.

The Touran's second seating row is made up of three separate seat units which can, with a few easy movements, slide forwards or backwards, move sideways, fold down or be removed completely.

And these seats move easily not like the Sharan which was something of a donkey.

Even with all seven seats in use, the Touran has 121 litres of luggage space available, as well as storage compartments in the rear side panels and the floor to accommodate smaller items.

Volkswagen enjoys a hard won reputation for quality and knows that it must make an even greater commitment in design, materials, development, quality control and many other areas if it is to retain its lead.

By designing the Touran to make use of some major and minor components including nuts, bolts, washers and fixings used in other Group products, Volkswagen is able to purchase high quality components and materials in bulk. By saving costs in these areas.

The Touran is offered with a choice of five engines: a 1.6-litre 102 PS and 115 PS FSI petrol, plus a 2.0-litre 150 PS; and two TDI diesels: a 1.9-litre 105 PS and 2.0-litre 140 PS. All powerplants meet with Euro 4 emissions regulations.

Factfile

The Touran 2.0 Sport seven seater

£19,515

Top speed 125mph

0 to 62mph in 10.4 seconds

Fuel economy 25 to 44 combined 34.9