USED Volkswagen Touran MPV (03 - 11)

My car

The drive quality is what you would expect of a car based on the Golf chassis. The steering is very responsive, and parking much easier than the size of the vehicle would suggest.

The Touran's versatility is what attracted our family to it. Converting it from a 5-seater to a 7-seater is much easier than using the cantilever-type system of other compact MPVs.

The downside is that this versatility comes at a price: there is no spare wheel, a fact of which we were not made aware prior to purchasing the car.

Other problems have included a malfunctioning rear windscreen wiper, which the dealer has fruitlessly repaired twice since we bought the car at the end of July.

There are also very irritating creaks and rattles coming from rear headrests, the design of which seems to force the neck forward. Generally, the seats are poorly designed, being incongruously narrow for an aspiring MPV, and causing some owners, incuding myself, back pain, despite the much-vaunted lumbar support system.

Overall, I am unimpressed with the Touran, and disappointed that What Car? didn't highlight issues like the missing spare wheel and what I found to be uncomfortable seating.

My car

Lumbar adjustment seems to be situated about 4” to 6” too low to be effective. It digs into my belt, but does not support the small of my back, leaving me with backache.

Also, parking with the DSG auto is imprecise as the car will creep then lurch – which could be expensive when close to other cars!

Parking on a hill accentuates the problem as the car will roll backwards or lurch forwards – you have to use the handbrake to do a hill start, or hybrid left foot on the footbrake, right foot on the accelerator pedal!

The plastic trim has been falling off the sides of the front passenger seat where the seat tilt mechanism is housed. I am about to take the car to the local dealer for the fourth repair.

Otherwise fuel consumption very good, and space and design is good .

My car

The two litre diesel is amazing, especially with the fantastic DSG Gearbox. For such a tall car, it drives better than my Mercedes, I want one and I hope to get one soon. There is so much space for a car that looks so small from the outside. Refinement is excellent and so is the performance. This is a car made by volkswagen.