Nearly new buying guide: Volkswagen Touran

The car rides with fluidity over most surfaces, but for the smoothest progress, we’d stick with the smaller, 16in alloys fitted to SE and SE Family versions. 

The Touran shares much of its underpinnings and hardware with the Mk7 Volkswagen Golf, so its dashboard is both classy to behold and easy to use. 

All Tourans came with an 8.0in colour touchscreen as standard. Most important of all, though, is how brilliantly clever the interior is. For instance, the second row is made up of three individual seats so it is possible to carry three child seats side by side. (The Touran has Isofix mounting points on six seats.) 

These chairs also all slide and fold independently of one another, and the outer two seats also tilt out of the way to make scrambling into the rearmost row fairly easy. Those final two chairs fold easily out of the boot floor, leaving just enough room for a couple of bags of shopping. 

Tuck them away, and you get van-like luggage space, which can be extended again by folding the second-row seats flat into the floor, and even dropping the passenger seat flat too.

Which specification should I choose?

SE: This trim includes 16in alloys, all-round electric windows, privacy glass, air conditioning, rear picnic tables, front and rear centre armrests, drawers under each front seat and front and rear parking sensors.

Need to know 

Used prices start at £11k. Spend £13k-£20k on a 2018 or 2019 car and £20k-£22k on a 2020 or 2021 model. Upwards of £22k buys a 2022 Touran. 

The 1.5 TSI 150 with its active cylinder shutdown tech averages 42.8mpg with the automatic DSG ’box and 43.5mpg as a manual under the WLTP tests. The 1.0 TSI has claimed WLTP fuel economy of up to 41.5mpg. Of the diesels, the 1.6 TDI returns up to 51.4mpg and 50.4mpg with the DSG gearbox.

Buyer beware

Recalls: There have been a number over the years. These include potential issues with: the warning light for the external lights; airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners; the on-board supply control unit; dipped beams; the head restraints; a shortfall in engine torque; wheels bought at some dealers; and the wall thickness of the fuel tank. Check with a VW dealer that any required remedial work to your car has been done. 

Dual-clutch autos: In the past, Volkswagen has suffered some fairly expensive problems with its DSG gearboxes, and although it now appears to be on top of them, it’s still worth looking out for juddering, particularly as the car slows down. 

Reliability: The latest What Car? Reliability Survey placed the Touran seventh out of seven cars in the MPV class. VW came 22nd out of 32 brands.