Volkswagen Touran road test reports and car reviews

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 tdi 2005

I love the car, it’s fun to drive and is economical but the turbo went at 20,000 miles and the ESP light has been on for 12 months now and could cost £1300. VW should do a full recall for this ESP/ABS fault, don’t buy one until they do!

Volkswagen Touran 2.0 TDi Sport 140ps 2005

We owned this car for 3 years. Seven seats great idea, to take the kids friends out. Good to drive. MPG great, got better as the engine loosened up, from about 25k miles onwards, push it as hard as you like and you’ll return 45mpg. We drove back from Cornwall fully loaded at 70mph and averaged 52mpg!!! Now for the BIG PROBLEM; The ABS control unit went and the ESP light came on when the car went out of warranty, VW were stating £1600 to fix. We have full VW service history and car had 48k miles. After a lot of wrangling VW paid 40% and we still ended up with a £900 bill. My advice is get rid before end of 3 year warranty.

Volkswagen Touran 1.9tdi 2007

No faults at 19,000miles. Tyres 50%. Overall fuel consumption 53mpg. Excellent bottom-end torque, no need to red line. Quiet engine but slightly disappointing increase in exhaust noise above 3.500rpm (65mph) in top. Blue version might solve this. Acceleration satisfactory for normal usage. Suspension loaded/unloaded an excellent compromise. Steering and handling very good. Very good driving position and seat adjustment. Certainly not for pedal thumpers. Body design very versatile and well finished. A good buy, in my opinion, provide the ABS gives no trouble! Lamp failure warning light excellent idea, should be general requirement. VW dealerships good on sales but expensive so choose VERY carefully indeed for servicing. Would consider DSG, but ..

Volkswagen Touran 2.0 TDI Sport 140 2005

I’ve had the Touran for 3 years and covered 120k. It has had a few problems with interior plastics, wheel alignment, fuel leaking due to poor servicing at Main Dealers (3 times!); They didn’t put fuel pipe clips on properly first time followed by not tightening fuel filter cannister lid causing complete satuaration of engine compartment and 20 foot of fast lane on motorway! Thankyou to the Highways agency for cleaning that up! Would I buy another one? To be honest Ive driven the C/S-Max’s,Zaffira and Scenic and while they all have there merits it is always the VW I’d rather be driving. So the answer is yes I would but with the proviso that VW answer(satisfactory) the many complaints regarding there poor customer relationship and put an end to daft charging structures(like £28 to change a tail bulb which took 4 mins!) especailly when you have religiously followed all there servicing reommendations and handed over approx £1100 each year to keep it on the road(not inc tyres).

Volkswagen Touran 2005

AVOID at all costs unless you like £1500 repair bills for the ABS unit. Google "Touran ESP Light" and you will get the gist.

Volkswagen Touran 2.0 se tdi automatic dsg 2009

I bought this car a year ago as I wanted a MPV rather than an estate car, so that I could transport my fishing gear, the dog and the wife. At the outset the car behaved well with good performance and fuel economy, but 3months down the line the cd unit packed up so it went back to the garage where a new unit was installed under warranty at a cost of £640; glad i wasn’t picking up the bill. Another couple of months went by and the esp light came on and stayed on,so back to the garage it went where a new esp ring was fitted, which has somthing to do with the ABS, at a total cost £350 (I’m getting my moneys worth out of this warranty).Just 3 weeks ago i awoke at 3am to the sound of the car’s alarm going off. I was popular with the neighbours i can tell you since i m a heavy sleeper. When i went down to the car i found all the windows had let themselves down and it was raining cats & dogs so I ended with an added extra.. a vw with a built in swimming pool. Would i buy another one? Quite frankly no.

Volkswagen Touran 2.0 tdi dsg 2006

I’m very happy with the overall drive and quality. However, a problem with the abs occurred just 2 months after warranty expired (£1700 to repair). VW initially told me if I had full VW service history they would repair for free under goodwill. One service had been performed by an independant garage but the car still had a complete history. They eventually offered only 40% saying I had not had genuine filters fitted to the engine; this puzzled me as this is a common fault and has no relation to the workings of the engine. However, as I was advised by the VW man they don’t have to offer any gesture I had no option to accept. I like the car, shame about VW customer support. Would I buy another Touran? Maybe...

Volkswagen Touran se 2006

I owned the VW touran 1.9 tdi se for nearly three years. An excellent car, the only fault occurred recently - ESP after 2 and a half years of driving. It is quite a hard ride, as are seats, they are reasonably supportive though. There is loads of room in the front and rear for 5 adults and the boot is massive, the same as the Zafira. Lots of power from 105 horses and 185 torque; the book says 0-60 in 13 secs, this is absolute rubbish. I think that everyone hates VW!!! Fuel consumption great, unless you push it hard, still better than a petrol I bet. All controls are simple, easy to use and not cheap quality / looking like the Zafira. Engine noise in cabin is not fantastic, especially at speed. Engine growls when pushed, sounds good. Radio / CD player is easy to use, with good sound from the 8 speakers. I would definitely buy another if the price was right but am still looking at others - Verso, Zafira, C-Max (a bit cramped), S-Max.

Responses to this review

If your thinking of buying a Touran, do some research first on the very common clutch/flywheel and ABS problems. We are facing a repair bill of near £2500 on a car 4yrs old with only 65k miles on - Col Gaskell from Lancashire

Beware the dreaded ESP failure. IT WILL happen at some point, just hope it occurs when still in warranty. £1500 to fix if not. BMW recalled their One series with the same Boosh unit. Why haven’t VW? Shame on them. We will never buy a VW again - A Duffy from England

Volkswagen Touran 2.0TDI SPORT 2004

Previously had a Zafira and the Touran I’ve now got leaves it standing for quality and performance. Loves motorways and give it a steep hill to get stuck into and the torque is unreal; it just pulls effortlessly . On the downside it is a bit of a bumpy ride on certain roads but I’m not going to blame the car - I would rather blame that on miss spent road tax.