Volkswagen Touran road tests and consumer car reviews

Volkswagen Touran 2 litre Diesel 170bhp 2006

Yet another family who will never again buy a VW! We bought ours at 3 years old, just out of warranty period. The previous owner had it serviced at independent garages. The diesel unit failed within 3 months costing £1,800. There was no goodwill gesture as it did not have a full VW service history. The ESP light has recently come on. The usual story as given above. The rear bulbs blow every couple of months also. The VW main dealer servicing is excessive and expensive. It is a good car and engine, when it works, but it is not reliable. We will be getting rid of it for a Nissan.

Volkswagen Touran 2006

Arghhhh! Don’t buy a Volkswagen lemon Before you think of spending your hard earned money on a new car, do your research and if you think of buying a VW do your research again and again and again. Then buy another make. I paid £18,000 for a top of the range Volkswagen Touran, in 2006. At 6 months old and it rolled down a hill with the handbrake fully on. At 12,000 miles the front tyres were worn down to the cords; Birmingham Volkswagen, wanted £157 to check the tracking and to tell me they had manufactured my Volkswagen Touran wrong. I took it to a local tyre specialist who charged me £35 using the latest laser equipment. I wrote to Volkswagen Customer Care when the vehicle was 11 months old and they didn’t reply!! That’s how much they were bothered about one of their new vehicles rolling down a hill with the handbrake fully on. On the first service at 15,000 miles I took it to Birmingham Volkswagen, and I asked them to seal a bad oil leak on the gearbox. They didn’t! What they did do was charge me £206 for an oil and filter change, a job I was doing at 16 years of age. For its second service I took it to another local garage who informed me the gearbox was empty! I again took it back to Birmingham Volkswagen, and after a lot of nagging they agreed to have it in to stop the gearbox oil leak, after the next incident I would never use Birmingham Volkswagen, again. About a month after I got my car back from Birmingham Volkswagen, I was traveling up the motorway to Scotland, when a police officer informed me that something was hanging down under the engine; Birmingham Volkswagen had left 2 bolts out and 4 bolts loose that held the sump cover in place, had it dropped down it could have killed us all in the car. Volkswagen UK, and the Volkswagen dealers don’t talk to each other! They don’t keep records so if you go back to them later there is no record of your complaint. Still thinking of buying a Volkswagen? Google VW ABS pump fault, these pumps fail at between 3 and 5 years and for VW to repair them it will cost you, and wait for this, £1,500, yes £1,500. Unless you have won the lottery and can afford the cost of repairs think before you buy a Volkswagen. They are rubbish and the after sales service is worse!!!

Volkswagen Touran tdi sport 2003

Bought the car second hand with 96000 miles on the clock, service history from independent not had a single problem with it and I drive 2000 miles a month. I keep it maintained and serviced. so what’s all the griping about? Look after it and it will look after you. The wheels and brakes were all changed by VW for the golf R32 type and handles a lot better, so I’m told by VW themselves. So now at 120k and still no problems after inspection by VW independent garage.

Volkswagen Touran 2006

I bought a VW Touran Sports TSI in 2006. Only done 43000 miles and the engine burnt out. There is a fault on this model. Vw refused to do any goodwill at all. I will never buy any VW in the future. If you have one get rid of it at soon as possible. It will brake down at anytime.

Responses to this review

Surely the fact that you do not know how to spell ’break’ within the context of your mail means you are should not be permitted to drive an intelligent vehicle like a Touran? - Mike Cousins from England

Volkswagen Touran 1.9tdi 2006

Bought car 2nd hand previously a lease car. I think its great both for comfort and performance. The dreaded ESP light got us, checked out by an indi mechanic with diagnostics found it needed a ABS pump. Wrote to VW customer services who said get it to a VW dealer for diagnostics and we see what we can do. Did all of that and then they said no complete VW service history so no can do anything. Asked to speak to a manager who then said 75% off the bill, maybe I should have stuck out for more but I am greatful So stick in there and give it your best shot

Responses to this review

More than likely its your injector pump seizing while hot, when it cools down again it will be fine, try to bump start while hot if it fires straight up its that - Ash Mason from England

Volkswagen Touran 1.9TD 2006

A great family vehicle but it does have weaknesses that need sorting; the ABS system as on other reviews and in my opinion the gearbox/clutch is weak. Although VW claim that it is not common, my gearbox exploded after 33000 miles causing major disruption to traffic, the vehicle was completly immovable, had this happened on a motorway the situation would have been life threatening! The cost was enormous;the vehicle was out of warranty and it took many hours of discussion before VW agreed to pay 60% of cost. What was more annoying was their refusal to investigate the cause. It was suggested that I pay for the investigation and if the fault was found to be VW then they may reimburse me the cost of inspection! It is now a concern that this may happen again! On top of all this the dealer had the vehicle back 4 times before they managed to get the new gearbox fitted correctly! Now the locking mechanism has failed, the boot releases as soon as you unlock the doors and you need to drive the vehicle with the boot undone....how much is this going to cost I wonder? A great car spoilt.

Volkswagen Touran 2006

DO NOT BUY A TOURAN - your EPS will fail. Ours has 29,000 miles and 3.5 years old - just out of warranty. VW will not contibute. I will never buy a VW again.

Responses to this review

Many thanks to all those that have posted. You have saved me a fortune. Here is my story. I have a four year 11 month and 20 day old VW Touran 2.0 Tdi Sport (at 30th Sept 2010) with 53000 miles on the clock and 2 services (one at VW dealer and one an an independant). I have had the car from new and had no problems whatsoever so was quite shocked 3 weeks ago when the ESP light would not go off and the emissions light came on. I took the car to a local independant who put it through the VAG diagnostic machine and informed me that I need a new ABS Control Module - at £1000 + vat + fitting. Informed that it was a common fault and he suggested that I get rid of the car rather spend the money. Realised that I couldnt trade it in (with emissions light on) I searched the web and found this blog (amonst many others). I then contacted VW Customer Services who advised that I need to take the car to a VW dealer to have a diagnostic done and then they would consider any ’goodwill’ contribution. I then took the car to VW dealer who charged me £69+vat to tell me what I already knew. They quoted me £700 part plus £300 fitting and raised a ’case’ with VW customer services. Within 24 hours I was offered 50% goodwill payment from VW which I declined. After 3 days I contacted them again and they advised that the offer has been raised to 65% of the parts and 80% of the labour. I again declined and politely explained that this was my 5th VAG car in eleven years and that I would expect more. Interestingly they did admit that it was a faulty part that they no longer install in cars. After 5 minutes on hold the offer was extended to 100% part and 80% labour. I can live with this however I do intend to go back tomorrow and try to get this extended to 100% labour. If the car is under 5 years old I get the impression that they will cover this as they said 50% is the standard offer for cars over 5 years. I have to say at this stage that the staff at both my VW dealer and VW Customer Srvs were very good and I have no complaints on that front. We have got there in the end however it is disappointing that it took this much research to establish that a potentially very costly repair was well known to VW. My next problem is a Manifold Flap that the dealer has quoted at over £500 to repair. Again it turns out to be a common fault and the VW dealer technician was good enough to tell me that VW should be covering some of this. I’ll deal with this tomorrow. One final comment I would make is to urge anyone who has the ABS problem not to get the light turned off without getting the problem fixed. It can be done however, while the ABS still works, the ESP does not and imagine the consequences if the next owner crashes as a result. Push VW and you will get there in the end!! Fraser MacKenzie from Scotland

HELP! My local garage diagnosed the 01435 fault on my 04 Touran TDi SE 70K. Local VW dealer in Wantage claimed not to recognise the fault! (Funny its all over the web!) They wanted to charge me £92 to do their own test and expected I needed a new ABS module £900 all + VAT + fitting... so I looked for alternatives! BBA-Reman ’fixed’ my 04 Touran ABS unit for ’Brake Pressure Sensor’ fault. OK for 200 miles then it’s back! They claim to have now fixed another fault. So why is it showing the same fault again after 10.1 miles??? Car has now been off road 3 weeks! Can something else be causing this or are they not repairing it properly? Nick from Oxfordshire

Volkswagen Touran 2 litre TDI 2006

The DSG gearbox on my Touran failed at 64k miles, resulting in a £4k replacement cost which the VW dealer agreed to reduce to £3.2k - thanks a bunch, if customers of VW Tourans knew before buying the car that the gearbox would fail at only 64k miles, they would never buy a Touran. I discovered that this is a not uncommon problem with VW’s DSG gearbox - see the website www.dsgwoes.co.uk where you can find other Touran owners who have had the same major DSG fault. I would like to buy another Touran but no way with such a fault-prone DSG gearbox.

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 diesel 2007

I’ve been happy with my Touran. I use it as a taxi but I’m finding it is using a lot of oil!!!! I keep having to top up every 4-5 days! It has 134,000 on the clock but is running champion apart frm the oil! I have replaced the AMS, fly wheel, clutch... obviously due to wear and tear! Has anyone experienced the same problem with the oil?

Responses to this review

Same thing was happening to us and it is a taxi aswell but we found out that it was leaking from inside the engine or something it took £1,200 to fix - Ali Sadiq from Scotland

Volkswagen Touran 2.0 TDI 2009

Warning - do not consider buying a 2.0 litre TDI Touran, there is a serious and expensive design fault. I am lead to believe that VW are aware that the alloy used on the cylinder heads is sub-standard, this leads to pourous heads and coulant leaking which is very expensive to fix! I have had my Touran for 10 months and really enjoyed it at first, until the cylinder head failed, now it is constantly in the garage. We now have an issue with the injectors! Again VW have come across this problem many times before. Think hard about taking a chance on the 2L Diesel engine!

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 Tdi SE 2005

Bought at 3 years old with 38K on clock and full VW history. 3 seperate middle row seats are wider than competitors such as Zafira and Grand Scenic. Boot nearly as big as them but can’t get a McLaren buggy in with 7 seats up (you can on others). Fantastic torque and lag free response from the1.9d (105) and great economy. Noisy round town but pretty good on motorway.Fantastic space package on a small footprint. Seats rubbish for weak lower back -even though it has lumber support (use a cushion now). Wife loves car though. At 5 years old and 50K it all went wrong. There had been a bit of a judder building up over the previous year from the clutch/ gearbox but smooth when over 25mph so ignored it. Judder got worse, now diagnosed as the Dual Mass Flywheel. Needed a new Flywheel and matching clutch (original clutch fine but it’s recommended both changed at same time); very common fault? A month later the Alternator went wrong. Now the ESP light has come on-a massive expense and apparently common?(that word keeps cropping up with VW) on all Touran/Golfs 2004 to 2008. We loved the car for its space but what Common fault is going to happen next? Just check reports and you will see Vauxhalls and Fords are more reliable and I bet they dont cost as much to repair as a VW. At least the diesels didnt get the exploding gearbox as fitted to 1.6 petrols (I hope!). Summary: Great until it goes wrong.

Responses to this review

We have owned 2005 2.0TDi Touran since new - 20 months ago the Turbo ceased to work - an expensive item - VW met us half way - it still felt expensive for a part you would expect to last the lifetime. Now the ESP light has come on and VW dealer has diagnosed that ABS etc no longer working - and £1,100 to put right. We were originally told that this was a recall problem but cannot find evidence - we are hoping VW will make a hefty contribution towards repair - driving possible but told to treat like "an old fashioned motor" until repaired! Tourans do seem to have some expensive faults occur - Anthony Adams from Devon

Volkswagen Touran 2005

ABS unit went at 24,000 miles, and has had several visits to garage since. A decent vehicle spoiled by mediocre reliability. I think people should hesitate before reviewing any vehicle before it has done at least 30k or is three years old. That’s when parts start to fail.

Volkswagen Touran 2005

A good family car.

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!

Responses to this review

Our ESP light has just come on, and have been advised that this will cost approx £1300 to repair. We’re wondering if the car will still pass it’s MOT??? - Nicky P from Staffordshire

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 &pound640; 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 &pound350 (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.

Responses to this review

Hi Paul, just out of interest, what was the main cause for all the windows opening by themselves? Only I had a similar problem this morning. I came down and looked out of the window to find all 4 windows had wound down by them selves and it was raining, so all seats wet? Can’t get through to service at VW all off for Good Friday - Mark Drewe from England

Hi Mark! Sorry about the delay in responding to your enquiry only my pc crashed and I have just bought a new one. The main dealer sorted my problem; they removed a chip from the engine management system, which in effect stops the windows going down when there is an electrical overload in the atmosphere like when there is a thunderstorm. Also you might like to know if you have a sunroof fitted if on occasion it fails to work as happened to me the other day when I was in a supermarket I could not close it. I took it to my local garage they said in some circumstances supermarkets use microwave technology and this upsets central locking and sunroof switches. Just wriggle the key in the ignition and this apparently resets everything. Hope this is of use to you? Cheers, happy motoring - Paul Gange from Devon

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.

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 TDI SE 7 seat 2006

I’ve had this car for 12 months now and have just recommended it to my brother-in-law who is looking for a good, flexible family car that doesn’t cost a bomb to run and is very reliable, which this car fits the bill perfectly. The only downside I have found is the residuals on this car are low considering it’s a VW. I’ve advised my b.i.l. to buy a used one.

Volkswagen Touran SE 2008

Took delivery last Friday and cannot fault the car! Have added 200 miles on the clock and with a ’tight’ engine, the average mpg is in excess of 40. Superb ride and the ’Park Assist was included in the sensor package. Shall use little of that technology but i did try it out this afternoon. It was incredibly accurate even if frightening when I saw that steering wheel turning of its own accord! Handling is superb and the driving position is as good as if not better than the three Touran’s I had previously! No regrets so far!

Volkswagen Touran 2 TDI Sport DSG 2005

Just ordered my second Touran. The first 1 has completed 90K trouble free miles and is still averaging 45-50mpg. The DSG gearbox is superb and having to drive the Ford S Max Auto this week the VW leaves it standing (in more ways than one). The VW’s quality interior has survived all I can throw at it and the general performance for long distance travel as well as the short city trips is every bit as good as the Audi A4 I had previously. The pleasure of this car is the quality 2L TDI matched with an excellent gearbox - If you have a choice, go for the great leather seat options, I have a back problem and if I could put the seats in my front room - I would. Now I have tempted fate, hopefully my second VW won’t be a lemon!

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 TDI 105 S 2007

I was in the market for a good-looking MPV and the Touran won the beauty contest! Safety was important and the NCAP ratings were superb. The amount and size of the airbags is very comformting too. The MPV is also lovely to drive, my kids have suffered from travel sickness in the past but there are no problems on either long or short journeys, I honestly believe that this is due to the lack of movement at speed in the Touran. The Touran has great versatility and the seats can be folded flat to create an extremely large boot. This is a great choice if you are looking for an MPV with style and space.

Volkswagen Touran 1.9 Tdi Se 2006

How pleased am I that I bought this car instead of the other models available in it’s class? VERY! Passed a Scenic on the hard shoulder of the motorway the other day and I have every confidence that I will most certainly not be visiting that particular lane of the motorway whilst I own my Touran. Feels undeniably solid and the build quality is very high. On the downside the engine is a little noisy and the ride a little firm. Bought mine on a great pre reg deal!

Responses to this review

Let’s hope your ESP light doesn’t come on then! Simon Johnson from Powys