We have a 2003 VW Touran 1.9 TDI (5-seater) and have been very happy with it. I get about 46 mpg, which is a bit less than the Passat we had before.

There have been one or two minor problems, mainly to do with the electrics, but that seems par for the course for most modern cars of most makes.

The only disappointment is that The Touran does suffer from a lot of road / tyre noise, especially in the back. I don't know if other owners will confirm this. But it's easy and pleasant to drive.

Bear in mid that the standard 7-seater Touran has NO spare wheel. The 5-seater has a full-sized spare stored under the boot floor. If you don't need 7 seats, I suggest looking for a 5 seater - they go for a few hundred pounds cheaper, like-for-like.

If you need more than 5 seats, I'd go for something bigger than a Touran unless the third row of seats are only going to be used occasionally and around town within a 30 mph zone.

Edited by Sofa Spud on 07/07/2011 at 14:50

> oh his was a 2 litre petrol ghia, according to the trip computer 23mpg average....

I had a 2 lite one as a company car. It wasn't the fuel consumption I objected to (fuel card, natch), it was the fact that in winter the temp gauge would crawl off the stop only after sitting in traffic for half an hour. No handy traffic jam meant no demisting of the screen! A real pain in the bottom after my previous Rover 416, which would be fully warmed by the time I got to the end of the street.

Several trips to the garage, a couple of thermostats and much fiddling later, they eventually admitted that they were "all like that sir". It ate gearboxes like they were free too.

That was the second new Ford I have ever had as a fleet car and I fully intend it to be the last. Suffice it to say that the freezing cold, gear crunching, intermittantly air-conditioned and leaky Galaxy was the better of the two.....