Volkswagen Touran Review 2022

Volkswagen Touran At A Glance

Hugely practical with large boot. Seven-seater versions are well-suited for family life. Flexible seating system is easy to use. Five star Euro NCAP rating.

Expensive. Bland exterior styling.

Real MPG average for a Volkswagen Touran

Real MPG was created following thousands of readers telling us that their cars could not match the official figures.

Real MPG gives real world data from drivers like you to show how much fuel a vehicle really uses.

Diesel or petrol? If you're unsure whether to go for a petrol or diesel (or even an electric model if it's available), then you need our Petrol or Diesel? calculator. It does the maths on petrols, diesels and electric cars to show which is best suited to you.

Satisfaction Index

Reviews for Volkswagen Touran's top 3 rivals

Skoda Octavia

Extremely comfortable with excellent ride quality. Great practicality and a large boot. Even better quality...

Volkswagen T-Roc

Comfortable and refined on the move. Available with lots of personalisation options. High quality feel...

Peugeot 5008

Seven seats as standard, well-equipped for the money,refined and easy to drive, very family-friendly,...

Ask Honest John

What's the best car for rough roads?

"I'm looking to replace my 2025 Volkswagen Touran. The area I live in has rough roads and this means the Touran has a tendency to be loud (road noise) and uncomfortable over potholes. Could you recommend a car with a raised driving position, as I find getting in/out of the Touran quite uncomfortable, too. I've test-driven the XC40 and found myself disappointed that it wasn't quieter than my Touran at speed on typical rough surfaces."

Have you considered a Mercedes B-Class? It's a versatile and comfortable people carrier with a classy cabin and high seating position. Look for one with small wheels (and high-profile tyres) for reduced road noise. Also look at a Volkswagen Tiguan or Citroen C5 Aircross as two spacious and comfortable SUV alternatives.

Answered by Andrew Brady

I bought a used car with old tyres and a faulty clutch, what are my rights?

"I bought my Volkswagen Touran from a used car dealer, only to discover that the rear brakes are 75 per cent worn, the rear discs are scored, the clutch pedal sticks down to the floor, one tyre is 15 years old and another tyre is 20 years old. The garage refused to rectify the above jobs, what are my options please? I personally don’t want to drive a vehicle with 20 year old tyres and a clutch pedal sticking to the floor."

Tell the dealer you want the problems fixed or you'll reject the car and demand a full refund as per the 2015 Consumer Rights Act. The faulty clutch is a clear fault and the 2015 Consumer Rights Act gives you the right to reject the vehicle within the first 30 days if any such fault is found: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/how-to-reject-a-car-your-consumer-rights/

Answered by Dan Powell

Can you recommend a mid size MPV?

"We are grandparents to two-year-old twins and now looking for a seven-seater. Ideally reasonably stylish, comfortable and well equipped. It must be automatic and, above all, reliable. Performance is not important but economy is, and we'd prefer petrol. Not a brand snob! Our budget is around £12,000. "

We'd recommend a Vauxhall Zafira Tourer. It's a comfortable and spacious MPV that represents excellent value for money on the used market – your budget will get you a 2017 model with the 1.4-litre petrol engine. A Volkswagen Touran would be a good alternative but petrols are rare and the DSG gearbox isn't without its faults.

Answered by Andrew Brady

Can you recommend a car with three full sized rear seats?

"Can you recommend a car with three full sized rear seats to accommodate three, tall teenagers? My present car, a 17 plate Volvo V90, has a very high transmission tunnel which makes it particularly uncomfortable for the unfortunate one who has to sit in the middle. As well as fairly frequent journeys of 130 miles to visit relatives, we usually cover several thousand miles on an annual, Continental holiday. My maximum budget is £25,000. "

The Volkswagen Touran has three full sized seats in its middle row and they all have plenty of elbow, hip and foot room for three passengers sitting abreast. The Touran is very well designed so, although it's a seven seater, the third row of seats fold away neatly into the boot floor, so you'll never know they're there. The big rear doors give plenty of access and the cabin is also packed full of storage spaces for smaller items. All models come with good infotainment and the VW is available with a decent choice of petrol and diesel engines. SE Family models are priced at more than £30,000 new, but you'll pick up a car that's a year or two old on budget. This trim level comes with useful kit like a panoramic glass roof, front and rear parking sensors and built-in sat-nav. Here's our review of the car: https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/volkswagen/touran-2015/

Answered by Russell Campbell

More Questions

On the inside of an Volkswagen Touran

• Boot space is 137–1857 litres
• Euro NCAP rating of five stars

The Touran is an MPV that majors on practicality. As a result it is large, durable and simple to use. The Touran is available as a five or seven-seater, with the latter being perfect for families who need a spacious car that will convert in to a minibus for the school run.

The interior is solid, with a no-nonsense feel and plenty of hardwearing plastics, durable fabrics and accessories. Admittedly, the rear tray tables, which are built into the back of the front seats, feel a little flimsy, but we'd wager that the Touran would stand-up well to boisterous children and heavy handed adults. 

As a five-seater, the Touran is extremely comfortable and there's no shortage of head and leg room. Seven-seat models add more flexibility, but the third row of seats is not designed for adults as head and knee space is limited. Children under 12 years of age on the other hand will find them to be a perfect fit. 

Unlike its predecessor, with its uneven floor and fiddly seating system, the latest Touran has been given a complete overhaul. The old fold, tilt and remove seating system has been replaced with a fold down mechanism that gives you a flat floor with the minimum of fuss. Simply tug the cloth handle, push the seat and it will compress into the floor to provide a van rivalling 1857 litres of storage.

Even with the middle row raised, the Touran offers a useful 917 litres of bootspace, which means it will have little trouble carrying large bulky items. However, as a seven-seater, storage is somewhat limited, with just 137 litres.

All of the middle seats have Isofix points and can slide forwards and backwards. They can also be folded individually, which means you're abke customise the seating to fit around the items you're carrying. The third row are also easily folds away into the boot floor and includes two more anchorage points for Isofix childseats.

Up front the driver gets a clear view of the road, with the large windscreen and side windows providing plenty of all-round visibility. The soft-touch dashboard has plenty of storage with two cup holders, a closable compartment on the top of the dash and a large cubby box in the centre stack.

The interior lacks the classy ingenuity of the iDrive system, found in the BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. It is also no match for the workmanlike simplicity of the Ford C-MAX, but the Volkswagen is easy enough to master and boasts some useful features, with a five-inch monochrome touchscreen, DAB radio and Bluetooth all fitted as standard.

Colour touchscreen, iPod connectivity and three-zone climate control are standard on higher trim models and the options list has some interesting features, with the most notable being the voice amplification system, which lets the driver to speak to those in the back without raising their voice. 

Child seats that fit a Volkswagen Touran

Our unique Car Seat Chooser shows you which child car seats will fit this car and which seat positions that they will fit, so that you don't have to check every car seat manufacturer's website for compatibility.

Which car seat will suit you?

Driving Volkswagen Touran

• Engines range from 1.0 TSI 115 to 2.0 TDI 190 DSG
• Readers report Real MPG to be between 30–63 mpg

The engine range starts with the 110PS 1.2 TSI, mated to a six-speed manual transmission, offering 175Nm of torque and up to 52.3mpg and 126g/km of CO2.

A larger 150PS 1.4 TSI is also available, with the choice of six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG , but this represents the least efficient engine in the range, with the manual version returning 50.4mpg. Emissions are higher too, 132g/km of CO2, although the DSG option improves things slightly, with 52.2mpg and 126g/km.

Those covering lots of miles on a daily basis will be better suited with one of the diesels, with the entry-level 110PS 1.6 TDI returning up to 67.3mpg and 111g/km of CO2. The 2.0 TDI is available in two outputs – 150PS and 190PS – and will return up to 64.2mpg and 116g/km. However, the DSG choice is restricted to six-speed - mandatory for the 190PS - although a six-speed manual is available for those choosing 150Ps. 

Both the 1.2 TSI and and 1.6 TDI work well with the Touran's considerable dimensions, but need to be worked hard to gain momentum when joining a motorway or pulling away from a quickly from a junction. As a result they can be quite vocal as you work through the gears. The 2.0 TDIs are much more refined and the 150PS option provides a good balance between performance and economy. 

For the most part, the Touran is quiet and comfortable, but somewhat pedestrian and dull when compared to the fun Ford C-MAX and refined BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. There's nothing particularly wrong with the way the Touran drives, but it doesn't corner with the same vigour as the Ford or dampen road and wind noise in the same manner as the BMW. 

In its favour, the Touran is a extremely comfortable and both the manual and automatic transmissions are slick. The soft and compliant ride is also bolstered by nicely weighted steering, which means you can waft around corners with minimal of fuss or bodyroll.

Safety kit is well catered for, automatic post-collision braking and seven airbags are fitted as standard, while SE models add automatic front assist, which warns the driver if they're travelling too close to the car in front. The system will also apply the brakes at lower speeds to prevent a collision.

Volkswagen Touran Models and Specs

Currently on sale

On sale until March 2020

On sale until August 2019

On sale until April 2019

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What to watch out for

Model History

• February 2015: Touran R-Line launched
• February 2015: New Volkswagen Touran launched
• September 2015
• October 2019: Updates for 2020 Volkswagen Touran