Car: Volkswagen Touran Match range
Prices: £19,790-£21,985 – on the road INSURANCE GROUPS: 6-12
Emissions: 144-182g/km
Performance: [1.4 TSI] Max Speed 123mph / 0-60mph 9.8s
Fuel Consumption: [1.9 TDI 105PS] (urban) 37.7mpg / (extra urban) 53.3mpg / (combined) 47.1mpg (overall)
Safety: Six airbags / ABS with brake assist / ESP
Dimensions: Length/Width/Height, 4390/1790/1650mm
MORE THAN A MATCH?
Our Rating: 7.0 / 10
Volkswagen is aiming to raise the profile of its Touran MPV with the value-added Match models. Steve Walker reports.
Volkswagen has long been in the habit of tempting Golf family hatchback customers with special edition Match models packed with extra equipment. Now it’s the turn of the Touran MPV to up the anti from a value for money point of view. There’s nothing particularly innovative about the package but who needs innovation when there’s £1,600 of optional extras up for grabs at a premium of just £500 over the ordinary Touran model?
The Touran is Volkswagen’s entrant in the compact MPV market where customers also have models like the Renault Scenic, Citroen C4 Picasso and Vauxhall Zafira to consider. Seats are the big issue in this market, with some models having room for just five occupants, some squeezing in seven and others making themselves available in a choice of five or seven-seat guises. There are six seaters as well, just in case you though things were in danger of becoming too straightforward. The Touran is a seven-seater only and sets out to bring the sophistication that serves Volkswagen’s Golf so well in the family hatch sector to the more practicality-orientated MPV market. In Match trim there’s added value thrown in as well.
The Match trim is being made available across the Touran engine range, so there’s plenty of choice on offer. Petrol customers might be mildly disappointed in that there’s only the 1.4-litre TSI supercharged and turbocharged engine to choose from but it’s an enjoyable unit with 138bhp that can get the Touran through 60mph in under ten seconds, whether the manual or automatic gearbox is specified. The diesel engines are 1.9 and 2.0 litres in capacity, the former packing 104bhp and the latter coming with either 138bhp or 168bhp, depending on your budget and preference.
The Touran is set up to ride a little firmer than many compact MPV models, which means that you feel the road surface more at low speeds. The advantage of this is better body control than you get in the majority of the Volkswagen’s seven-seat rivals, making the Touran more adept when the road gets twisty. The 1.9-litre diesel engine isn’t the most modern unit and refinement could be better but the 2.0-litre oil-burner is far better and is also smoother in its power delivery, whether you opt for the 138 or 168bhp version.
The Touran’s seating system is certainly flexible. The rearmost pair of seats, whilst only really suitable for kiddies, can fold flat into the floor which means that for most of the time you’ll have an easily accessible and spacious luggage bay. You can even fold the middle seat of the middle row, making a four seater that can transport long items like skis with supreme ease. All three of the middle seats slide backwards and forwards on separate runners. Quick release levers take care of seat removal and it’s good to see seats that don’t weigh a tonne when you lift them out.
With 39 separate storage areas around the cabin, you may need to make a mental checklist of what you left where. Included in that number are under-seat trays to keep valuables out of sight, three fold-down roof mounted cubbies, a rear under-floor bin and more cup holders than the Real Madrid trophy room. Pockets in all four doors can accept a litre drinks bottle so nobody’s going thirsty and there are the usual MPV accoutrements such as seat backs that double as tables and aircraft-style fold down trays. Access to the rearmost set of seats is refreshingly easy due to the thoughtful way the middle row flips and slides forward.
Based on the SE model from the everyday Touran range, the Match versions have a generous quota of extra equipment. The crux of Volkswagen’s offer is that all the extras add up to a value of £1,600 but the Match is only £600 more expensive than the SE.
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