Volkswagen Touran

Volkswagen isn’t accustomed to coming second. In spite of Dieselgate, it remained Europe’s biggest-selling car brand by a country mile in 2015.

The Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Passat dominated their classes and the Volkswagen Polo was within touching distance of an overall volume lead.

If the brand has a weakness, it is with niche models – and second generation Volkswagen Tiguan crossover and this road test subject are concerted attempts to address that.

In the new Touran mid-sized MPV, Volkswagen is making a fresh assault on a market segment traditionally led on sales by Renault and Citroën with a car that uses its latest and best platform, powertrain, safety and infotainment technology.

After a long, 12-year lifespan, the original VolkswagenTouran has been replaced by one founded on the Volkswagen Group’s £50 billion MQB platform. This new Touran is longer and slightly wider than the previous model, but it is also much better packaged, according to company claims.