Used Volkswagen Touran Review (2015-2026)

Let’s get the obvious out of the way – the Volkswagen Touran isn’t an exciting car. That’s the whole point. The Touran is built to make life easier, and it’s very good at that indeed.

Chances are, you’re buying a Touran for family duties – although perhaps you just want a tall car with excellent all-round visibility, or a reliable and easy-going car for taxi work. We’ll focus on family stuff a lot in this review because VW’s compact bus is almost tailor made for carrying kids and their clutter.

In 2026 the Touran quietly bowed out of Volkswagen’s range; few people noticed that the Touran’s 23-year lifespan had reached its end. Throughout its two generations (this second-generation car launched in September 2015), close to three million Tourans were sold.

If you can resist the allure of VW’s many SUVs, the Touran has plenty of sensible reasons to buy one over an SUV. The Touran is available for much less than a seven-seat Tiguan Allspace with a similar age and mileage, being smaller but no less practical, and its engines will be more economical in a smaller body.

The driving experience is far down the Touran’s priority list, but its Golf underpinnings means it feels more composed and is slightly more comfortable than a Tiguan because it’s not so high up. A Tiguan Allspace needs bigger tyres than a Touran, which'll add cost further down the line.

At this point, the left side of your brain will be ticking each sensible box. The Touran really is easy to live with, which is just what you want if you’re in the soft-play and sandpits era. The sports cars can come later when the kids have flown the nest.

The Touran is from a time before VW got all silly with touch-sensitive steering wheel controls and touchscreens that require all your attention and patience. This is peak VW interior layout in our eyes – you get the must-have phone connectivity and plenty of standard equipment, but many things are controlled by well-placed and immediately obvious buttons.

Material quality is well matched to the occupants you’ll most likely have on board. A lot of the surfaces are durable and easy to wipe down, rather than being plush and squidgy. There are a few chrome touches to slightly liven up an otherwise grey-on-grey-on-grey colour scheme, but the overall vibe is functional.

We’ve already mentioned the visibility but it’s worth highlighting again. The windscreen is expansive, the front quarter-light windows eliminate most of the blind spots facing forward, and the big side windows make lane changes a piece of cake. They’ll also be great for kids, giving them an uninterrupted view out – if you can peel them away from watching Ms Rachel on their tablets.

The rare S trim still gets seven seats and all the Isofix points, but equipment is limited to things like Bluetooth and basic air conditioning. SE adds creature comforts like adaptive cruise control, parking sensors and auto wipers.

Things start to get good at SE Family level, which brings sat nav, window blinds, rear tray tables and a panoramic sunroof that floods the cabin with light. Thankfully, there’s a cover so you don’t need to worry about your minime waking up from a car nap too soon. The main additions on the SEL trim are Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, letting you use your phone’s apps on the car’s screen.

We really like the Match trim. It’s available for a similar price to SEL, but includes LED headlights, a reversing camera and a powered bootlid. Because you want to enjoy some tech too!

Top-spec R-Line has visual upgrades but doesn’t turn the Touran into a sports car. A few of the trim levels also have driving modes, letting you pick from eco and sport modes. A sport mode on a Touran has to be the least-used function out there.

The Touran is a little shorter than the Tiguan, but it’s much more practical – and not just because it has seven seats as standard.

Given that the Touran is quite compact for a seven-seater, it’s not much of a surprise that adults will feel cramped in the rearmost seats. The middle row slides forwards and backwards, improving third-row access and legroom, but you’re still best leaving the third row for occasional use or for kids.

Having Isofix points on the third row of seats is astoundingly rare, but the Touran means that everyone can be strapped in safely. Whether you’ve got a brood of young kids, or are shuttling older kids to school, the Touran is ideal. Also rare is having three individual middle-row seats that are all the same size. Whoever’s in the middle seat won’t be squashed.

Most Tourans have a lot of family-friendly features that we’d love to see in more cars. From the sunblinds to the tray tables and even a microphone that means you don’t have to shout to the rear seats, it’s clear that some real thought went in to the Touran’s development. Just remember to teach your kids that they need to squeeze a tab to open the tray tables – otherwise they’ll be quickly snapped off.

Interior storage is superb. The door bins are massive, the glovebox is a good size, there are phone pockets in the seatbacks, and there are a few cubbies within reach of the driver. That includes a dashtop one and a little one to the right of the steering wheel that could be good for secret sweets (our favourite kind). The front cupholders twist out and there’s a place for your phone or other small items to go. VW has even made good use of the roof space, with a storage compartment that’s good for a few pairs of sunglasses above your head.

With all seven seats up, boot space is on the small side at 137 litres. But, if you don’t need the seven seats all the time, you can fold the third row flat and enjoy 917 litres of storage space (measured to the roof). Use the Touran as a two-seat van (Tourvan?) and you get double that. The majority of trim levels also come with roof rails, so you can easily put a roofbox or bike rack on the top of the car.

Most recent Tourans come with VW’s much-used 1.5-litre TSI EVO petrol engine. This 150hp motor provides a good balance of performance and efficiency, promising around 43mpg and a nine-second 0-62mph time.

It’s worth noting that the annual road tax could vary dramatically between two very similar looking Tourans. When new, the Touran hovered around the £40,000 mark. Cars that originally cost just under that threshold are taxed at the standard rate, but cars originally costing more than £40k are subject to the luxury car supplement, which triples your road tax bill until the car is six years old.

The Touran doesn’t try to entertain the driver and promotes a calm driving experience. Makes sense – you’re not going to drive on the doorhandles in this or otherwise the kids’ already eaten snacks might reappear.

There’s a decent balance of composed handling and comfort over bumps. Ideally, it could do with soaking up some bumps a little better, but you’re not going to be offended by the way it goes down a road.

On faster roads the Touran feels completely secure and locked in. There’s no drama or negative qualities – it's clearly been perfectly set up for fuss-free daily driving.

Although everyone’s different, we found the seats to be quite comfy and supportive, which is another sign that the Touran is well suited to long journeys and that it’ll be good to live with.

You can either choose from a six-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed DSG automatic gearbox. Both are satisfying to use, and the automatic is well calibrated. It doesn’t needlessly kick down when you want to accelerate just a few mph more, and the engine only gets loud when you push it.