Seven days after taking delivery of this Volkswagen Touran, I still had no idea how to put any diesel into it. I'd driven the little wagon from London to Cornwall, gone for a few short tours and taken it back up to Oxford before the needle on the fuel gauge started nudging me into a fuel stop.
The Touran is Volkswagen's mid-sized multi-purpose vehicle and, unlike some other so-called MPVs, it really is very flexible. Despite taking up no more Tarmac than a family hatchback, it has seven individual seats and a bucket-load of cubby-holes and storage slots all round the interior. Supremely practical and eminently economical, it's possibly the most sensible vehicle I've driven this year.
This one's powered by the 1.6-litre TDI diesel engine that puts 104bhp to the front wheels through a slick six-speed manual gearbox. It's enough to pull the 1.5-tonne vehicle up to 60mph in just under 13 seconds and on up to a top speed of 116mph.
But this is the BlueMotion version which is the most economical of the range with an official average fuel consumption of 61.4mpg. It works towards achieving this by combining advice to the driver with some techy stuff. The advice bit comes in the form of a display that tells you what gear you should be in, and a trip computer that can advise you how economically you're driving.
The technology includes the start/stop engine that switches off every time you're stopped and in neutral, low-rolling resistance tyres, improved aerodynamics, and "recuperative braking" that stores otherwise wasted energy when you're slowing down.
I say it "works towards achieving" 61.4mpg, but according to the trip computer I've not managed to better 55mpg. However, that's still pretty excellent for this size of car.
It's not all unqualified sweetness and light, though. I have nothing bad to say about the essential technology, but the finish on this base-level S model makes it feel a lot cheaper than the £20,000 price tag dangling from its lug.
The plastic in the storage box lids feels . . . well, plasticky and a bit flimsy. there are also some rattles as it hums out along the road, and pulling on the handbrake produces a loud creak. The steering wheel, gearknob and handbrake lever all feel very cheap too. I can't help feeling they'd benefit from a minor investment in a yard of leather and some well-placed stitching.
It's always difficult to be sure about road noise without running two cars along the same stretch in the same weather conditions, but it feels a little loud to me.
Having said all that, the rest of the package is excellent. The engine is smooth and with enough power and torque to make light work of everything from motorway cruising to the steep, deep lanes of the West Country. The suspension not only mops up the worst excesses of the road-mender's art, it also holds the tall car steady through all but the most ill-advised of cornering manoeuvres.
There's some very useful technology including the trip computer and the hill holder which stops you rolling backwards (or forwards) if your hill starts are less than perfect.
The environment indoors is light and airy and visibility all round is good. The driver's seat has plenty of adjustment on it and I've found it extremely comfortable after hours of driving.
The five seats in the back are all separate from each other so they can fold and move independently. In row two, the three seats can slide back and forth as well as recline. They fold down and can be removed but they neither roll forward out of the way nor drop down into the floor.
In row three, the back two seats are small but useful. These ones completely and easily disappear down into the floor of the boot when they're not needed and the resulting cargo hold is a good size. When you have exceptionally long loads, the front passenger seat can also fold in two to accommodate them.
This test car has a few extra pieces of kit above the basic S-level specification. It's fitted with a touchscreen navigation and sound system that'll play MP3 and CD music. My main beef was with the satnav which I couldn't get to zoom out far enough to see both ends of my journey on one screen. The sound quality is adequate if not exceptional and the whole package adds almost £1100 to the price.
It also has Park Assist which includes parking sensors, a rear-view camera and the technology to perform a parallel parking manoeuvre for you on the street-side or even pull you back into the supermarket parking slot. It costs £625. which I think is pretty good value for money, while the extra £95 for front and rear carpet mats feels a bit steep.
I haven't said anything about the way the Touran looks, but there isn't much to say about that anyway. It's a cleanly designed little people carrier, updated to give it the new corporate Volkswagen family face but with nothing extraordinary to set it apart from the herd.
So all in all, this version of the Touran is an excellent car which is let down only by an interior that looks and feels cheaper than its purchase price would suggest. On the way home from buying one, I'd drop in at Halford's for a leather steering-wheel cover and a sock for the gearknob.
