Volkswagen Sharan 2.0 S Review

Overall Rating

Very smooth drive and good handling for a car of this size.
Plenty of room as managed to have four adults and two children while driving down to France and all the luggage.

I am afraid this is going to be quite a long list!
Very poor acceleration at lower speeds (2.0 Litre probably not powerful enough for this size of vehicle!)
Reliability - Very poor from my experience.
After taking delivery of my Sharan it went wrong within 5 hours.
It spent three weeks in the garage and I also found out how poor the VW customer services were.
Apparantly the electronic brain died.
Two months later back to VW, something to do with the coil pack??
A year later the whole engine had to be replaced lucky it was still on the warranty!!!

I purchased my Sharan in 2002 from a VW dealership being only 12 months old with 12,000 miles on the clock. The reason for purchase was that the family was growing and wanted something reliable!
I think most people expect to have a problem with their car in the future but not within 5 hours of delivery!
Perhaps my problem was that I had gone to VW in Norwich to purchase my vehicle. The main reason being that their second hand Sharans were around £2,000 cheaper than the Romford VW.
Then to deal with a customer services department who's only priority seem to be ensuring that they completed servicing of vehicles. When I had spoken to VW breakdown service they had told me it was a problem with a small part and they only carried the older part. So when it was taken into the VW Romford I thought that I would have it back in couple of days.
After three days of speaking to the Managing Director I took decisive action and cancelled my cheque! Amazing how fast things start to move when you are not paying. So after the week of wrangling they then replaced the part and then tested the car to find that the main brain has died. As with all these parts they have to order them and guess what that takes another couple of days. The one decent thing is that they provide a hire car which thankfully works even though it's a Sharan!
We finally get the car back two days before going on holiday to France. To say the least I was very apprehensive of driving this car across to France. However the car worked fine which was a big relief.
Three months later another problem with the Sharan basically running very lumpy - another two weeks in the garage! I was actually wondering whether I could get a refund on some of my car tax given that it seemed to be in the garage more than on the road!!!!
Six months later after having to top the oil two days in a row I realise there's another problem. Guess what - another three weeks in the garage to replace the whole engine. Then I received a letter from VW Romford letting me know that the car needed a service in two weeks....
I did talk to someone at my workplace and they had said they had had to have an engine replaced on the same model as mine.
From what I have seen of late the customer services of VW do seem to have improved. Given that I am the customer of tomorrow then it's sensible to keep your clients happy.
Touch wood I have not any problems in the last year and half motoring but given they have replaced most of the car I shouldn't really be suprised!!!
I have heard that VW have worked very hard in improving their reliability but I'm afraid it has come a little too late for me to ever purchase VW again. Perhaps if it keeps running with no problems for another year and half I may change my mind but I doubt it. I would suggest for people to look at anything else accept a VW Sharan 2.0S unless your happy visiting your car at the garage every couple of months.

Members' Comments onchrispp007's Review

• Logger on 21st Feb 2007

  Given that Ford supply all the petrol engines and that the Sharan is built in Portugal (in collaboration with Ford) calling it a VW is extremely far fetched. I wouldn't recommend a Sharan - but neither would VW as they are trying to close the factory where they are built.
  
  When you say you wouldn't buy "another" VW - well there you might miss out...