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“This Volkswagen Sharan family car is comfortable and...”

written by Paul from Kent on 29/08/2004

Good Points
Best to drive of the MPV's that I have tried, - more like a car than a van. It is comfortable and does particularly well in this respect on long journeys. It has plenty of space. Performance is adequate, (I have the version with the smallest engine). Feels safe and ours survived a side swipe from an articulated lorry trailer on the M25 with my wife in charge and five children on board, - just a dented and scraped up side but kept going safely.

Bad Points
Trim parts are easily damaged, - the front cup holders lasted about five minutes when my youngest daughter thought that they would make great steps to get from one side of the car to the other. The speaker covers followed shortly afterwards, (all except mine, surprise surprise).
The vanity mirrors lasted a couple of weeks, (remove the bulbs or they will drain the battery after damage that the kids are unlikely to own up to and you'll possibly find out about the hard way with a flat battery). Interior plastic door trim partly broken around driver's door handle and several places where the trim is coming away.
The fuel consumption is poor on the 1.9 litre petrol version, - overall around 21 mpg for mixed driving and a max of 28 mpg on a long run, loaded.
Odd things have a nasty habit of going wrong. The electronic ignition equivalent of a coil failed at 50,000 miles, (the car would not start as I tried to exit the channel tunnel shuttle train in France and half a day's holiday was lost - thank you RAC). The front disks have had to be replaced, - warped. The exhaust clamps and engine mountings have had to be fixed. The air conditioning pump has just failed at 77,000 miles (£1,000 + bill to replace). Sundry other odd things that I have blanked from my memory but that I recall were odd and unexpected at the time, such as electronic 'door open' indicators coming on when the doors are firmly closed and the sun roof getting stuck solid so as to fuse the circuit. This car has been well serviced from new, initially by the VW main dealer and more recently by a good independent garage to save costs. The vehicle gets through tyres quickly, - I don't take any chances and find the Firestones fitted last no more than 12,000 to 15,000 miles.

General Comments
This Volkswagen Sharan family car is comfortable and good to drive and is fundamentally good at the job most people buy it for - transporting their family and stuff. The design does very well on the big requirements of comfort and safety and space availability but there are certainly some niggling design defects, particularly with respects to the interior trim. More seriously, the reliability of components and the build quality are certainly not up to VW's much vaunted reputation and the fuel consumption is not good, so it can be an expensive option if you buy a bad one.

Would I buy another one? Yes, and I am currently thinking of getting a new one as I have yet to find a better overall ride at a sensible cost. I suggest either buying a new deisel one to rely upon the warranty or a cheap secondhand one which has been well looked after, has a full service history available and KEEP THE WARRANTY RUNNING. I hear that the newer ones have a better reliability than my machine and overall, it has not been bad compared with most alternatives, (except perhaps the Honda and Toyota MPV's). If you are buying on a budget and have a young family, I suggest getting one that has already had six bells knocked out of the interior as it will soon go that way and you may as well get a cheaper purchase price. Concentrate on getting the service history and the machine in general checked out by an expert.

In short, a good one is well worth having but a bad one could cost you a small fortune.