I like this. How do you make a Touran Cross? Take it form the salt-free roads of Japan and make it live out its days in the UK.
Japan? It’s a Volkswagen. What would it be doing in Japan?
Apart from that, Tourans are fine, as reliable as any VW that’s properly maintained, and for the sort of driving it’s being used for, an auto or semi-auto is essential, and the VAG DSG ‘boxes are as good, if not better than anyone else’s.
My EcoSport has a semiautomatic ’box, and it’s a very smooth shifting unit, but the VAG ‘box is really very good. One oddity with the Touran, at least I think it was a Touran, and that’s the bonnet release catch – I spent some time trying to find it on a car I was picking up down in Cornwall, and I needed to check the battery and fluid levels. I asked one of the staff and he had to think for a few seconds, and, somewhat counterintuitively, it’s down in the door pocket… yeah, I know, who’d a thunk it!