Test drive Volkswagen Touran 2003 - 2006 Minivan

Compact style

Opel Zafira
The prototype was shown to the public back in 1997 in Frankfurt, and in January 2000, serial production of Opel-Zafir began. In 2003, the car survived the update, becoming even more convenient and modern.
It is supplied to the Russian market with two gasoline engines of 1.8 liters, 92 kW/125 liters. With. and 2.2 l, 108 kW/147 l. with., mechanical or automatic transmission boxes. All versions are equipped with a quick transformation system of the FLEX 7 salon.
Depending on the configuration (Comfort or Elegance), the price of the car ranges from $ 20 840 to 26,495.
Ford Focus C-Max
Ford mini-wen's debut took place in March 2003 in Geneva. More recently, he appeared in Russia. So far, they sell only the basic version in the Trend configuration with a 1.8 liter gasoline engine, 88 kW/120 liters. With. In the spring of 2004, the supply of other C-Max modifications with 1.6 and 2.0 liters are planned.
In a more distant perspective - equipping an automatic gearbox.
The Ford C-Max car dealerships costs from 18,000 euros. With the advent of cheaper versions of mini-wen, the base price will be 15,500 euros.
Volkswagen Touran
First shown to the public at the 2003 Geneva Motor Show. This is the first compact wan of a famous concern.
Turan is still supplied to our market only with 1.9 liter turbodiesel engines, 88 kW/120 liters. With. and 2.0 l, 100 kW/ 136 l. With. And unique for this segment with six -speed gearboxes - mechanics or automatic.
Price - from 25,000 euros.

Today, compact lines are a combination of practicality and outstanding possibilities of transforming the salon, as well as a wide set of all kinds of drawers, tables, shelves, additional sockets. In a word, everything that cannot be dispensed with in family vacation, business, and just to travel if you wish. Created on the platform of the segment C (golf class), they absorb the merits of relatively small cars, remaining convenient in most life situations. At the same time, they offer the consumer a spacious and universal salon. Perhaps the main task of mini -wenes is to make your life inside the car as comfortable as possible.
Of course, compact single -collapses can significantly differ from each other with internal size, price, sled characteristics and even the number of places, but unites their desire to understand the consumer basket with all that it is deprived of more traditional vehicles. Perhaps that is why in their instructions many pages are engaged in a detailed description of options for arranging the salon, as well as methods of the most convenient placement of bicycles, inflatable boats and other belts intended for active life.
Our wards are just of such active and thought out. Some of them sparkles with youth and novelty, and someone, on the contrary, bribes a balanced. One thing is undoubted: all participants in the test - competitors and their rivalry will not be easy. There are prerequisites for this: after all, Ford Focus C-Max, one might say, has not yet cooled from a presentation hype. Volkswagen -Turan is the firstborn of the concern in this segment, besides, he made his debut recently. Well, Opel Safira, even a few years after the appearance, remains the legislator of the style, acquiring more and more fans.
What is in the name?
Opel-Zafira. We leave the novelty for later, making the reference point the classic of the genre. I admit, I like this car: in it a slender dynamic silhouette and pretty proportions are combined with internal convenience. I think this is just the case when mature age to the car is only good. With the machine, you very quickly find a common language, easily accepting both advantages and disadvantages. Alas, the latter are noticeable, especially against the background of competitors.
From the standpoint of the driver, Safir is practical and rational, even too much: the combination of devices looks too simple, unpretentious, as, however, seats with short pillows and not too large a range of longitudinal movements. With a high, urban landing, for some reason I would like to slide lower all the time - it turns out to be a short lever of the gearbox, and the handbrake is hidden in such a deep niche that you have to lean towards it. But the main nit -pick in another: it is worth it on the right to the passenger, as you know, that for People in autumn-winter clothes are definitely narrowly narrow.
Nevertheless, with a more detailed acquaintance, it turns out that, behind the apparent modesty, albeit not a super -modern, but very rich and thought out car, is hidden. Electric heating of the front seats, air conditioning, heating and ventilation system with air supply to the rear passengers. The driver's seat has already five adjustments; The steering wheel is two. Such concern cannot be appreciated, especially on the long road, as well as the abundance of all kinds of niches and pockets.
The rear passengers are not offended. In addition to the individually regulated and easily transformed middle row of seats, two more small chairs can be built from the gender of the trunk, making the car seven -seater. Of course, the prospect of sitting on them to an adult does not inspire delight, but as children's places these chairs have the right to live. We just need a cargo compartment - please: a few simple movements - and we again get a solid and comfortable trunk. I really liked how the seats of the middle (main) series are fixed: in a folded state, they form a powerful, rigid structure that insures the front from the possible displacement of the cargo, say, in an emergency.
Ford Focus C-Max. And again, a cimple, whose appearance not only attracts attention, but also makes a desire to get acquainted with the car better. It seems that even in comparison with the avant -garde interior of the focus, everything has changed well here. According to how he fussed, our photographer was running up, it was felt that this time he was pleased. Indeed, the salon is surprising not only with thoughtfulness, but also with designer finds. A fresh, well -readable combination of devices, a large, powerful front panel, a convenient lever of the gearbox on the central console.
You can’t find it to the seats either. Spacious pillow and back, wide range of adjustments, including height, electric heating - it seems to have become obligatory for most mini -wenes. It is clearly freer here than in the backbone - at least in front.
But the back, perhaps, is not as spacious as that of competitors - the roof is close above the head. This C-Max is more like a car. They did not flirt with the third number of seats, leaving the car five -seater. But sitting from behind was offered a bunch of small amenities. Here are the individual possibilities of transformation, and the ability to slightly move the extreme chairs to the side, and folding tables on the backs of the front seats. If desired, the rear row can be dismantled entirely or in parts, turning the passenger compartment into an individual salon. The luggage compartment of the standard rectangular shape is less than Opelian both in width and depth.
Volkswagen-Turan. Even at the first acquaintance last spring, I tried to find at least some clues in his uncomplicated appearance for a long time. There seems to be a lot of car, there is enough space in it, everything is thought out from and to, and the appearance in general cannot be called bright, dynamic, memorable. I repent, tight. At the current meeting, the image of a classic German burgher finally developed. Tall, large, self -confident, with a solid tummy - a salon, punctual and correct to the smallest detail. Let the creators not be offended for such analogies - Germany has long been building cars for itself. It seems that the unpretentious appearance is precisely the embodiment of the requirements for Turan: capacity, convenience and functionality. The rest is secondary.
Once inside, you can complain to the irritating blue-lilac backlight of the devices, a stiff to the touch a steering wheel, a little gloomy colors and shades of upholstery, but you are still imbued with respect for the functionality of each interior detail. If this was a driver’s seat, you will not have to doubt the care of his embrace, as well as in the reserves of adjustments. If the climatic installation, then certainly separate for sitting in front, and even with an adjustable air supply back. Maybe you were not very spacious to compete, competing? But everything is taken into account in the tourist and verified so that there is as much free space, not to mention all kinds of drawers, shelves and glove compartment, of which the pedantic creators have as many as 39.
Naturally, not deprived of attention and sitting from behind. They are offered three full -fledged places that move, laid out or dismantled. As in Safir, here you can build a third row of seats, making Turan seven -seater. True, there will be similar claims to stools -lists - there are comfortable only children and adolescents there.
Sub -match and trunk. Spacious, convenient - it will undoubtedly appeal to travel lovers. The latter will only be alerted by the absence of a spare wheel: instead of it, a compressor and a tire sealant. The imagination of a Russian immediately draws the situation: frost of degrees at twenty, a mobile phone outside the coverage zone and before a civilization of two hundred kilometers. And in front of you is a wheel with a side of the sidewall and useless causals. Uf! One hope - at the presentation they promised to complete Turan with a full -fledged reserve.
DANCING ON ICE
Winter seemed to sit in ambush, waiting for a convenient moment: as soon as the trinity gathered together, the snowfall struck. Familiar turns became insidious, irregularities and potholes smoothed out - where to objectively evaluate the sled qualities here. Nevertheless, some comparisons managed to make some comparisons.
Opel-Zafira. The fact that the car is well balanced and in sled properties is felt from the first minutes of dating. Convenient, rather frisky 1.8-liter engine, properly selected gear ratio of transmission. On the suburban highway of Safira in its element. Hydillia is slightly violated only by the engine noise, actively breaking into the salon after 3000-3500 rpm. It is not that presses, but rattling notes are intrusively present even when driving in higher gears.
The suspensions are well inscribed in the general ideology: they are comfortable on minor irregularities and at the same time cope with larger obstacles. Such a reasonable combination of comfort and muscles has a long trip.
Similar and settings are similar. Calm, suspended reactions do not contribute to sharp, impulsive maneuvers and restructuring. On a slippery road, the work of the anti -wings system is well felt. But the trouble is - it is too actively interfering in the traction control process, persistently strangling the engine. This, of course, helps to deal with the axlework of the drive wheels, but the unknown interpretation-control does not allow the car to pull the car with gas from random drift. Having fought a little with slipping, you understand that it is better not to bring them to Safir.
Ford Focus s-Max. Tuned in a completely different way. The outstanding controllability of a conventional focus clearly amuses the pride of Ford engineers, so they paid special attention to steering and pendants. Even in the snow it is noticeable how solid and impulsive reactions of mini-wen are. They are echoed by dense, elastic pendants, thanks to which the car not only tenaciously holds the road, but also repeats its profile in detail, shaking passengers on each bump. Well, in such a tough character there are advantages: you feel the car and the nuances of its behavior to subtlety. Alas, the settings of the motor and transmission are not very suitable for the chassis. Although individually everything works just wonderful. It seems to be the same as Safira, 1.8 liters, convenient switching of the gearbox. But all together is somehow unconvincing: too sluggish reactions to the gas pedal. And plus only one from this - acoustic comfort.
Volkswagen-Turan. A modest stop diesel diesel engine with a volume of 1.9 liters seems to laugh at the diverse of gasoline rivals. The ceremonial figures obtained with its help are much more modest, but in fact, this motor may interest the consumer. Of course, Turan touches heavily, directly demanding increased revolutions. But then it becomes frisky and obedient, the main thing is to bring the tachometer arrow for the coveted mark of 1100-1200 rpm. Here the turbocharger is included in the operation, and the car, joyfully snorting, rushes forward jerking forward. Naturally, Turan is not a racing car: it is worth going more impulsive as the ardor of the motor is noticeably cooling the solid mass of a mini-wen, but in everyday life it successfully competes with the others, often more conveniently. Even the VI program here is very helpful. Indeed, by 3000 rpm, the work of active diesel is already well audible in the cabin. He moved the lever of the box to the highest step - and again silence and comfort.
Having demonstrated the most vivid characteristics of the character, the rest of the Turan takes reliability and balanced. Dense, collected pendants are not as sporty as the Ford. At the same time, they react to small irregularities equally harshly, shaking the protrusions and hollows imperceptible to the eye. Manageability is also imperfect, although it is hardly worth finding fault - Turan’s reactions to your actions are reliable and correct. If the driver went too far or calculated somewhere, the stabilization system will immediately intervene. Of course, from the excessive correctness of the tour, sometimes it becomes boring, but we recall ideology: the main thing is convenience and reliability in everything. From these positions you will not give up the car.
Perfection or price?
At first glance, it is quite easy to dot all of the I following this test. If we consider only naked technology - convenience, practicality and balance of sled characteristics - leadership on the side of the Turan. Two other mini-wenes, with all their elegance, recognition and, in general, good constructive armament against the background of Volkswagen, do not look so perfect. However, it is worth recalling the price - and the vein of practicality will make you choose between much more folk Opel and Ford. A gap of several thousand euros, undoubtedly, limits consumer interest. Speaking of a couple of more affordable, it is worthwhile to reflect well who to give preference. After all, Opel Safira and Ford Focus S-Max offer approximately the same set of goods. But if the advantage of the first in the number of passenger places and a more brisk motor, then the second is more modern, elegant and focused on a more energetic and temperamental driver.

SUMMARY
Opel Zafira
+ A easily transformed salon, convenient trunk, balanced sledged capabilities.
- The flaws of the ergonomics of the workplace are narrow.
Ford Focus C-Max
+ Modern, convenient interior, thoughtful ergonomics, good handling.
- sluggish accelerated dynamics, less than the rest, the number of places.
Volkswagen Touran
+ Convenient, spacious salon and luggage compartment, excellent ergonomics, balanced sledges.
- High price, lack of a spare wheel.
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

Sergey Voskresensky. Photo: George Sadkov

Source: The magazine "Driving"