Faults:

Without going into detail - just to add another statistic on the gearbox issue. Mine "blew" at 80mph on a motorway - frightened the wits out of me. Very dangerous fault and expensive. Same details as prior posters - casing fractured, oil everywhere, car jerks violently - lucky to have been in the nearside lane and near an exit!

Cost of repair £1600.

Local engineers reported "common fault on these" - as is usual when you own one!

General Comments:

All the positive things about owning this car are negated by the major failure of a major part.

Therefore - advise anyone you know - do not buy this car!

Faults:

Recall for flywheel (thankfully before it failed).

Three wheel bearings (I am sure the fourth will be soon).

Two electric fans (ran continuously and flattened the battery).

Indicator stalk - only indicated left, even when turning right).

Central locking intermittent.

Delicate interior trim - plastics had a feeble 'matte' finish, which just falls off.

CD mechanism.

General Comments:

Still drives really well.

For a decent sized car, it always gives me 50 MPG on real journeys.

Flexible seating has paid dividends over the years; uni trips, moving single beds and a book case. The seats are however a bit awkward to get in and out.

Faults:

Minor stuff fixed under warranty:

1. Spring-return on the small flap that obscures the handle on the boot roller-cover.

2. Spring-return on the flap in the boot latch, which should come up when the boot is opened.

General Comments:

Overall this has proven to be a good all-round family car. My wife and kids are the main users and they all love it.

The 2.0 TDI (140bhp) has plenty of performance even with 7 people in the car and we are averaging about 46 mpg overall. The handling is pretty reasonable, but its obviously no sports car. I test drove a 'Sport' model at a main dealer and preferred the slightly firmer suspension on these.

The 2 rear seats are just about okay for adults to use, particularly if the passengers in the middle and front rows are prepared to move their seats forward a bit.

We managed to find an 11 month old 2.0 TDI example with 45000 miles for £14k, which I thought was much better value than the £20k+ when new. I think they are pretty expensive if you buy new.

One niggle is that the factory fitted satnav is not great and probably a waste of money unless it happens to already be fitted to a used car you buy. In particular, the system is REALLY sluggish - it takes about 2 seconds to redraw the map every time you press a button to change the view. If you have ever used a TomTom, you will be shocked at how old-fashioned it seems. Also, we found the supplied map disc was missing a couple of roads that were built 2 years before the car was first put on the road!

A final niggle is the seating position for tall drivers. With the vehicle being quite tall, I think the pedals have been positioned closer to the driver (presumably so that short drivers can still reach them). For me (at 6' 4" tall), I can never get truly comfortable - if I put the drivers seat right back so my legs are comfortable, I have to stretch my arms to reach the steering wheel. If I put the seat where it feels comfortable for my arms, my legs are scrunched up against the pedals. By contrast I have driven the MK 5 Golf (on which the Touran is based) and the seating & pedal positioning is fantastic.