He came and went again
06/22/2023
In issue 26/2001, the magazine "auto motor und sport" announced the Volkswagen minivan as a competitor to the successful Opel Zafira for 2002. However, things didn't happen quite so quickly: the first cars were only delivered in February 2003. And they looked almost exactly like the still somewhat "raw" rendering on the ams cover.
The demand was there, the car was well received. In principle, it offered the same features as a Golf, but had two additional seats and significantly more versatility. This was great for large families and despite the somewhat unusual seating position, the car drove well. The powerful diesel gave it convincing performance and with DSG there was even no need for manual gear changes. It was economical anyway.
Two million Touran I were sold by 2015, the successor Touran II was less successful, but remained on the market a little longer than the Opel Zafira. However, Volkswagen's minivan is soon to be history, if Oliver Blume has his way, as he wants to thoroughly clean out the vehicle portfolio. It's a shame really, because as we all know, no SUV offers so much space in such a small footprint. But obviously today's buyers see things differently ...
P.S. We are planning to digitize the more recent ams issues in the near future. Issue 26/2001 will then also be available in our magazine archive.
