WHAT CAR AWARDS - The VW Touran wins best MPV and the Tiguan a best buy recommendation.

• Touran is once again named Best MPV by What Car?
• New Tiguan SUV secures a ‘best buy’ recommendation
• Tiguan also features among finalists in Safety Award

Volkswagen is celebrating an award-winning start to 2017 with the brand’s popular and flexible Touran people carrier maintaining its pole position as Best MPV in the renowned What Car? Awards.

Meanwhile, the recently-launched Tiguan takes a price point title in the awards’ Small SUV category, with the Tiguan 2.0 TDI 150 SE Navigation named ‘Best Buy, more than £25,000’ at the annual celebration of motoring excellence. 

And the Tiguan shows its breadth of capability by also being named a finalist in the What Car? Safety Award.

Scoring a second consecutive win in the hotly-contested MPV class What Car? judges said of the seven-seat Touran – winner of the ‘Best Buy £20,000-£26,000’ section in 1.6 TDI 115 SE form as well as overall victor in the MPV category: “For class-leading space and practicality, look no further than the Volkswagen Touran. This seven-seat MPV has an impressively roomy interior, with masses of space in the front and back, as well as a third row of seats that can be easily folded away to increase boot capacity.

“The interior is well built and all the materials used feel classy, and it’s roomier than rivals such as the Ford S-Max and Citroën Grand C4 Picasso. As well as being incredibly practical, the Touran is also great to drive. The Touran is big, but isn’t at all cumbersome or heavy to manoeuvre. The 1.6-litre diesel engine offers gutsy performance and will easily haul around seven people and a full load of luggage.

“It’s efficient too: the Touran achieved 50.9mpg in our real-world True MPG fuel economy test. SE trim gets all the kit you’ll need, including an intuitive infotainment touchscreen, a DAB radio and automatic lights and wipers. It’s good news on the finance front, too, with some great PCP deals available.”

Turning to small SUV price point victor the new Tiguan, which launched in the UK in the summer of 2016 and is already building on the sales success of its predecessor, What Car? Editor Steve Huntingford said: “Inside, its slick switches, piano black plastics and soft surfaces make it feel worth its premium. But it doesn’t just look the part because the Tiguan has a massive amount of interior space, while its rear seats can be slid back and forth for increased practicality. It’s rounded off with a spacious boot.

“We think the 2.0-litre diesel engine makes a great companion, and it has enough low-rev pull to ensure hauling a fully loaded car is no issue. Couple that with competitive CO₂ emissions and fuel economy, and it’s a mighty fine package.”

Commenting on the Tiguan’s finalist position in the What Car? Safety Award Steve said: “The Tiguan has the highest adult occupant protection score of any car here, and because that’s the score most buyers will look towards first when choosing a car, we’ve given it extra credit.

“The Tiguan also scores very well when it comes to keeping children and pedestrians safe, and it’s those consistently high scores which impressed our panel.”

Discussing the early year silverware Alison Jones, Director of Volkswagen UK, said: “The Touran’s second successive What Car? award underlines this practical Volkswagen’s brilliance. Safe, flexible, efficient and stylish, the Touran is the family MPV that ticks every box.

“Meanwhile, for the new Tiguan to have been recommended above all others in the £25,000-plus price point underscores the brilliance of this exceptional new SUV. That the Tiguan was also in the running for What Car?’s Safety Award should also reassure families that, in selecting this as their next new car, they’re buying into one of the most impressive new SUVs on the road today.”