New Volkswagen Sharan – An MPV That Drives Like a Car

New Volkswagen Sharan – An MPV That Drives Like a Car

by -

The market here needs a good 7-seater MPV – one that does not bog down because of an under-powered engine, and one that does not have the rear seats that are good only for children or dwarfs, one that handles like a dog because it is converted from a van and one that does not cost an arm or a leg.
With the introduction of the Volkswagen Sharan by VGM (Volkswagen Group Malaysia), it appears that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. This latest addition to the growing range of vehicles offered by VGM, the Sharan is an MPV that is purpose-designed as an MPV with the objective of making it handle like a car, and from what I hear, it delivers just what it promises.

For starters, the power plant is the ever – reliable, high performance 2.0 litre turbo-charged engine that is found in the Golf GTi, the Tiguan, and also in other cars belonging to the Volkswagen family, such as the Audi Q5, and the Audi TT. The engine is de-tuned slightly to provide 200 horsepower, and by virtue of the fact that it is turbo-charged, full torque of 280Nm is available in full form as low as 1,700 rpm, and maintains its strong pull all the way to 5,000 rpm. Translated to the road, this means an MPV that is never short of breath – in addition, the 6-speed DSG gearbox gives the Sharan a close set of gear ratios so that it never has that ‘slump’ in speed in between gears.
The fact of the matter is that with this great power train, the Sharan boasts of a zero to 100 kph acceleration time of a mere 8.3 seconds, beating many saloon cars in the process. It would really boost any driver’s ego to know that his Sharan can out-drag many of the cars available in the market. Fuel consumption, according to EU test standards, is rated at 11.6 litres per 100 kilometres in urban cycle, 6.7 litres in extra-urban cycle, and 8.5 litres per 100 kilometres in combined cycle.
At the launch, held at the Sri Carcosa in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the launch vehicle arrived with seven people, including a cute little girl sitting in the built-in child seat, and a six-footer ‘cousin’ comfortably seated in the rear-most of the three rows of seats, demonstrating the great versatility of the Sharan.
If it looks small to you at first glance, it is anything but, because according to a spokesman from VGM, the Sharan is ‘deceptively’ small – in actuality it seats seven full-sized adults, which is why they had to find that six-foot tall ‘cousin’. My colleagues who put the Sharan next to an Alphard tells me that it is a little longer in length than the Alphard, and is just as wide, and only just a little shorter in height. This means the Sharan is actually quite large, although in isolation, it does look smaller. Priced at RM245k to RM269k, it offers a great bang per buck package insofar as MPV’s go.
Of course one difference is that the Sharan is imported directly by VGM and sold through its dealer network, and the benefit is a new vehicle instead of a grey import, and the Sharan is backed by the might of Volkswagen’s warranty and backed up by its service and parts network. There is actually no competition to the Sharan in terms of vehicle size, power and seating capacity, and in fact, if none of the local car companies do something about it, the Sharan will sit comfortably in a niche all on its own. Its nearest competitor would be the Renault Espace, which is priced at least 15 to 20 percent higher. The Honda Odyssey would be quite close, but the Sharan appears to have the edge on ‘freshness’.
The VW Sharan comes with a whole bunch of great features that make it very user-friendly – goodies include remote electric sliding doors, on both sides of the vehicle, a touch screen navigation system that is also voice activated, a panoramic tilt and slide electric sunroof, an integrated child seat (located correctly for our right hand drive country on the middle row, left hand side), and a three-zone air-conditioning system. Optional extras include a Park Assist system that actually helps you to park the car, and “Lane Assist”, a system that uses cameras to detect if you are drifting out of your lane, especially if you are drowsy – this system will actually turn your steering to put you back on track (up to a point) and then vibrate to wake you up.
Purpose-built as an MPV, the Sharan is not a van that has been converted to take passengers, and so the design objective is to provide car-like driving dynamics, and the Sharan delivers exactly that to its prospective buyers. In addition, there are the numerous cup holders, two separate seats in the third row that fold flat on the floor, reading lights, and media connectivity to USB and AUX jacks.
Safety is not neglected – there are the mandatory airbags, with curtain airbags for all rows of seats, plus a driver’s knee airbag. Active safety features include ABS, ASR (Anti Slip Regulation), ESP (Electronic Stability Programme), EBD and BA. Adaptive Chassis Control, which allows the driver to select Comfort or Sports settings for damping and engine performance, is also available in the higher specification models, plus keyless entry and keyless go.
All things said, the Volkswagen Sharan looks set to win the hearts of many in the Malaysian market. The real test of the vehicle would be how far its real world fuel consumption strays from its mooted test figures – I would say about 20 percent higher based on the fact that we do run air-conditioners all year round, and our traffic conditions are not quite the same as that in European countries where people do stick to set limits, and everybody does maintain a minimum speed instead of hogging the fast lane. The other test would be its driving dynamics – we will conform this when we do get a test unit – it is only to reconfirm the claim – although I am quite sure the Sharan will deliver as promised.

1 COMMENT

Leave a Reply