Waiting For the Vans To Come

In August 2013, I wrote a post on this blog expressing regret that Americans could no longer buy the transitional Volkswagen Transporter van, which left the U.S. market after the fourth generation ceased production in 2003, and how VW could at least give us one of its smaller, wagon-like minivans instead.  Because VW minivans have been nothing if not funky, as my discussion of the Caddy van in September 2014 made clear.  But there are two more conventional (but no less funky) passenger vans in Volkswagen's lineup that could overcome the minivan syndrome if only they were offered in America and marketed properly.      

Above is the original Sharan, a small passenger van Volkswagen developed with Ford in the nineties.  Sold as both a VW and as the Ford Galaxy in Europe, it was kept out of the U.S. market because Volkswagen had a deal with Ford not to give its American minivans competition.  (Ford, as it turned out, was a non-issue in the minivan market until it hit upon the Transit Connect.)  The Sharan's futuristic shape and versatile interior garnered a respectable following in the European auto press.

Above is the current Sharan, which made a clean break from its predecessor, being longer, wider and lower than the first Sharan but also featuring sliding doors (the original model had hinged ones) and a crisp, strong design not unlike the Golf.  Power is supplied by either a 148-hp 1.4-liter TSI four or a 197-hp two-liter TSI four; both horsepower outputs compare favorably with the 172-hp VR6 from the previous Sharan, and they're more powerful than the two-liter four (at 114 hp) and the 1.8-liter turbo (at 148 hp) four available in the first-generation model.

And here's the smaller Touran, the Golf-based microvan that is similarly efficient, both in space and in  fuel consumption.  Its tall greenhouse makes for practical interior room, its chiseled appearance gives it a clean, streamlined look, and it has a choice of two 1.4-liter, sixteen-valve TSI fours producing  138 or 168 horsepower.  In short, it's the ideal Mazda 5 competitor. 

These are serious people movers that have all the characteristics of a Volkswagen and none of the feel of an American SUV.  I still understand that Americans want SUVs, and that it's easy to sell them one that recalls a Jeep or a Ford Explorer, which is why VW is about to bless us with just that.  But seriously, after looking at these babies, why would you want to bother with an SUV of any sort?

I'm sure I've told this story before, but I was riding my bike in New York City during the 2001 Labor Day weekend (that's right, a week and change before 9/11) and I found a Sharan parked on the street, with New York plates, despite its unavailability here.  I was so floored at the sight of a Sharan in Manhattan (if I'd only had a camera!) that  I left  a note under the windshield wiper commending the owner for buying one and wish in him/her luck with it.  (It's hard to get parts in America for a European vehicle not for sale here.  I assumed that this particular Sharan was purchased in Mexico.)  Just the fact, though, that some American went far out of his or her way to buy a Sharan shows how VW could be (and likely is) missing an opportunity to spark a minivan renaissance in America by offering either the Caddy, the Sharan, or the Touran in this market.  Come on, VW, how about it?  You can go ahead and build that SUV in Chattanooga, but while you may not be able to offer all of your passenger minivans here (and I know you'll never bring the Transporter, a microbus that's more bus than micro these days, back here), you should at least offer one of them.