The scene is the Bavaria film studios, south of Munich; the setting is a pavement café; it could be Paris, Madrid or just about anywhere in Europe. The action centres on the fully redesigned Volkswagen Sharan which a woman wants to park in an impossibly small gap between two cars parked outside the café.
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Two men, enjoying a little refreshment, shake their heads in disbelief and the woman’s stupidity and challenge her that if she manages to park in that gap, they’ll carry everything from the fully-laden Sharan inside and upstairs for her.
Their mocking disbelief turns to amazement as, with centimetres to spare front and back, she parks the car and saunters off, throwing them the keys. We see the results of the filming that evening.
On the other side of the studio, a succession of motoring journalists, including your correspondent, are doing the same, but not being filmed. Not only are we parallel parking (vehicle length plus 80cm) we are also perpendicular parking – right angle parking as in most off-street car parks.
This is a new feature on the third generation Sharan, one of a host of changes for the 2010 model which was unveiled at this year’s Geneva motor show in March; it goes on sale across Europe from 3 September with UK sales starting in November.
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By GlobalDataThe only parts carried over from the previous generation Sharan – shared via badge engineering with Ford (Galaxy) and group sibling/rival Seat (Alhambra) – are the sun blinds; it gets the new VW family front end look already seen on the Golf and Polo and due on the next generation Passat, plus far more flexible seating with seven seats as standard though six chairs will also be available.
The Sharan arrived in 1995 as part of that joint venture with Ford that later also spawned the Alhambra. The new one is also built at the same Palmela production facility in Portugal alongside the Scirocco and Eos. Ford, meanwhile, has long since gone its own way with a redesigned Galaxy built in its own factory that shares much with the smaller S-Max.
As VW’s first MPV, Sharan brought more than 600,000 new customers to the brand over 15 years and has been the best-selling multi-purpose vehicle (MPV aka minivan) in Germany for all that time and among the top three best-sellers in Europe; Galaxy has been top seller in the UK.
In 2000 the Sharan received an interior facelift and, in 2003, a minor external makeover so this 2010 model is the first truly new version for a whole 15 years. It is 4,854mm long – 220mm longer than the outgoing model – 92mm wider and 12mm lower; but, despite being bigger, the 1.4TSI version weighs 30kg less than the previous equivalent model.
Across the range, the Sharan is 21% more fuel efficient, according to its maker, with the 140PS, two litre TDI version – the most popular engine version in Europe – consuming 5.5l/100 km of diesel (or 52.3mpg, equivalent to 143g/km CO2) on the ‘official’ EU test combined cycle.
A choice of six-speed manual and twin-clutch DSG gearboxes is available with all engines except the two litre 200PS TSI which is DSG only.
Externally, sliding rear doors are used for the first time (electric power is optional). Also on the options list: adaptive chassis control with electronically-controlled pneumatic dampers with three selectable stages – normal, comfort and sport.
