• Spacious cabin, front and rear 
• Well-sized boot, five-seats only 
• Up there with the best for passenger space

How much space is there?

This is a big SUV, and as you’d expect it’s roomy enough to swallow five people without any real issues. There’s ample room up front, with oodles of headroom and seats that go a long way back for taller individuals. It’s a wide car, so there’s plenty of space around you as well.

In the rear, three adults will happily co-exist, especially thanks to the car’s flat(ish) floor. Width once again comes into it, as does generous legroom and headroom even with tall adults up front. If you want a seven seater, you’re going to have to buy an Audi Q7 or Land Rover Discovery.

Boot space and storage

The luggage space is XL-sized as well, and here’s where we reckon the Touareg really excels. Load length is 1,051mm, and the boot space ranges between 810 litres with the rear seats up in place and 1,800 litres with them fully folded. The rear bench is split 40:20:40, and is also reclinable, which increases usability considerably. On air-suspended models, the ride height can be lowered by the touch of a button in the luggage area to aid loading.

Plug-in hybrid models do get a smaller boot at 655 litres, a figure still greater than most SUVs out there. Folding the seats is done in three parts, so you can easily carry four adults and a long load comfortably. There are a number of useful cubbies up front and decent door bins, so emptying your pockets is unlikely to be an issue.

There’s plenty of interior stowage space, too, with our testers appreciating the pair of large cupholders and generously-proportioned storage cubby under the front armrest. In addition, there’s also a big storage are in front of the gear selector that can include wireless phone-charging.

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Is it easy to park?

Like its rival SUVs, the Touareg is on the large size for average UK parking bays and garages, but with its suite of parking sensors, cameras and the automatic parking functions we tested, the physical act of parking is actually straightforward, and we had no difficulties.

This includes an optional app controlled parking system that allows you to drive the Touareg into and out of tight spaces from outside the car. You can even control the reversing of a trailer using the mirror switch, the car working out which way to turn the steering to get where you need to be.

Safety

• Great list of standard and optional safety features
• Only two Isofix points in the rear
• A five-star Euro NCAP performer

The Volkswagen Touareg is a very safe car. It comes with the Volkswagen Group’s full suite of safety systems. Considering it’s so large, it’s a surprise to see that there’s provision for two only Isofix seats in the rear and fittings for the front is optional.

But despite this, the Touareg scored five stars in its Euro NCAP crash test albeit way back in autumn 2018. Here are the major safety systems offered on the Touareg range as a whole, as you can see it’s very comprehensive.

• Front Assist with City Emergency Braking System and Pedestrian Monitoring
• Intersection Assist (warning of cross traffic from front)
• Lane Assist (lane-departure warning system)
• Side Assist (Lane Change and Turn-off Assist)
• Automatic Post-Collision Braking System
• Proactive occupant protection system (conditioning of the safety system as well as closing of windows and panoramic glass roof before a potential accident)
• Driver Alert System (warning of fatigue)
• Night Vision
• Dynamic Road Sign Display (showing road signs such as speed information and no overtaking)
• IQ Light – LED headlights: people in a potential danger area are briefly flashed to make them more visible for the driver and as a warning.
• Front Cross Traffic Assist

WATCH: Volkswagen Touareg SUV Euro NCAP crash test