I'm no stranger to the benefits reaped by small turbocharged petrol engines. In fact I clearly remember being pleasantly surprised by the 1.4-litre engines of this sort found in modern VWs, Alfas and Fiats.
If you count yourself among most South African drivers who only hear the phrase "lekker by die see" on your annual holiday, then you'll appreciate the value of force-fed engines and their ability to 'force' more air into the combustion chamber, thereby mostly compensating for the effects of high altitude.
But even knowing all this, I'll admit to having felt rather uneasy when I heard that the entry-level version of Volkswagen's new Touran MPV range is powered by a 1.2-litre engine. 1.2-litre MPV? I started wondering if it would even get up my driveway.
Looking at the specification sheet, I also realized that this version of the Touran is positioned rather strangely. Although competing with seven-seaters like the Toyota Verso and Mazda5 in terms of size, the 1.2 TSI only has five seats and unlike the rest of the Touran range (where a third row can be ordered for a hefty R7900), you cannot order the extra seats.
This makes it tempting to compare this VeeDub to the Renault Scenic 1.6 Expression, which costs R20 000 less, except the Touran has a much bigger boot - at 695 litres with the second row in place, versus the Renault's 437 litres.
If you're convinced that you'll never need those seven seats, what you're looking at here is an extremely spacious five seater, complete with three individual second-row seats that recline, slide and fold; a massive boot and a really small engine - perhaps the reason why VW doesn't want seven people in it?
Looking at the engine data, that theory started making less sense to me. It's somewhat more powerful than the 63kW 1.2 TSI motor in the imminent Audi A1 - the Touran's unit making 77kW at 5000rpm and 175Nm between 1550 and 4100rpm.
To put that into perspective, the VW falls 20kW short of the 1.6-litre Toyota Verso (most of which should be made up by it turbocharger at Reef altitude anyway), yet the VW makes 15Nm more twist than the Toyota.
Upon first acquaintance with the Touran 1.2 TSI, I felt generally impressed by its briskness in town conditions. Yes, there is a bit of turbo lag but it's hardly a big annoyance and easily overcome by a little extra clutch action and once that turbo kicks in it has a serious pair of legs.
On the open road it proved adequate enough, cruising efficiently in sixth gear, but it did require a change down from fourth for overtaking, which was by no means effortless but certainly adequate by MPV standards.
The real test came when I arrived at the Gerotek testing facility and strapped it to our V-box. Against the clock, the best 0-100km/h time it could manage was 12.97 seconds, while it flattened the quarter mile in 18.73 seconds - impressive for an entry-level MPV.
Of course, the whole point of a 'downsized' engine like this is the economy and after averaging 9.3 litres per 100km in a mixture of urban and country driving and without making any major efforts to drive economically, I was not disappointed with its drinking habits.
This 1.2 litre has certainly passed the initial satisfaction test, let’s just hope that it proves reliable in the long run - something we can’t tell you after a one week test.
As for the rest of the driving experience, this Touran left a (faint) mark on my mind as nondescript and effortless. The pedals and gear-shifter are light and easy to operate, albeit the latter did feel a tad rubbery for my liking if I have to nitpick.
This is after all a Golf with a bigger and more practical body on top, complete with fully independent suspension at all corners, which bodes well for its ride and handling qualities, which are superb.
VW is also renowned for its elegant interiors and while I won't deny that the Touran's cabin has a slightly more premium feel to it than most rivals, it didn't move me in any way. It's as grey as a London sky inside and this monotone colour scheme seems perfectly paired, in the land of boredom, with a dashboard seemingly designed by accountants. Everything is well placed, but there's just no design flair.
As previously mentioned, those accountants did a good job in the packaging department and it has enough space for five adults to stretch out in comfort and fit a few kitchen sinks into the boot.
The conservative aura continues in the exterior styling where this recently facelifted vehicle has adopted VW's cloned front-end styling. Although it wins no points for originality here, it does have a sharp, crisp and generally pleasing look to it.
I wouldn't really say the same of the new rear end design, with taillights that now extend onto the tailgate. Two people I spoke to actually thought it looked like a Pokemon from behind and somehow I don't imagine those being friendly comments.
As a package, the Touran 1.2 TSI Trendline has proven to be an elegant, practical and comfortable family car, but it is priced at the wrong end of the rivals basket at R260 300; albeit making up for that to an extent by features you wouldn't expect in this class, like cruise control, a hill holder and rain sensor.
This Touran is a good effort all-round, but it's not good enough to steer you away from test driving the competition too.