Of all of the Ford vehicles made in partnership with VW (the Ranger pick-up, Explorer, Capri and this), the Tourneo Join appears to be like the least like a Ford – each inside and outside.
However for the badge on the steering wheel, this would possibly as effectively be a VW inside, from door handles to electrical window switches to column stalks. There’s loads of substantial really feel in regards to the fixtures and fittings, nonetheless. It has just a few too many shiny mouldings across the dashboard maybe for any materially plush cabin attraction, although every thing appears to be like hardy and feels strong and effectively secured.
VW’s 10in multimedia touchscreen runs Ford’s personal infotainment software program, which is simple sufficient to make use of. A row of everlasting bodily shortcut buttons under the display screen is a superb assist in navigating it, making ADAS management toggles rapidly accessible and doing the identical for powertrain mode choice. Wi-fi smartphone mirroring is commonplace, with a tool charging pad included on higher-grade Energetic fashions.
The automotive’s boxy profile and excessive roofline present an abundance of entrance head room, even for taller drivers preferring a higher-set seat, and it’s the identical within the rear.
Our take a look at automotive was a short-wheelbase five-seater. (Seven seats are commonplace on all long-wheelbase fashions and an choice on all short-wheelbase vehicles aside from SWB PHEVs.) Its second-row chairs could be tumbled forwards and flipped up towards the entrance seatbacks to increase cargo capability or eliminated.
Being pretty heavy, they’re too awkward to take out on a whim. However for these events once you do need most carrying house, their removing opens up greater than 2500 litres of capability even within the SWB automotive, as much as a roofline that grants nearly 1.2m of peak loading top. A normal folding entrance passenger seatback additionally provides you the choice of carrying extra-long hundreds.
Sliding again seats and a few cleverer expandable oddment storage options within the roof and boot sides wouldn’t have gone amiss right here. However even with out them, the Join’s enormous, tall, straight-sided cargo bay may make what continues to be a reasonably small automotive remarkably helpful.
