For a company car driver with young children, the Volkwagen Sharan is filled with neat tricks guaranteed to keep them entertained.

The full length sliding roof cover, which reveals the sky above their heads, and the sliding rear doors, which open and close at the touch of a button on the key fob or pull of the handle, both provide huge amusement.

Hopefully the sturdiness of the rear doors has been suitably tested, as repeated calls for another demonstration create the potential for rapid wear and tear.

Away from the child-friendly features, the Sharan offers a number of enhancements over the previous version which it replaced last November.

At 4,854 mm in length, it is 220 mm longer than the model it replaces, 92 mm wider and 12 mm lower. Despite the gains in size and functionality, the new Sharan weighs up to 30kg less.

Available as an option for the first time on the Sharan is the Adaptive Chassis Control (ACC) system featuring electronically controlled dampers with three selectable stages – normal, comfort and sport

A new version of Park Assist also debuts. The system is now capable of guiding the vehicle into parking spaces at right angles to the direction of traffic as well as parallel spaces.

All versions of the Sharan, except the 2.0-litre TSI 200 PS, are badged Bluemotion Technology. The version tested here with the 2.0-litre TDI 140PS engine will be the most popular.

The inclusion of low rolling resistance tyres, battery regeneration, gear change recommendation and stop/start brings CO2 emissions down to 146g/km. Fuel consumption is 50.4mpg.

For drivers of people carriers, space and practicality are the crucial selling points. Here, the Sharan excels: versatility is the name of the game.
Access via the rear sliding doors to the second and third rows of seats is excellent, and much improved over the previous model.

The second seating row is made up of three separate seat units which slide forwards or backwards by up to 160mm. When not in use, they can be folded to create a flat loadspace.

The third row of two seats can also be folded away seamlessly into the load-area floor via a simple-to-use retraction mechanism.

The standard seven-seat model has 711 litres of boot space with the rear seats upright, rising to 2,297 with the seats folded into the boot floor.

By Stephen Briers