Volkswagen Sharan: История и характеристики минивэна

The Volkswagen Sharan is a seven seater minivan that was produced by the German Volkswagen Group and built at the AutoEuropa plant in Palmela, Portugal, with a front wheel drive version across two generations, from 1995 to 2022. Through badge engineering, the Volkswagen Sharan shares the same platform with the SEAT Alhambra, and the first generation was also in most respects identical to the Ford Galaxy. From 2010 to 2023 the Sharan was in its second generation. It is described in the motor industry as a multi purpose vehicle (MPV). TOC

The Sharan was the Volkswagen badged product from a joint venture between Volkswagen and Ford Motor Company to produce vehicles in the increasingly important MPV market, which was filled at the time by Renault's Espace and Chrysler's Voyager. The resulting Volkswagen Sharan concept (and Ford Galaxy) was shown at the 1994 Paris Auto Show, and production started in May 1995. The name Sharan was said to be derived from the Persian word 'Shahran' meaning "Carrier of Kings". However, according to Volkswagen, it is a made up word, like 'Touran'. Development began in top secret in 1987, known only to the highest level members of the respective companies, with a team consisting of Ford's Steve Harper, Paul Coucill, and Volkswagen's Peter Knapp. Harper's design was chosen at the first review that September. It originally had a very different boxier design, and used a conventional minivan layout with a single sliding door. The Volkswagen Group subsequently rebadged the Sharan and sold it as the SEAT Alhambra alongside the Sharan. All variants were produced at the joint venture's plant AutoEuropa in Portugal, alongside the closely related Ford Galaxy. The Sharan was on sale from 1995 to 2010, accompanied with facelifts in 2000 and 2004. As of 2007, the annual production for the Sharan is in the 50,000 unit range; it is sold in Europe, South Africa and some Asia Pacific and Latin American countries. In Mexico, it was available with the 1.8L Turbo 4 cil with five speed Tiptronic automatic gearbox in Comfortline trim only, while in Argentina it is available with the 1.8L Turbo and the 1.9L TDI 115 hp four cylinder engines, in both five speed manual and five speed Tiptronic transmissions in Trendline trim only. The cooperation between Volkswagen and Ford ended in 2006, with the latter going alone in building the second generation Galaxy. The Sharan was not sold in the United States and Canada. Originally, this was due to an agreement between Ford and Volkswagen, leaving the market free from competition for Ford's Aerostar minivan. Volkswagen later decided not to introduce the Sharan in North America, ceased developing the Microbus concept, and instead introduced a badge engineered variant of the Chrysler minivans as the Routan. This was launched in 2009, and replaced the Sharan in Mexico which was the only North American country where the Sharan was sold. Scoring 200 points on the United Kingdom Reliability Index, the Sharan is considered very unreliable when compared to the average vehicle score of 100, while a very reliable vehicle scores 60 or below. The average age and repair cost of the tested Sharan was 5,3 years and covered 63,546 miles. It has been noted that, despite enjoying high popularity, the Sharan has consistently performed poorly in UK customer satisfaction surveys, including a last place 138th in a 2003 survey. Although quality problems existed in the original version, the Sharan quickly became the best selling MPV in Germany. The first generation Volkswagen Sharan was on sale for over 15 years having been built almost unchanged during the time. By the time it was replaced in 2010 it was one of the longest running car models in Europe. Despite its age, nearly 24,000 Sharans were still being sold annually as of 2008. In total, Volkswagen sold almost 670,000 units of its Sharan.

A further minor cosmetic facelift was implemented in September 2003 at Frankfurt Motor Show for the model year of 2004. This changed, primarily, the grille, and tail lights (round). Also, more standard equipment was added, including air conditioning and curtain side air bags. In 2006, Ford independently introduced a new Galaxy which was not based on the Sharan and Alhambra designs from the Volkswagen Group. The new Galaxy was built at a dedicated Ford plant in Limburg, Belgium. The last first generation Ford Galaxy rolled off the AutoEuropa line at the end of 2005, while the first generation Sharan and SEAT Alhambra continued in production, alongside the Volkswagen Eos and the new Scirocco, until August 2010. A BlueMotion variant was introduced in 2008 and went on sale in Germany in May 2008, with lower (159g/km) CO2 emissions and average fuel consumption of 38 mpg U. S. In the UK only 60 BlueMotions were expected to shift per year, and it was on sale there until February 2011.

Model YearsEngine and code Displ. Power Torque 1.8T 2003–2005 I4 20V AWC 1781 cc @ 5800 rpm @ 1800 rpm 2.0 2003–2007 I4 8V ATM 1984 cc @ 5200 rpm @ 2600 rpm 2.8 VR6 2003–2008 VR6 24V AYL 2792 cc @ 6200 rpm @ 3400 rpm 1.9 TDI 2006–2010 I4 8V BVK 1896 cc @ 4000 rpm @ 1900 rpm 1.9 TDI 2003–2007 I4 8V ASZ 1896 cc @ 4000 rpm @ 1900 rpm 1.9 TDI 2003–2009 I4 8V BTB 1896 cc @ 4000 rpm @ 1900 rpm 2.0 TDI 2006–2010 I4 8V BRT 1968 cc @ 4000 rpm @ 1900 rpm

At the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, a facelifted Sharan was unveiled to the public. It has new electronic systems and engines with reduced fuel consumption. Its 2.0 litre TSi engine (, ) and six speed direct shift gearbox are the same as in the 2016 Golf GTi.

The Sharan in its standard European market configuration received 4 stars from Euro NCAP in 2019.