If you need a lot of space for the family, for children and then plenty of luggage, there is no way around a high-roof station wagon. The Nissan Townstar is a rather sober, reasonable representative of this genus, but comes up with good genes. And it has space for three child seats next to each other.
New cars are expensive, family-friendly specimens even more so. In times when normal compact sedans are hardly available for less than 30,000 euros, the Nissan Townstar station wagon looks almost like a bargain. Not least because of its huge amount of space and its practical talents. It starts at just under 27,000 euros.
If you don't know Nissan's high-roof station wagon, you should know its more famous brothers: the Renault Kangoo and the Mercedes T-Class. The three models come from a commercial vehicle series from the Renault-Nissan alliance, which also includes three small delivery vans in addition to the passenger car trio, all with similar technology. Above all, Kangoo and Townstar are almost identical except for the brand logos, while the T-Class tries to stand out more in terms of ambience and technology in the premium segment.
In the German-French-Japanese patchwork group, the Nissan takes on the role of the quiet, somewhat introverted brother. While the Mercedes is classy and the Renault with a wide range of drives and variants is the clever all-rounder with lifestyle spice, the Townstar is the model for cool, reasonable people. One engine, four trim levels, six colors and a handful of optional extras. That's it for selection. If you don't want to spend hours clicking around in online configurators or poring over lengthy price lists, you've come to the right place.
The manageable palette does not have to be a disadvantage. Because with what Nissan offers, almost everyone who is interested should get along well. First of all, there is the extremely practically cut body. The highlight is the huge luggage compartment with a volume of 530 liters, which can be expanded to over two cubic meters by folding down the rear seats.
The mechanism is so cleverly designed that an almost flat loading floor is created. Together with the low loading sill and the clear roof height, this creates a luggage compartment that is otherwise only found in real vans. If you order the folding passenger seat (290 euros), you can also accommodate objects up to 2.70 meters long in the car. Two large sliding doors make it easier to stow away.
Especially if you have small children who have to be strapped to the back seat, you should learn to love the portals, which open wide on their rails but save space. But the front doors and tailgate also swing out remarkably large and make everyday use easier. Tall people can also find space under the trunk lid without having to duck their heads. In addition, there is the clever roof rail (optional) adopted from Renault, which can be converted into a roof rack in just a few simple steps thanks to the integrated crossbars.
The interior is similarly well thought out, and you can simply tell that Renault has had a lot of experience in the Kangoo segment. There are plenty of shelves and in appropriate sizes, so that there is enough space for wallets, mobile phones or bottles of drinks, but they are not shaken around. Also worth mentioning in this context is the glove compartment, which does not fold open but is designed as a drawer (from equipment line "N-Connecta"), which makes it easier to search through and stow away.
The space available for the driver and passengers is above average for a car, at least vertically - even very tall people can feel comfortable under the high roof. And behind them there is still room for two large adults. Thanks to the large interior width, the middle seat can still be used to some extent in such a case, with the ergonomically shaped, concave seat surface helping. If you want, you can also mount three child seats next to each other. The only thing missing: A third row of seats is just as unavailable for the Nissan as a long version. So it remains with a maximum of five occupants.
When it comes to the drive, Nissan does without the class-typical diesel. Instead, there is a 1.3-liter turbo petrol engine with 96 kW/130 hp, which knows how to impress in all situations. In city traffic it is sufficiently lively, only in the intermediate sprint from a low speed it lacks a bit of turbo pressure. Its economy is impressive on long journeys: If you take it easy and evenly, you can use around half a liter less fuel than the standard value of 6.7 liters promises. With normal driving, it can also be 7 to 8 liters.
However, a relaxed gait suits the comfortable, if somewhat stiff-legged, chassis best. Fast cornering is not the thing for the high-rise family transporter anyway. When the load is high, the working noise of the four-cylinder penetrates clearly into the interior, which is rather casually insulated, which is typical for the segment. The electric variant announced for the summer of 2022 should be able to do this better, although it should have disadvantages in terms of acquisition costs and range.
The Townstar price list starts at 26,600 euros for the sparsely equipped basic model "Acenta". If you add 1800 euros, you get the "N-Connecta" model, which already offers everything important in terms of comfort and design. The two higher lines "N-Design" and "Tekna" add a little glitter and a few luxury extras like an inductive charger for the cell phone, but hardly anything essential.
The two assistance and technology packages with an all-round view camera and a large infotainment screen are also recommended, so that for just under 30,000 euros you get a very spacious family car with an economical all-round drive that lacks nothing in terms of comfort and technology. In times when a normal basic golf is already being traded for this course, this is quite attractive. However, you have to accept a few limitations in terms of noise comfort and handling.
