SOME cars require more analysis than others to reveal their true charms and abilities.

Get something a bit sporty or posh and the appeal is obvious. Then there are those cars that have to work for a living; the kind of middle- ranking plain-Janes of the world.

VW's small people-carrier, the Touran, is just such a vehicle.

Granted, with new front and rear ends it looks a bit more attractive but it still isn't going to win any beauty contests.

Touran is a no-frills workhorse, a reliable and capable set of wheels that will take you efficiently to where you need to be and get you back home safe and sound.

It won't attract many admiring glances, but then it shouldn't attract unwanted attention either. It's a car in which you will be able to slip by most people pretty much unnoticed and a vehicle that you can leave anywhere unmolested.

Touran is best described as capable. It will move seven people around in reasonable comfort, as long as they are travelling light as, with the third row of seats in place, there's not much of a boot.

It is comfortable rather than plush, sufficiently wellequipped without being lavish.

The choice of plastics and the design of the interior cry function, not flash, but it all gels to do the job.

It's a pleasant enough drive. The 140bhp 2.0 litre diesel is superbly powerful and amazingly economical.

On the motorway close to 50mpg is always on the cards and there is loads of oomph mid-range to get you safely past slow-moving traffic.

The six-speed gearbox is slick enough, the clutch light and the brakes powerful, with the backing of ABS.

It's not a car you will gush about, it's not something for the boastful, but it does what is required and you always get to journey's end quicker than you would imagine.

It eats miles for breakfast, dinner and tea and is happy in town, country and on the dual carriageway.

Vehicles like the Touran are among the most difficult to write about because they do no wrong but fail to inspire the driver to write prose.

That said, as a trusty steed, Touran is peerless and the tinkering has honed what was already a pretty good vehicle.

It's a not a car to shout about but if you need an honest workhorse then perhaps it should be.