Sharan / Alhambra camping conversions

The VW Sharan strikes a good balance between size and comfort. Actually, it’s one of the biggest MPVs out there. If boot size is your primary criterion – and you like a comfortable and quieter drive – you can’t go wrong with a Sharan. The car drives nicely too and offers good comfort in the front for the driver and passenger. It’s not the best car to take off the road completely – but you can take it down a good enough mud road without any big problems. A very good car camping conversion candidate, unless you are planning to drive through forests and very much offroad.

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VW Caddy VW Sharan Dacia US Cars Skoda Berlingo SUV Toyota Roomster

The Sharan is a very comfortable car to drive that is also one of the biggest in terms of its boot size. If you go on long journeys and prefer a comfortable ride and want to sleep inside with enough storage (or room for a camping conversion), the Sharan is a great car. Compared to some bigger MPVs, like a Caddy, it is quieter inside, drives better and has more features.

When it comes to the boot, it is big for a car like this, its only disadvantage could be that the boot floor is not level with the tailgate, but that’s just nitpicking :).

I own a 2013 Sharan (automatic) and get ~6l/100km consumption 36 MPG (UK), which is really good for a car this size.

VW Sharan and Seat Alhambra are the same car, therefore anything that applies to a Sharan, applies to Alhambra too.

Key information

Car type: MPV/Minivan
Make: Volkswagen
Folded seats boot length (cm): 208–218
Boot height (cm): 113
Boot width (cm): 158 (2nd row doors) / 125 (trunk)
avg MPG (UK): 36⁽¹⁾
avg l/100km consumption: 7.1⁽¹⁾ (depends on how you drive – I’m getting 6.5 combined)
EURO NCAP safety rating (2019) – 4/5
ADAC rating (lower = better) – 2.1/5

Sharan NimbleCamper rating: 3.9/5

My Sharan setup ver1

Sharan PROs

it is very spacious – long and tall, easy to sit in even when converted to a camping car at the back – it’s one of the biggest small cars you can find out there if you want size, but not a van
easy to maintain, no expensive or hard to get parts
Volkswagen quality standard & reliability
good level of comfort for long journeys, well equipped
good price on models up to 10 years old (they still drive very well at an affordable price + will last for years to come)
sliding middle doors + tailgate ^{(why is this important)}
front passenger back rest can be folded down horizontally to form a table
7 seater is easy – just fold all the seats and your flat surface for a car bed is ready

Sharan CONs

the 5 seat version needs additional work to prepare the flat surface for a car bed – see how I did that easily under 106€
boot door floor isn’t flat (loading area – harder to put a camping box / boot jump in and out)
not a 4×4 – ok for some off-road, but not too much
you might hear some people complaining that they don’t see the front of the car when driving – leaving them feeling a bit uneasy about where exactly does the car end, especially navigating tight spaces. But 2010+ models have parking sensors that should alleviate that

Can you sleep in a Sharan?

You bet your socks you can! Being at the top of our microcamper candidates list should be a good enough reason – it’s not just big and comfy, but it is also good to drive.

The VW Sharan is a very good car for car camping – it’s one of the most spacious MPVs out there and offers a good level of comfort, mileage and maintenance costs. It’s also well priced – especially 5-10 years old models that were well kept to be found around 10,000 GBP. It’s not an offroad car so don’t expect a thrilling offroad ride, yet still, you can take it down a not too steep/rough dirt track or through a meadow.

Read the full Sharan camper review