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Wolfsburg's global sales champion moves further into premium territory

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Before we dive into and learn about the Volkswagen Tiguan, some context. After all, it feels like the uncertainty that, since the early days of large-scale electrification, has been shrouding the decision-making of those who design and build, but also buy and consume, new cars ought to be lifting by now – yet it isn’t. Time only seems to unearth bigger obstacles for the industry to overcome and ever-greater problems to solve before the car can be made fully sustainable.

And so when someone with the influence of Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer seeks to ease that uncertainty, his sentiments strike an instant chord. Schäfer recently did so by guaranteeing that, however the cars of tomorrow are powered, his brand would commit always – or, at least, for the foreseeable future – to make a Golf; always to keep the GTI sub-brand alive and kicking; and, finally, to keep at least one other current model in production.

That car wasn’t the long-lived Volkswagen Passat or the affordable Volkswagen Polo but this road test subject: the Tiguan. This car has become VW’s biggest-selling model worldwide bar none. And now entering a third model generation, it's adopting VW’s very latest platform, suspension and electrified hybrid powertrain technology in a bid to protect its exalted status.

It’s perhaps a reflection of the current climate that VW isn’t turning to full electrification for the Tiguan. Instead, it has introduced quite an extensive derivative line-up including plug-in hybrids that are “of sufficient range that they can almost be used like fully electric cars”, as well as more affordable mild-hybrid petrols, more powerful four-wheel-drive petrols and even a diesel.

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For as long as it can, Wolfsburg clearly wants to give us the power to choose for ourselves which kind of Tiguan suits us best. And for the moment, we have tested the car both as a 1.5-litre eTSI petrol and a range-topping 1.5-litre e-Hybrid 272 PHEV.

The range at a glance

Models Power From
1.5 eTSI 130 129bhp £34,075
1.5 eTSI 150 Life 148bhp £36,720
2.0 TDI 150 Life 148bhp £37,920
1.5 eHybrid Life 201bhp £42,525
1.5 eHybrid R-Line 268bhp £48,220

There are no four-wheel-drive Tiguans in the line-up yet. It’s revealing that VW has kept one diesel engine on for the third-generation car, but the addition of a second PHEV model shows where it expects the balance of interest to be.

Trim levels start with a base model that has 129bhp 1.5-litre mild-hybrid power only and rise through Life, Match, Elegance and R-Line tiers. The upper-level PHEV is sold exclusively as an R-Line model.

DESIGN & STYLING

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 02 side panning

This Mk3 Tiguan is about the same size as the car it replaces. The BMW X1 is slightly shorter, the Toyota RAV4 a decent chunk longer. So, in characteristic VW product positioning, this can be thought of as a mid-sized SUV both in terms of its particular class and more broadly.

Like the latest Passat, as well as the recently renewed Skoda Superb and Skoda Kodiaq, it adopts VW’s updated MQB Evo platform. The ‘Evo’ part has enabled the car to take significant strides, claims VW, in terms of interior quality, infotainment, instrumentation and suspension technology.

It’s commendable, too, that the revised platform seems to have allowed VW to keep check on kerb weight. The last Tiguan we road tested in 2016 (a 2.0 TDI manual) weighed 1610kg; the 1.5-litre eTSi we've just weighted beats that by a small margin (1606kg) in spite of an abundant optional equipment specification.

As before, the Tiguan offers a choice of transverse-mounted four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines. All now drive through either a six- or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, and most to the front wheels exclusively.

For now, buyers can choose a mild-hybrid 1.5-litre eTSI petrol with either 129bhp or 148bhp; a 2.0-litre TDI diesel with 148bhp; or a 1.5-litre eHybrid PHEV. The last of those can be had with either 201bhp or 268bhp, but both versions use the same sizeable drive battery (19.7kWh usable capacity) and are rated for more than 70 miles of electric-only range, allowing them to qualify for benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax of just 5%.

For those who do want part-time 4WD, meanwhile, a couple of unhybridised 2.0-litre TSI petrol models that will offer it are expected to be added to the line-up in late 2024.

Without 4WD, the Tiguan doesn’t offer loose-surface traction control, rugged tyres or ground clearance that would make it suited to light off-roading.

Suspension is via struts at the front axle and multiple links at the rear and via conventional coil springs and dampers.

Firmer sports suspension can be added to some trim levels as an option, though, combined with ‘progressive’ variable-rate power steering. VW’s DCC Pro adaptive damping is available in tandem as a higher-priced option and was fitted to both of the cars (1.5 eTSI and e-Hybrid 272) we've tested in the UK.

INTERIOR

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 10 dash

VW’s claim to have added cabin quality to this car seems very much to be defined in a predictably modern, digital sense. Because what makes it different from the outgoing Tiguan isn’t the solid, expensive look and feel of the mouldings and materials or the hefty feel of the switchgear.

For that kind of built-in perceived quality (for so long a VW strong suit), the car sets a decent standard but not an exceptional one. Its primary fixtures and secondary controls feel solid and secure, its storage cubbies are lined and some plusher finishes catch the eye. There's nothing especially lavish or noteworthy but just enough richness of feel to bear comparison with premium rivals.

Instead, and in a familiar-sounding theme, the money has clearly been spent on other things. Backlit decorative ambient lighting panels span the dashboard and doors, which have selectable colours depending on the car’s chosen 'cabin atmosphere’ (Minimal, Joy, Energetic, Lounge, etc).

Then, in our test cars' particular cases at least, a 15in landscape-oriented, free-standing infotainment touchscreen sits on top of the fascia and a large head-up display behind the 10.3in digital instrument screen.

Plainly, VW is feeling the need to compete with 'disruptor' brands and pack in as much digital technology as a modern buyer might want, at the risk of reduced functionality.

The centre console layout is a case in point. Without a manual gearstick to accommodate, VW has moved drive selection to the right-hand column stalk, freeing up storage space. But it has therefore had to consolidate the headlight, indicator and wiper controls onto the left-hand stalk, making the wipers especially only slightly but noticably less intuitive to use.

The heating and ventilation are primarily controlled via the touchscreen, and although there are alternative physical ‘slider’ controls you can use just under it (now backlit), conventional physical controls would be even easier to find at a glance.

These are the kind of details Wolfsburg used to unfailingly ace, but it continues to seem a little distracted by novel digital alternatives that don’t quite deliver the same easy usability.

Other traditional VW brand strengths are better represented by the Tiguan, however. Our car’s front seats were excellent (adjustable for cushion inclination and length, with well-positioned head restraints, good lumbar support, heaters and massagers).

Second-row passengers get their own USB-C charging ports, special seatback pockets to stow digital devices, sliding and reclining seats and maximum head room and leg room to narrowly beat the BMW X1 (itself a well-packaged car).

Boot space, meanwhile, is fairly generous, although not at class-leading levels. With the back seats slid forwards, a Tiguan TDI or eTSI offers up to about 650 litres of cargo space – although that drops to a little under 500 in the case of the eHybrid PHEVs, because you lose any under-floor storage space.

Multimedia system

The Tiguan gets the same enhanced and refined touchscreen infotainment system as the Passat, based on VW’s latest-generation (MIB4) software.

The central screen spans just under 13in on the diagonal as standard and 15in with VW’s infotainment package upgrade (as fitted), which also brings with it a useful head-up display.

VW has worked a lot on the configurability of the home screen and related accessibility of key functions compared with the previous-generation set-up – and it shows. The bigger system makes more space for easy-to-hit menu shortcuts around the margins of the screen. You can choose for yourself which parts of the system they take you to, so usability is much improved.

We would still prefer a physical cursor controller for a system like this, as well as proper separate physical controls for heating and ventilation. (VW’s slider panels are still fiddly and a little unhelpful.) But for a system that can only be controlled at arm’s length, this is now one of the better ones on the market.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 23 engine

However misguided the trend may be, diesel remains a slightly dirty word in the UK car market of 2024. Where SUVs like the Tiguan are concerned, we would argue that it clearly shouldn’t be and are pleased that, having axed diesel engines in many of its other models, VW has kept one on here.

However, plenty of buyers are likely to choose a mild-hybrid petrol instead, in the hope of getting diesel-comparable tractability and torque, plus efficiency, in a more socially palatable package.

I was surprised, in a PHEV with a pretty generous electric-only range, not to find a dedicated EV running mode that might recalibrate the pedals to best effect, tune the ancillary systems for maximum range and keep you from starting the engine until you hit the accelerator pedal's kickdown detent. I did plenty of town running and would have preferred to use one.

What they will get, in the case of the Tiguan’s eTSI 150 powerplant at least, is an engine that gets some of the way to achieving that particular compromise – but that still feels less well suited to a fairly big, versatile, hard-working family car than an equivalent diesel might.

VW has chosen particularly short ratios for the lower gears of the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox to try to mask the problem, but the Tiguan is still slightly short on accessible torque. That shortage doesn’t show itself too glaringly in the performance figures we recorded: 9.4sec from 0-60mph is respectable, likewise 9.2sec for 30-70mph.

But for similar money, the Kia Sportage Hybrid is at least a couple of seconds quicker on both scores, as is the four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz GLB 220d diesel.

In normal daily driving, the powertrain does acceptably well. It’s quick enough in and out of town and lugs the Tiguan’s mass along on the motorway with reasonable determination, although it does feel like it’s labouring a little when doing so. It’s an engine you feel the need to rev out to make the car pick up speed with any urgency, and it doesn’t rev with particular enthusiasm.

What’s missing is a ready sense of easy in-gear muscle or torque in reserve, of the kind you would want when the car is heavily loaded or towing, as a versatile family SUV might just be called on to do. Then again, if most of your driving is going to be done on the school, office and shopping runs, perhaps that’s not such a great loss.

The eHybrid 272 addresses the torque issue fairly well - although you wouldn't call it a commanding performer, or even an especially brisk car in outright terms. The car's 73-mile advertised electric range turns into more like 55 to 60 miles as indicated on a full charge, and getting all of that depends on fairly restrained driving. During town motoring, we typically saw electric range disappear quite quickly in stop-start traffic, with out-of-town motoring seeming a little easier on the battery for efficiency.

The PHEV system's electric motor certainly seems to produce plenty of torque when taking off from standing, especially once it's multiplied through the lower ratios of the car's automatic gearbox. There's enough, even, to breach traction levels at the front axle and set an inside wheel chirruping, even without starting the combustion engine, which is quite rare in a car like this.

When you're just mooching about in urban traffic, there's plenty of electric oomph available, and it's easy to keep the combustion engine shut down. Bugbears, however, are the stodgy and ill-defined 'blended' brake pedal, which has pretty terrible progression and feel at manoeuvring speeds; and the split second the gearbox needs to select a ratio when you're tipping into the power from rest (something PHEVs with elecric motors 'directly driven' to an axle don't suffer).

At A- and B-road speeds, electric power feels more limited. It's enough to maintain a 50-60mph pace but not to accelerate with any urgency. So you will be starting and stopping the combustion engine fairly regularly, and doing longer office commutes in 'engine off' mode would be quite test of patience. Put your foot to the floor and the car's outright performance level feels assured but certainly not especially enticing or fast. As a combined output figure, 268bhp somewhat oversells it.  

All Tiguans use the same automatic gearbox. It works smoothly in light-duty everyday driving and when left to its own devices, but it can be a bit slow and reluctant to downshift when you ask for one on the wheel-mounted paddles, and it isn’t always so slick when engaging and disengaging drive during a manoeuvre. It doesn’t quite have the polish of VW’s better DSG efforts.

RIDE & HANDLING

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 24 front cornering

VW’s claim to have made significant improvements to the sophistication of the Tiguan’s suspension, and its associated ride, handling and body control certainly attracted the attention of the Autocar road test jury. But even with the company’s latest Golf GTI-proven DCC Pro adaptive dampers fitted, this is a car to equip quite attentively and specifically, according to the role you want it to play.

We have thus far only tested cars in R-Line trim, with 20in alloy wheels and 255-section tyres; and, because they had VW’s Dynamic Driving Package with adaptive chassis control, with ‘progressive’ steering (so the gearing quickens off-centre).

Both held the road very assuredly; controlled and contained body movement well; turned in quite crisply for a high-riding car, the lighter eTSI especially; and generally had the character of SUVs well able to hide their bulk and corner at faster pace, with the neatness and security of something lower and lighter.

A determinedly inert but reassuring front-drive chassis balance makes the Tiguan easy to press along quickly, if a bit unenticing in the process. The progressive steering is heavy on assistance and filtered-feeling but consistently weighted. The electronic stability control is still active even in ‘off’ mode, although seldom intrusive; but, depending on the fitted engine, it can feel wedded to a car that’s much bigger on grip than its performance level really needs in any case.

You wouldn’t expect a mid-level VW SUV to inspire the enthusiast driver much, and this one certainly doesn’t. But in the precision, stability and impassive, unshaking composure with which it handles, the Tiguan does feel assured. The exception is the eHybrid 272 version, which often comes up short on traction at the driven front axle when you aim to get away briskly. The PHEV system makes a lot of torque for those front wheels to transmit, and they tend to come up short even under middling power if the surface is slippery.

Comfort & Isolation

VW’s optional 15-position DCC Pro adaptive damping system feels like it could add quite a broad spread of configurability to the Tiguan’s ride and handling, but for it to do that, you would be better off with a lower trim level and smaller wheels.

The car’s top-level adaptive suspension technology can just as easily be fitted to Life and Match models, both of which get 18in wheels as standard. But the 40-profile sidewalls of the tyres fitted to an R-Line’s 20in wheels makes them clunk and thump a little over sharp edges in the road and contributed to a sense of clod-footed clumsiness about the ride in both of our test cars.

The adaptive dampers allow you to tune the suspension out beyond even VW’s preset Comfort calibration for enhanced compliance and suppleness; and, in our experience, they tend to do that better in tandem with heavier model derivatives (eHybrid 272) than lighter ones. In neither case, however, did they quite give the absorption and any-surface dynamic versatility that we'd wanted.

Those 20in wheels and wide tyres no doubt also contributed to noisier cabin isolation than the Tiguan would otherwise have had too. The 1.5 eTSI generated 66dBA of cabin noise at a 50mph cruise, notably more than the Kia Sportage Hybrid but on a par with the BMW X1 xDrive23i M Sport that we tested in 2022.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 01 front tracking

With prices starting at £34,000 and rising to £48,000 before options for a top-tier eHybrid, the Tiguan is clearly being aimed at premium-priced compact SUV opponents.

According to CAP, though, it should also offer competitive residual values, and so personal finance deals should be competitive enough on lower- and mid-level cars.

True, it doesn’t come with the most premium-sounding standard equipment list, but that's also typical of the slightly paradoxical way that premium and value brands operate.

Opt for a mid-spec Match and you will need to pay extra for heated front seats, a full suite of driver assistance systems, a panoramic sunroof, adaptive LED headlights, Harman Kardon premium audio and VW’s key infotainment and Dynamic Driving suspension and steering packages. Most of the above remain optional features even on a range-topping R-Line.

Our 1.5 eTSI averaged 42.0mpg over the duration of the test and did less than 3mpg better at a steady 70mph motorway cruise. This suggests its mild-hybrid tech works quite well to boost urban efficiency but also betrays what is, at heart, only an averagely efficient family car in 2024.

Our eHybrid 272 returned a little over 90mpg over a week's testing, mostly done in and around the urban environment, on an average real-world electric range of about 55 miles, with plenty of driveway charging undertaken. Its electric range is certainly sufficient that you could go weeks without using much fuel, and months between visits to the petrol pump; and in that respect (and assuming cost-effective charging access), it does make more pounds-and-pence sense than many shorter-ranged PHEVs.

VERDICT

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vw tiguan rt review 2024 27 front static

It’s a mark of the commercial success of the Tiguan that, while rivals have gone hybrid-only or shunned four-wheel drive, it continues to offer plenty of choice on engine, drivetrain and suspension specification to its very healthy customer base.

You might not expect a front-wheel-drive, mild-hybrid, sportily tuned R-Line model to figure highly among the most bought kinds of Tiguan. But while a diesel might make for a more versatile SUV and a PHEV a more savvy option, the truth is that an eTSI will play a significant role in the UK sales mix – and it will play it with the calm, precise, collected sort of dynamic assurance and consistency that you would expect from Wolfsburg.

An eHybrid 272, meanwhile, certainly has a high purchase price to justify - but a usefully generous electric range is a good way to start. Despite some fine-detail tuning failings, this car was broadly impressive and showed much the same precise, contained, grown-up character as the eTSI. As a way to go part of the way to electric motoring and reap many of the benefits but not risk too much, it's a recommendable family SUV.

Judged against its direct rivals, the Tiguan covers off SUV-typical practicality and versatility well. It hits a competitive standard on performance, drivability and refinement, but should do better for VW-typical qualities like drivablity, material quality and ride comfort.

Among a broad field of competitors, some with more desirable badges, some with more dynamic appeal and others bolder looks, this is a car we would expect to appeal strongly for its rational, sensible qualities – which sounds familiar.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce PhantomTesla RoadsterAriel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren SennaRenault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.