2024 Volkswagen Tiguan review: Volksy charm
Volkswagen’s new Tiguan is as roomy and versatile as before. But it now gives back rubs
Webservice User &
Leow Ju-Len
READING this review could save you 10 thousand bucks, assuming you already had your eye on the new Volkswagen Tiguan.
And why not? As family sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in the petrol world go, the Volkswagen (VW) is the car to beat. It’s spacious, versatile, and comes with everything except a wireless charging pad for your phone. But you can overlook that one omission, because it has ventilated massage seats. I can forgive almost anything for a good back rub.
The Tiguan even has the perfect engine for Singapore: a 1.5-litre, mild-hybrid turbo with 130 horsepower. That doesn’t sound very exciting, but it’s the maximum amount of oomph a car can have and still limbo under the power limit for the cheaper Category A certificate of entitlement.
If you want a VW with more grunt, you’ll have to go electric and take home an ID.4 or ID.5.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen sells two versions of the Tiguan here. There’s a Life variant and a slightly more upscale Life Plus, which costs S$10,000 more. The extra money buys you 20-inch wheels (instead of 19), turn signals that wink instead of blink, and headlights with finely controlled LED beams that are really only useful on badly-lit roads.
But both Tiguans are fabulously well-equipped. You get a glass roof, three-zone climate control and plushly-padded seats covered in soft leather, as well as features designed to make life easier, such as keyless operation, the ability to open the boot by sweeping your foot under the rear bumper, a head-up display system and a 360-degree monitor for parking. Heck, you can even set the seat ventilation to come on every time you start the car.
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Inside, the presence of some cheap plastics means it doesn’t feel as posh as the last Tiguan, but it’s still a nice place to sit in, thanks to subtle ambient lighting and the fact that it’s as roomy as a church hall. And did I mention it has massage seats?
The thing that really grabs your eye when you hop on board is the central touchscreen. At 15 inches, the upstanding display is big enough to give a few laptops insecurities about their own size.
That vastness is probably a bit of overkill, but the neat graphics and high resolution make the system a pleasure to use, particularly since you can customise it with a simple drag-and-drop action and put various apps and functions precisely where you want them.
Joy of joys, VW brought back physical controls and pared down the touch-sensitive stuff. The switches on the steering wheel make toggling through the digital driving instruments, activating the radar cruise control and working the sound system a doddle.
There’s even a knob for the sound system’s volume, which seems crazy to have to point out as a highlight. Mind you, it has its own tiny touchscreen, which lets it double up as a controller for tweaking the ambient lighting and selecting the car’s driving modes.
That’s one screen more than necessary, but at least all that digital real estate has left the new Tiguan’s dashboard looking neater than a sock drawer organised by a cat with OCD.
Speaking of cats, the Tiguan gets its name from the German words for “tiger” and “iguana”, but here it really only lives up to the lizard part of its name. Hurl it through corners and it’s seriously hard to unstick from the road, with a nice heft to the steering that makes the proceedings feel taut and precise.
But with so little power to move its 1.6- tonne body, it doesn’t spring into action with any sort of feline urgency. The same is true of any number of Category A SUVs (the BMW X1 and Lexus LBC are fellow slowpokes), so you can hardly single out the Tiguan for lacking muscle.
At least it has a small appetite for fuel, thanks in part to its mild hybrid setup, but also because the engine can deactivate two of its cylinders when you have a light foot on the accelerator. That’s like switching off the lights when you leave a room to save energy, so it’s a fine idea.
If I had more space, I would use it to tell you how much space the boot has (which, come to think of it, is pretty ironic), but I would serve you better by spending a few words on the Tiguan’s single weakest point. It rides harshly over bumps, and sets cabin occupants jiggling so much that sometimes it feels more like an earthquake simulator than a car.
Some of that is down to the Life Plus version’s 20-inch wheels, which is why I would save 10 grand and get the Life variant. Either way, the Tiguan is a class-leader in terms of space and equipment, and comes with a five-year warranty and three years’ free servicing, so feel free to choose the version you like. It’s your Life, after all.
Volkswagen Tiguan Life Plus 1.5 eTSI Engine 1,498cc, in-line four, turbocharged Power 130 hp from 5,000 to 6,000 rpm Torque 220 Nm from 1,500 to 3,500 rpm Gearbox 7-speed dual-clutch 0-100 kmh 10.6 seconds Top speed 198 kmh (limited) Fuel efficiency 6.7 L/100 km Agent Volkswagen Group Singapore Price S$222,400 with COE Available Now
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