Volkswagen Tiguan

GOLF BUGGY
It was only a matter of time before Volkswagen took what it learned from the Touareg luxury 4x4 and adapted it for the compact 4x4 sector. Steve Walker says hello to the Tiguan

Car manufacturers can look like a bunch of kids sometimes, just because one’s got something, all the others have to have one too. It’s through this process that the UK market has found itself swimming in compact 4x4 vehicles with every marque struggling to get its own take on the in vogue soft-roader theme into its showrooms. Even brands with no apparent previous interest in four-wheel-drive are coming over all Ray Mears on us and trying to pass themselves off as rugged, insect munching backwoodsmen. There’s more to this, of course, than a corporate version of simple playground one-upmanship. The manufacturers are battling to tap into a key growth area in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Volkswagen’s effort is called the Tiguan. Think of it as a Golf in kaki shorts and cowboy hat.

The secret of the Volkswagen Tiguan’s arrival was about as well kept as David Bellamy’s back garden. Even if thinly disguised pictures of the vehicle hadn’t surfaced in the press and journalists hadn’t been allowed to drive one through the Namibian wilderness, most commentators could have had a pretty good guess that a VW-badged compact 4x4 was in the offing for the simple reason that virtually every mainstream marque that didn’t already have a compact 4x4 was in the process of building one. The information put out by Volkswagen when it did put its hands up to the Tiguan was interesting in the way it differed from the standard compact 4x4 blurb. There was talk of entry and departure angles, hill descent control and electronically locking differentials. Was this a compact 4x4 that could actually do the business off-road?

Every engine in the Tiguan line-up is turbocharged or supercharged and turbocharged so pulling power shouldn’t be in short supply. The units are a familiar bunch with the 140PS 2.0 TDI diesel likely to be the best seller. Alternatively, there’s the groundbreaking turbocharged and supercharged petrol engine that manages to extract 150PS from its 1.4-litre capacity. These are the main two engines available but your dealer will also happily take orders for a range of other powerplants also developed for this car. These include a 170PD 2.0 TDI unit, plus two other 2.0 TSI petrol units, developing either 170 or 200PS. There isn’t a bad engine amongst them but the TSI units in particular really are ahead of their time.

"Volkswagen has gone further than most manufacturers in giving its compact 4x4 real pedigree when it comes to off-road driving"

Whether the Tiguan is any good off-road will be an irrelevance to most UK buyers - akin to the question of whether they could row their supermini across the channel. Despite our growing affection for 4x4 vehicles, we don’t take them off-road very much and people that do make regular forays into the undergrowth make damn sure they do so in a Land Rover Defender or something similarly rugged. That said, off-road ability has become a little bit of a badge of honour for compact 4x4s. Buyers don’t need it but they’d like the model they choose to have it all the same. The 4x4 Tiguan uses the basic Haldex all-wheel-drive system from the Golf 4MOTION models but with a wider track and ground clearance increased to 189mm. More importantly, it has a nice line in electronic trickery to help it out of sticky situations.

The car is largely as you would expect a Volkswagen off-roader to look, the marque not known for its radical styling departures. The glasshouse is a good deal narrower than the lower section of the car which fills out at the shoulder line to chunky effect. There might even be a hint of Porsche Cayenne about the rear view. Inside, the design is lifted directly from the Golf and Golf Plus models so you know it’s going to have that Volkswagen air of quality.

We know that the Tiguan is based on the Golf but Volkswagen have done a typically thorough job of converting their family hatch favourite into a 4x4. The Golf uses an all-aluminium sub frame but this was deemed not sufficiently strong to handle the buffeting that committed owners might subject their Tiguan too. As a result, the vehicle uses a modular sub-frame that’s aluminium at the front and steel at the rear. The Tiguan is also the first vehicle to receive Volkswagen’s electric steering system which has been designed to eliminate kickback and enhance accuracy.

Prices start at £19,370 and S, SE, Sport and Escape models are being offered, all with 4MOTION four-wheel drive and an 18 degree angle of approach, a figure that defines the size of obstruction the vehicle can drive over. Customers requiring additional off-road capability can choose a 28 degree angle of approach front end. This model comes with a radiator protection grille, underbody protection, hill descent control and a compass.

If you really aren’t interested in the vehicle’s off-road ability but care more about the urban jungle, fear not because Volkswagen have developed a parking assist function that will automatically steer you into a parallel parking space.

Most owners will go for the economical diesel models but even the petrol 1.4 TSI variant is remarkably frugal, returning over 33mpg on the combined cycle. Though the upfront sticker price isn’t cheap, whichever variant you choose, you’ll probably be better off choosing this Volkswagen than a cheaper South Korean alternative when you factor in depreciation and whole life costs. Insurance group costs are low too, with a group 9 showing for the entry-level model.

Volkswagen has gone further than most manufacturers in giving its compact 4x4 real pedigree when it comes to off-road driving. With 4x4 mechanicals and a package of electronic driver aids, the Tiguan makes a valiant attempt at throwing off the soft-roader stereotypes and differentiating itself from the growing glut of similar vehicles that ply the market place.

Here we have a compact 4x4 with at least some genuine off-road ability for those that want it plus Golf-inspired build quality and driving dynamics for those that don’t. Factor in a highly advanced engine range along with Volkswagen badging that’s certain to go down a storm in this image-conscious sector and the Tiguan’s future would appear to be mapped out.