21/11/2008

Volkswagen Tiguan

Recommended. Subtle, but stylish, the Tiguan offers quality and refinement in a competitive package... and it's not bad off-road either.

The Tiguan is essentially a baby version of VW's Touareg SUV. Its name doesn't mean anything; it's simply a combination of the words "tiger" and "iguana", the German for iguana being "Leguan". Thankfully, the rest of the car is less silly (what is it with VW and names: first Sharan, now Tiguan?) It's not exactly pretty, but does have a handsome masculinity, much of its styling coming from its big brother, while its chassis is derived from the Golf. All Tiguan models are fitted with VW's 4MOTION four-wheel drive system, and if you're more likely to spend time off-road, the 'Escape' model has been developed with that in mind. Here VW has increased the car's angle of approach to allow better ground clearance. It is available only with the 2.0-litre TDI engine - either manual or auto - and gets hill descent control on top of the S-level trim. On the road the Tiguan (whether Escape of standard model) is impeccably refined. It doesn't feel heavy and, thanks to pleasantly weighted and precise steering, coupled with the all-wheel drive system, makes for a nimble and enjoyable drive. There's not as much body roll as you might expect either. The Tiguan currently comes with two power outputs, the 1.4 TSI petrol with 150bhp and the 2.0 TDI with 140bhp, but two more powerful versions of the same engines are expected to follow shortly boasting around 170bhp.

It's a practical car, with plenty of head and elbow room, so tall adults will find it comfortable in the rear. The boot isn't a bad size either - 395 litres - and with the seats down capacity is increased to an impressive 1510 litres. There are also five load-lashing points and a 12 volt socket in there. The dash has been taken straight from a Golf Plus, with a few touches of silver and soft-touch materials in places which give it a fresh, more upmarket feel. An optional multimedia system incorporates sat nav, audio and rear parking camera, which helps the driver to see anything behind the car which is lower than the rear window, such as small children and traffic cones. Also available for an extra £450 is the astonishing Park Assist, which scans the side of the road for available spaces. Once it has recognised a space it will tell you how far to drive on before it can steer into the space for you. The driver the simply controls the speed, as the car takes over the steering, to produce a perfect parking manoeuvre. The touch-screen system isn't difficult to navigate your way round and everything feels like it's where it should be on the dash too.

Entry level prices are comparable to the Ford Kuga and Toyota RAV-4, all of which cluster around the £20,000 mark. The similarly-sized Freelander would be a lot more expensive when adjusted for specification differences - VW reckons the Tiguan is around £5,000 cheaper when similarly equipped. This competitive pricing makes the Tiguan even more appealing. It's not a Freelander - there is still a certain prestige attached to owning a Land Rover - but for less money we don't think you get any less of a car.

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