mReview: Volkswagen Tiguan – A Significant Evolution

The new Volkswagen Tiguan is a big step up over the previous generation, with a new mild-hybrid powertrain, an updated interior, and a wider range of equipment.

What’s Great

• The front seats come standard with ventilation, heating, and massaging functions.
• After the previous generation of VW interiors were criticised for their extensive use of touch-sensitive pads, physical buttons are now back in the Tiguan.
• The fit and finish of the interior feels great and rather premium. 

What’s Good

• The Smart Dial in the centre console doubles up as the switch for volume and drive mode.
• There's more interior room all around as compared to the previous Tiguan.
• Volkswagen's Park Assist feature works seamlessly and, in our experience, error-free.

What’s Not Great

• The Cat A-friendly engine is a little sluggish and the gearbox can't quite seem to decide what gear it wants to be in.
• The brakes are quite grabby, which can make it rather hard to modulate smoothly.
• The ride is mostly comfortable and pliable, but can be a tad harsh when riding over small, high-frequency bumps like drain covers or not-very-well-paved roads.

The updated interior of the Volkswagen Tiguan now features a massive 15-inch infotainment screen in the centre, a 10.25-inch digital gauge cluster, and a heads-up display.

The Tiguan comes with a wide range of driver assistance and safety systems, including adaptive cruise control, park assist, passenger exit warnings, a 360° camera, rear traffic alert, and more.

There's more room in here than in the previous-generation Tiguan, which means a more comfortable experience for passengers, especially with the rear climate control and the huge panoramic roof.

An electric tailgate reveals 652 litres of cargo space, more than enough for groceries or bags for a weekend getaway with the family. You can also fold the rear seats for extra storage when you head to Ikea.

The 1.5-litre, mild-hybrid, 4-cylinder engine produces 129hp and 220Nm of torque, enough to get the Tiguan from 0 to 100km/h in 10.6 seconds, and to a top speed of 198km/h. 

The new Tiguan features a glass-covered horizontal rear light strip, a complement to the Matrix LED headlights up front. The Tiguan's aerodynamics have also been improved with its new design, dropping its drag coefficient to just 0.28Cd.

The new multi-functional Smart Dial in the centre console can be turned, pressed, or swiped on to adjust things like the drive modes or volume.

The 15-inch infotainment screen is larger than most people's laptops and dominates the dashboard of the Tiguan. It contains all the settings and media functions of the car, with quick toggles at the bottom for the air-con controls, though there are also touch-sensitive sliders below the screen for temperature and volume.

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