Volkswagen Tiguan Car Review

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…the new Volkswagen Tiguan, the brand’s best selling car. The new, third generation, Tiguan sits in the fiercest of sectors the mid-size SUV class so needs to both be first rate but also have something that makes it stand out from the crowd.

At launch, VW is offering the Tiguan with two petrol engines (at 130hp and 150hp) and a 2.0-litre 150hp diesel. Two more, higher powered, petrols and two plug-in hybrids will follow later in 2024.

The new Tiguan is available in four trim levels:

Life
Match
Elegance
R-line

Standard equipment on the Life version includes 18-inch alloys, 12.9-inch infotainment screen, 10.25-inch digital driver’s display, front and rear parking sensors, wireless Apple Carplay and Android Auto, powered front seats, power-fold door mirrors, adaptive cruise control and 3-zone climate control.

Match adds a powered tailgate, keyless entry and LED headlights.

Elegance adds 19-inch alloys, body-coloured bumpers, heated front seats, massage front seats and rear-view camera.

R-line adds 20-inch alloy wheels, sports styling pack and sports seats.

Is The Volkswagen Tiguan Suitable For My Fleet

With the PHEV versions a few months away, the Tiguan is currently a more niche player in fleet. However, the option of a diesel is to be praised for those that cover higher mileage on a regular basis or have to tow. The diesel has a useful towing capacity of 2,000kg.

In terms of practicality, it has a huge, and near class-leading boot capacity at 652 litres.

Leasing A Volkswagen Tiguan

Intelligent Car Leasing is offering the Tiguan 2.0-litre diesel in R-line trim tested here for £455 a month on a 3+36 contract with 20,000 miles a year. Forecast maintenance costs on the same mileage are £70 a month, according to Gensen Reports.

Driving A Volkswagen Tiguan

Volkswagen’s designers haven’t been particularly adventurous with the Tiguan, but then this is on-message with the brand and its customers who are looking for functional and sensible cars rather than those that are flashy or quirky.

Where the new VW scores points is in its core values of offering good equipment and value in a well-constructed and solid-feeling car.

Helping that quality feel are physical buttons on the steering wheel – something VW has returned to recently after a worrying few years persisting with touch-sensitive controls.

The main infotainment screen is large and clear and the software running it is now simple to use. Disabling the annoying speed warning bleeps and intrusive lane keeping takes very little time. Unlike the Tiguan’s larger brother, the Touareg, the software also allows the automatic speed adjustment within cruise control to be turned off.

As well as being easy to use, the interior controls, and cabin overall, also feel very well constructed with high grade materials used for the majority of visible areas.

When it comes to the driving experience, however, things aren’t as good as they should be from a VW.

The standard automatic gearbox works well with the diesel engine – much better than it does with the 1.5-litre petrol in the Passat – and allows for smooth and refined progress. Unfortunately the ride never seems to properly settle. Our car was fitted with the optional adaptive suspension (£1,000) and it’s probably worth avoiding as even in its softest settling, smaller bumps in the road – and there are lots in the UK – were never ironed out properly. Interestingly, it coped very well with larger bumps such as potholes – even on the standard 20-inch alloy wheels.

Ride comfort wasn’t atrocious, but it just wasn’t as good as that on many rivals.

FleetandLeasing.com Verdict On The Volkswagen Tiguan

A strong family SUV contender, but carrying a few flaws.