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Tiguan | First Drive

"A Real Dream"

PVW dealer staffers in the UK got a chance in January to test Volkswagen’s new Tiguan at the VW National Learning Centre, near VW’s UK headquarters.

The NLC is the main UK training location for all Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and Seat product for sales execs, service personnel and technicians. The weather was awful — heavy rain from a blanket of thick gray clouds made for a depressing journey as I drove the 32 miles north from St. Albans to the NLC.

But never was so much fun had sloshing through rain on this dreary day. It’s great driving to the NLC. Much like driving to a VW show, the VW traffic increases the closer you get to the venue. The major difference is that instead of lots of old Beetles, Ghias and Buses, all heading for the main entrance, it was brand new Passat, Polo, Touran and Golf demonstrators and courtesy cars from dealers all over the UK.

I made my way into the main atrium and spotted four Tigs about 50 yards away. I poured myself a cup of coffee, grabbed some biscuits, and headed toward the cars, passing a juggler and white-faced mime artist (don’t ask me why they were there!) to grab my first sighting of the latest baby SUV from Volkswagen. I spent several minutes checking out the Tiguans on display, two of which were the highest specification Escape versions, easily distinguishable by the “cut off” lower front end area providing a much sharper approach angle for avoiding obstacles when driving off-road.

The Tiguan has a purposeful appearance, with the sculpted headlights giving a stern, mean look. The styling is easy on the eye, and not that dissimilar to the larger Touareg. Based on the A4 platform used by various models like Golf, Touran and Jetta, it’s not overbearing, but does provided adequate space for five adults and good rear luggage capacity, too.

Although a space-saver spare wheel is fitted, the boot floor seemed quite high. A lower floor would provide a lot more luggage space. I suspect that due to the 4MOTION system, the rear differential limits the depth of the boot floor. Apart from that, rear passengers have plenty of legroom, and the entire rear bench seat, which has a 60/40 split, can be shunted backward and forward — much like the Golf Plus — adjusting the size of the boot space.

At extra cost, the Tiguan can be ordered with a panoramic glass sliding sunroof, three times the size of a normal sunroof that features an electrically operated thin flexible fabric blind. After a brief look at the cars, everyone was ushered through a side door and we walked through a corridor adorned with cool Tiguan and VW related graffiti (colorful and artistic!) into a small theater that seemed like a cross between a movie venue and nightclub, with black walls and ceiling.

After a presentation by VW officials, we in the Blue Team, headed out to the parking lot for our first driving experience. I clambered into the back of a silver Tiguan 2.0 TDI Escape with auto transmission and featuring that very impressive panoramic glass sunroof, which made the interior feel very bright and more spacious than it already was. The other guy with me in the car (a salesman from a dealer south of London) sat in the front passenger seat. Our professional driver gave us an overview of the vehicle and controls and the finer points of the art of “demo driving” as VW prefer to call it.

We then buckled up, and headed off through the security gate onto the open road with the VW guy driving and discussing the vehicle. After about three miles, he pulled in and gave us both the opportunity to drive.

The car was a real dream. The electro-mechanical power steering was very light and precise, and the electronic parking brake near the gear shifter (unlike the Passat 3C, which has it on the dashboard) was easy to operate. My initial driving experience was very positive, and car drove and handled just like a Golf or Touran, albeit with a higher driving position.

Very refined with very little noise intrusion and altogether very pleasant and comfortable. Window and central locking controls for the driver are easy to reach on the top of the window sill just to the right of the steering wheel and not lower down in the door handle area on most VWs. The radio and sat-nav controls are located high up on the center console area of the dashboard just to the left of the steering wheel — again easy to hand.

After about 40 minutes of driving, we were directed to enter a parking lot at a local theme park, which had been configured into a layout with cones and barriers. A large marquee-type tent was set up in the middle, affording much welcome shelter from the relentless rain, while three Tiguans were parked outside.

This part of the day was where we would test our nerves and skill parking the Tiguan while using the self-parking Park Assist option and reversing into a tight space using the rear-mounted camera!

I took my turn for the parallel parking maneuver. The instructor told me to drive alongside the cones after having depressed the Park Assist button. A sensor on the front wheel arch, just aft of the front wheel, side-scans for a space of at least 1.5 meters. The vehicle can do this at speeds of up to 19 mph.

Once detected, the information display then notified me, and I stopped the car. The moment I selected reverse gear, the parking assistant then takes over the steering control at which point I then removed my hands from the steering wheel and sat back in the seat with great trepidation!

The car then guided itself slowly but precisely into the parking space, while I regulated the speed of the maneuver with the brake and accelerator pedal. As this was an auto, I only had to regulate the brake pedal. During the process, it was unnerving to see the steering wheel quickly spin one way, then the other, all by itself!

As the vehicle slid into the space, the rear parking sensors came on and audibly advised me of the point at which to stop the car. It was amazing! A perfect parallel park, and I didn’t even look at what I was doing! In normal circumstances when parking a large unfamiliar vehicle into a small space — particularly in driving rain as it was — I would be using my mirrors, glancing over both shoulders and assessing the situation to gingerly get the right angle, but not this time! I then carried out the same parking procedure, but on a right-side park. To tell the vehicle which side of the road to park, the turn signal is used in conjunction with the parking assistant.

The next fun exercise was to back the Tiguan into a space, such as a garage or parking bay, using the rear-view camera. The “eye” of the camera is barely visible, partly concealed under the cowl for the rear license plate illumination. The radio/sat-nav display in the upper center part of the dashboard becomes a small TV screen giving a good view behind the car. Orange tram lines that swing left or right, dependent on the position of the steering wheel, are then used to guide the car on a straight and accurate path when reversing.

The picture on the screen is sharp, thanks to HD technology. This is also an advantage when watching movies on the optional DVD system, which uses the same screen. Incidentally, you’ll notice from the photos that a small slot just below the touch-screen display accept media cards to download video and music.
I managed to park the vehicle perfectly into a tight long space marked with cones either side and stopped the car just inches from a marker cone with a fluorescent tennis ball on top. Using just the screen and the grid lines on the display, it was like being in “video-game mode”! I parked straight as an arrow, first time, and not once did I look out of the windows or used the side mirrors. Cool!

Park Assist is a combined option with rear parking sensors, and the reverse parking camera is only available with the DVD/satellite navigation system. Both these extra-cost options are around £490 and £1,500 respectively. It was pointed out to the sales folks in our team that they could easily up-sell the Park Assist/parking sensors option by mentioning to prospects that the cost of the system was the equivalent of having two bumper repairs as the result of parking mishaps, a persuasive argument.
The final demo was given inside the tent in the parking lot, where a Tiguan was fitted with the optional tow bar. This is a clever device that can be unhitched and swung away to the side, concealing it under the bumper and making it less of a hazard for pedestrians when not in use, as well as making the rear end of the vehicle more aesthetically pleasing. The factory-fit tow bar option also includes an upgrade of the vehicle’s cooling system to take account of the extra stress on the engine when towing. The tow load of the Tiguan is a best in class of 2.5 tons, the equivalent of the largest caravan/trailer home, or a large horsebox with two horses aboard, or a flat-bed carrying two cars.

Towing is popular in the UK, and up-selling this option for approx £500 will be very easy when you consider that the customer would have a caravan costing around £20,000 as well as buying the Tiguan, which costs at least that again. Against those kinds of figures, £500 is small potatoes.

After retuning to base for a great lunch in the luxurious staff restaurant, I took a mooch around the site to take more photos. After lunch, we went out on the road again in a convoy drive of Tiguans and competitors’ vehicles, such as the Land Rover Freelander and other similar sized SUVs from manufacturers that included Vauxhall, Nissan, Honda and Toyota.

All the cars were fitted with two-way radios that broadcast instructions from the VW staff driver who headed up the convoy in his Passat. He would inform of us of directions, and when to pull in and change vehicles. Whenever we pulled over for a changeover, we would all move into the car directly behind us, and changes would happen around every 10 minutes so we could all make comparisons between the Tiguans and the competition.

We drove over a route consisting of a mix of rural country lanes and picturesque villages and the suburbs of Milton Keynes. Half way around the route, we rendezvoused with the other convoy consisting of a similar mix of Tiguans and other manufacturers vehicles, headed by their lead driver in a Jetta.

Everyone then swapped from the vehicles of one convoy to the other. After a while, stark contrasts between the Tiguans and the other non-VW SUVs were apparent. Some of them were positively agricultural in comparison, with loud and harsh engines, unsightly dashboards and cluttered instrumentation with excessive amounts of buttons and switches, together with poor layouts.

The Tiguan’s handling and noise levels were a joy compared to most, and the dash layout and simplicity was noticeable. Ride and steering were a delight. The whole car just felt fresh and easy to live with, and much more like a car than an SUV. The only competitor to come close to the Tiguan was the Toyota RAV4, which according to the NLC guys is the benchmark in the mini-SUV sector.

In mine, and others’ opinions, the Tiguan has equaled, if not surpassed the refinement of the RAV4. With its new generation Haldex coupling 4MOTION system, panorama sunroof, Park Assist and exceptional towing ability, and with prices starting at a very competitive £19,370 — there’s no reason why the Tiguan shouldn’t become the top selling vehicle in the mini-SUV sector. Upon arriving back at the VW HQ, we spent half an hour with the four Tiguans in the main atrium to review the latest lifestyle accessories available on the model. Each car featured a particular accessory. One had the full DVD system, while another had the Monsoon sound system with Dynaudio speakers, which were tremendous. The others had travel accessories like the roof box and crane-like bicycle hoist enabling the bike to be swung over and down onto the ground.

We then said our goodbyes as it was time to head home. It was now 4.30 p.m. and dark. We were shuttled back to our cars in one of the three long wheelbase T5 nine-seater VW Transporters that belong to the NLC. After slumping into the sagging seat of my 1995 Vento (Jetta) TDI and clearing the rain from my windscreen, I wished that I was going home in a new Tiguan 2.0 TDI with its touch-screen controls, panoramic sunroof and all the wonderful “whistles and bells” instead.

At least I could say I’d had an insider’s view of Volkswagen’s newest baby, with close-up hands-on experience. It had been a quality day out with another quality Volkswagen vehicle, and one I won’t ever forget.