Premium conqueror: Volkswagen Tiguan

| JANUARY 06, 2019, 02:36 AM IST

Ritesh Madhok


Volkswagen in India has had its ups and downs since it entered the market. They had introduced their mighty SUV the Touareg in India initially but later had to pull plugs on it. Currently in its second generation, the Tiguan becomes the first car based on the MQB platform of the Volkswagen Group to enter India.   

Exteriors  

The Tiguan at first look comes along as a very classy and unmistakably European looking premium SUV. The face comes with the center grill that has three horizontal strips, two in chrome and the middle one in glossy black. The headlights come with angular design and get full LED lighting along with DRL & LED turn light neatly integrated. The sharp waistline that runs across the door handles mating around the tail lights looks extremely classy. The glass area gets neat looking chrome belt around them highlighting their size and roominess. The roof gets a sturdy looking roof rail along with a full panoramic sun roof to go with it. The Tiguan drives on 235/55 R18 spec Hankook tyres mounted on R18 Kingston multispoked alloys. The rear profile of the Tiguan comes with angular shaped flushed in-body LED tail lights look highly different and classy. The body styling on the Tiguan is subtle and very premium. 

Interiors  

Step inside the Tiguan & all black cabin compliments the sporty off road theme of the vehicle. The dash is made of the soft rubbery material that the premium cars come with. The Tiguan comes with a flat bottom leather wrapped 3 spoke steering seen on other Volkswagen, Audi and Skoda range of cars. The center dash gets a touch-screen infotainment display. The Tiguan comes with a three zone climate control with individual temperature setting for the rear AC vents. The center console gets the typical DSG gear shifter along with a few control buttons placed besides it for electric hand brake, hill hold, ESP Off and parktronics. The Start/Stop button is also placed on this console. The seats come with all black leather upholstery. Seating at the rear is very comfortable with near to perfect incline for the backrest and perfect seat countering. The door pads and the dash get the faux carbon fiber inserts that look neat. The door panels also get the ambient lighting strips neatly tucked in them and also on the sides of the panoramic sun/moon roof. The switches have a typical click and feel like the premium brands and you instantly realize their high marksmanship.   

Engine, transmission, drive  

The Volkswagen Tiguan comes powered with a 2.0Liter 4 cylinder TDI diesel engine that makes 143ps @ 4000rpm and belts out 340Nm of torque between the 1750-2750rpm.This is the latest generation engine (EA288) that also powers the Audi Q3 but in a slightly more powerful state of tune. Incidentally the Tiguan becomes the 1st Volkswagen car in India to get the EA288 series of engine.The transmission department is taken care by the tried trusted & well known 7-speed Dual Clutch (DQ500 DSG) unit. The AWD unit is a Haidex system that works intelligently transferring power and torque as the situation demands.   

Button -Start the engine and you notice the refinement levels of this new engine as compared to the older one. Shift to drive mode and you realize the power that this 2.0L motor has to offer. Power builds up quickly and the sweet spot for this motor is between the 1600-3200rpm. High speed stability is excellent and then you have the 4Motion drive modes to play with. You can toggle between Normal, Snow, Offroad, Individual.The suspension set up is perfect for our roads and driving conditions and the Tiguan soaks up almost all the bad roads. Body roll is minimal and the steering feedback is lively which changes as you toggle between the drive modes. Overall the Tiguan does impress in the driving dynamics department.  

Verdict  

Should you buy one? Well the Tiguan is a very well engineered product from Volkswagen; it shares a lot with the Audi Q3 under the skin, looks classy and drives very well too. The 4Motion AWD system works nicely. If you want a German Engineered SUV the Tiguan fits the bill perfectly.  

Share this