Volkswagen tiguan what car

Volkswagen Tiguan review

The Volkswagen Tiguan family SUV is the German brand’s best-selling model worldwide, and it’s a popular car here in Britain too.

It’s not hard to grasp why – the Tiguan combines family-friendly practicality with a relatively upmarket image. Crucially, it’s also cheaper than premium-badged alternatives including the BMW X1 and Volvo XC40 (especially if you get a good discount, which isn’t too difficult).

So, should you stop reading here and just go out and buy one? Well, there are a couple of things you probably ought to be aware of before making that decision.

Firstly, while the Tiguan does undercut posher-badged family SUVs at the lower end of its line-up, that isn’t necessarily the case if you want a strong engine and plenty of equipment. Secondly, it’s closely-related to the Seat Ateca and Skoda Karoq – two rival SUVs that are even more affordable.

The Tiguan’s engine options range from a 1.5-litre petrol with 128bhp (TSI 130) right up to a 316bhp 2.0 petrol that’s exclusive to the hot VW Tiguan R sports SUV (which we’ve reviewed separately). There’s also a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model, called the eHybrid, which gives you an electric-only range of less than 30 miles and company car tax friendly CO2 emissions.

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Once you’ve decided what you want under the bonnet, Volkswagen gives you five trims to choose from. There’s entry-level Tiguan, generously equipped Life, lifestyle-based Active, luxurious Elegance and sporty-looking R Line.

The Tiguan is designed more for the road than challenging terrain, but VW’s 4Motion four-wheel drive system is available with certain engines, and there are adjustable drive modes to help you tackle trickier conditions.

So is this latest, second generation Volkswagen Tiguan a great buy or would you be better off with one of the many alternatives in the family SUV category?

Over the next few pages of this review, we’ll tell you how it compares with its rivals for performance, interior quality, running costs and more, and also reveal our favourite engine and trim combination. And if you’re interested in the super-sized version, which is longer and has two more seats, we also have a full VW Tiguan Allspace review.

The easiest way to get a great price is by searching for the make and model you want to buy on our free What Car? New Car Deals service. You don’t have to do any haggling, and it features lots of the best new family SUV deals.

Overview

Offers generous space for its occupants and a big boot. It’s far more than just a big box on wheels, though: its fine driving manners make it a great car to own. The closely related Skoda Karoq is better value for money, though, while the Volvo XC40 has a more upmarket interior.

Performance & drive

What it’s like to drive, and how quiet it is

Engine, 0-60mph and gearbox

The Volkswagen Tiguan’s 148bhp 1.5-litre petrol engine (badged 1.5 TSI 150) is the pick for most buyers. It needs revving fairly hard to get the very best from it, but there’s enough pull from low revs. The 2.0 TDI diesel also suits the car really well and has more low-rev urgency, but we wouldn’t bother spending the extra unless you need the optional four-wheel drive (4Motion) that it’s available with.

For slightly less money, you could have a 128bhp version of the same basic 1.5 petrol engine (called the 1.5 TSI 130). However, while this engine is up to the job in the smaller Golf, it struggles more in the heavier Tiguan – and that will be particularly noticeable if you often drive with several passengers.

If efficiency is a priority, the plug-in hybrid (eHybrid) is for you. Combining a 1.4-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, it produces a total of 241bhp and is plenty fast enough to get up to motorway speeds promptly, sprinting from 0-62mph in just 7.5 seconds. When you run on the electric motor alone, it’s strong enough to keep up with traffic around town, but performance quickly tails off at higher speeds. The official electric range is 30 miles, but it’s likely to be around 25 miles in real use.

For the more performance-focused version, see our fill VW Tiguan R review.

Suspension and ride comfort

By family SUV standards, the Tiguan rides very well indeed. It smooths over bigger imperfections, such as speed bumps, better than the BMW X1 and the unsettled Jaguar E-Pace, yet its suspension is firm enough to prevent the body from bouncing up and down too much along undulating roads.

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2025 Volkswagen Tiguan

Adding some much-needed European flair to the crowded compact SUV segment is the 2025 Volkswagen Tiguan. The third-generation model is coming to the U.S. soon, likely to be revealed in 2024, and will add a plug-in-hybrid model to up the Tiguan’s stable. Thankfully, the Tiguan will feature a similar suspension and platform as the current GTI hatchback, which is great news for those who care enough about driving excitement to notice. VW says the upcoming Tiguan has grown an inch in length than the outgoing model, which could make it feel a little roomier than the model it will soon replace. We’ll update this story with pricing, specs, and photos of the new Tiguan sans camo when that information becomes available. The Tiguan competes directly against other recently freshened crossovers such as the Honda CR-V, the Mazda CX-50, and the Kia Sportage.

What’s New for 2025?

The third-generation Tiguan is set to arrive for the 2025 model year. While we’ve only seen camouflaged prototypes, we believe the new Tiguan will ride on VW’s MQB Evo platform which also underpins the GTI hatchback and the Audi A3. The next-generation Tiguan will offer a plug-in hybrid powertrain that VW claims can travel as far as 62 miles in electric-only mode. A fully revamped interior and exterior are featured on the new Tiguan, with more specific details to be announced sometime in 2024.

Pricing and Which One to Buy

A new exterior and fresh interior bless the third-generation Tiguan, and despite its growth over the outgoing model, we don’t think pricing will be too dramatically different than the outgoing Tig. Using another compact crossover PHEV as reference, such as the Kia Sportage X Line PHEV, we think the Tiguan PHEV will sit at the top of the Tiguan range, starting at a price of $40,000 or more.

More on the Tiguan SUV

As more information becomes available, we’ll update this story with more details about:

• Engine, Transmission, and Performance
• Towing and Payload Capacity
• Fuel Economy and Real-World MPGe
• Interior, Comfort, and Cargo
• Infotainment and Connectivity
• Safety and Driver-Assistance Features
• Warranty and Maintenance Coverage

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